Deyam Impact Initiatives: Giving to make a sustainable difference

About Us

Deyam Impact Initiatives (Deyam) is registered as a Trust in India under Section 12A and has approvals of 80G from the Income Tax Department.

The Trust is headquartered out of Chennai, India, with its activities financed by annual returns made on endowments brought in from families and socially-inclined friends.

Though authorised to accept donations, Deyam chooses to do so only on a very selective basis and from known sources, if at all.

Deyam is run by its Trustees and supported by Advocates / Mentors / Advisors who share a common ethos to give back to society, albeit in a small way.

Having instituted a well-defined Giving@Deyam program, the Trust is focused on delivering to a carefully chosen Mandate.

Mandate

Deyam firmly believes that an empowered, healthy, self-assured woman can nurture her family like no other. Good families in turn are the building blocks of a great society.

As a program, Giving@Deyam will thus focus on providing financial support, directly and indirectly, to causes that can sustainably improve the life of less-privileged women and girl children, especially in Southern India, where Deyam is based. 

Among other avenues focusing on the less-privileged, the Mandate for Giving@Deyam would encompass:

  1. Educational Scholarships for deserving, academically-inclined girls in higher education leading to jobs

  2. Capital Grants for women-driven businesses that will employ women and that too, on a profit-share basis

  3. Aid for upskilling young, financially-challenged women seeking professional careers

  4. Subsidies for small-size infrastructure that can uplift quality of life for girls

  5. Donations to social-minded organisations that tie-in well with the Deyam Mandate

The Deyam Logo

Butterfly on the hand. The butterfly symbolizes transformation and joy. Its dance reflects the need for movement from where we are to our next

phase of being. The hand symbolises the giving that creates a change and transformation in the life of one in need.

The sanskrit words: Shriya, Bhiya, Hriya & Samvida” which are part of the logo further enumerating the characteristics of charity.

"Shriya” Give in Plenty. Giving with a benign disposition, with a smile on one’s face, with happiness induced by the opportunity to be of use to a

fellow human being.

"Bhiya" Give with Awe. A healthy apprehension of counter-productivity due to incorrect attitude or procedure, should characterise an act of charity,

so that the giver would always be on guard against attitudes incompatible with giving.

"Hriya" Give with Modesty. This is prescribed so that one doesn't tend to think too much of oneself for the act of kindness.

"Samvida” Give with Sympathy. The act of giving should be preceded by a resolution to give. Such resolution makes the mind determined in the act, and prevents last-minute reversal of attitude due to attachment in the article proposed to be given away.

Heart Trust

Bharathalakshmi B, Trustee

An Economics Graduate, passionate about women empowerment and improvement in the life of girl children. A sport-woman, teacher and avid drama enthusiast in her earlier life, Bharathi is the driving spirit behind Giving@Deyam. She continues to be an ardent home-maker, loving grandmother in her current avatar, even as she leads the efforts at Deyam as an active Trustee.

Manivannan J K, Trustee

An Engineer and MBA (IIM Bangalore), Mani is a father of 2 girls himself.  A winner of awards from the President and cited in World Bank reports, Mani stays committed to social causes since the days he directed a Foundation focusing on Rural Upliftment. He currently runs Desicrew, an entity that connects Technology, Business and Social Impact, to deliver Business Services from Rural centres, bringing to bear gender equality and inclusion.

Chitra J, Mentor

Chitra recently retired from a senior role at IBM, having spent nearly 4 decades in the HR, Resource Management, Finance domains across global organisations in the Cement, technology, pharma verticals. The epitome of balance as a doting home-maker and consummate professional, Chitra scores as a quintessential multi-tasker, silently supporting several social causes in and around Bangalore. At Deyam she sees a kindred spirit in the Trustee and has taken upon herself the task of process controllership for Giving@Deyam.

Tanvi B, Advocate

Still a high school student in the US, Tanvi showed social consciousness very early on, adopting 3 rescued dogs and contributing to animal causes. When barely 10, she directed all proceeds from the auction of her paintings, to an NGO rescuing bears and elephants. She went on to volunteer at the NGO during her holidays and rounded that off with making fund-raise pitches for them amongst donors in Singapore.

Her pleasant demeanour and easy wit mask a natural penchant for the sciences especially in the area of forensics, fierce empathy for all life forms and their living standards, and a serious interest in drama, where she is a Diploma holder from Trinity, London. Tanvi is committed to advocacy at Deyam, ideating, articulating and evaluating possibilities that fit the Mandate.

Deyam never hesitates to tap on its several connections among like-minded professionals and social entrepreneurs to deliver on its Giving@Deyam program.

Our Approach

With a view to fostering social-mindedness among the young, Deyam ideally encourages girls in the age group of 12-20 years to come forth as “Advocates” for causes that Giving@Deyam could support. 

Deyam encourages such “Advocates” to mail in, clearly spelling out (1) the cause they recommend (2) the required funding and recipients (3) the impact they expect Giving@Deyam to cause and (4) The metrics that can be tracked to assess the impact on an ongoing basis.

The Trustees will evaluate recommendations from the “Advocates” and call them for meetings to discuss their inputs in detail. 

Needless to say, the Trustees / Mentors / Advisors are also constantly identifying and evaluating causes that fit Giving@Deyam by themselves too.

Individuals / Social organisations that believe their causes can fit the Mandate can also mail in to be evaluated as potential recipients of financial support from Giving@Deyam.

While it will be possible for Giving@Deyam to support only a fraction of the causes evaluated, the Trustees will do their best to evaluate each incoming request on its merit and the breadth of impact Giving@Deyam can cause.