+91 6399463996 Contact@Bdf.Ngo
Q: What does Building Dreams Foundation do?

We work with children from underprivileged communities and migratory populations in Dehradun & West Bengal. Focus is on education, food distribution, environmental issues and empowerment of women from these communities.

Q: How was BUILDING DREAMS FOUNDATION formed? Who formed it and why?

BUILDING DREAMS FOUNDATION was formed in 2016 by Ranjit Bar, together with his friends and batchmates. Highlighting nutritious food and quality education as a metaphor for basic but ignored needs of economically weaker people, Mr. Ranjit and his team started Building Dreams Foundation to bring 3E’s and food into the development agenda. Mr Ranjit Bar, Founder Director, BUILDING DREAMS FOUNDATION is the head of the organization alongside Dr. Surbhi Jaiswal, Director & CEO, but the organization does not believe in rigid hierarchy so everyone is a Team member at Building Dreams Foundation.

Q: Are you a registered body?

Yes, BUILDING DREAMS FOUNDATION is registered under company Act. It is also registered for exemption under section 80 G, 12 A.

Q: Where do you have your offices?

BUILDING DREAMS FOUNDATION is headquartered in Dehradun and also has an office in Kalagachhia village, West Bengal. We partner on projects with groups in UP and Bihar.

I wish to visit your center in West Bengal and Dehradun. Who should I coordinate with?

Please write to Contact@Bdf.Ngo to schedule your visit during our working hours i.e Monday – Sunday except Thursday (10 am – 5 pm, lunch hours 1.30 pm – 2.30 pm).
In Dehradun our address is – Building Dreams Foundation, near doon valley International School, Thakurpur road, Dehradun.
Nearest Landmarks: Doon valley international school, near Majaar.

Please call on 63994 63997 / 8 for any assistance regarding directions. The contact persons at the center are Miss Juhi Pandey / Dr. Surbhi Jaiswal (63994 64996)

In West Bengal our address is – Building Dreams Foundation, Kalagacchia , Purba Medinipur ,West Bengal.
Please call on 63994 63997 / 8 for any assistance regarding directions. The contact persons at the center are Mr Supravat Bar / Dr. Surbhi Jaiswal / Mr. Himanshu Pathak (63994 64997)

What can I give/contribute?

You can give more or less anything, which is not being used at your home, office or community, in good working condition, which can be of use to someone, with dignity. We accept raw food items, art supplies, stationary, Eco-bricks, Dry Plastic, usable furniture items, generators, medicines, dry ration, blankets, clothes, sarees, Sanitary Napkins and construction related materials. For any specific queries please check with us before sending any material which is not mentioned here.

I want to contribute my material but Building Dreams Foundation doesn’t have an office in my city. How do I contribute?

Even if Building Dreams Foundation doesn’t have an office in your city, we may have a volunteer run dropping center.
Please write to us for such queries. Alternatively, you may post/ courier your material to the nearest Building Dreams Foundation Office. You may also like to make monetary contributions to ensure the continuity of our work in rural India. Please do Your Bit!

I want to contribute material to Building Dreams Foundation. Can someone come and pick it up from my place?

Unfortunately, we do not have any facilities or capacity for picking up material from individual households or offices. To know more you can write to Harshie/Chemi on Contact@Bdf.Ngo / juhi@BuildingDreams.org.in or call us on 63994 63998.

How do I know what you do with my material?

We request you to kindly visit our centres and offices to witness first-hand the work being carried out by BDF. Please call on the numbers provided to fix a time when you wish to drop in. Our members will gladly show you around, at both, the Dehradun and Kalagachhia centres.

Can you pick up material from home, office, school or college etc?

As a policy we don’t pick up material from individual homes. There are dropping centers in some parts of the cities where we work. We request you to give the material at a center close to you. In case of schools, colleges, other institutions and corporates, who have the means and the access to their own transportation, we request them to consider the dropping of material as their contribution towards our work. Transportation- inter and intra city, is one of the biggest costs in our work.

Will you issue an acknowledgement of material I contribute?

We issue an acknowledgement for material received but cannot give specific details of the material i.e. how many clothes, how many shirts etc. Since we get material in big quantities every day, we feel it will be a waste of precious limited manpower and resources. On the other hand, if you provide a detailed list of material you give, we will be happy to acknowledge that.

Q: If I contribute in kind will I get a receipt?

Ans: Please refer earlier answer.

Will I get tax exemption on my contribution in kind?

Under the Indian government rules you won’t get any tax exemption on material contribution. Tax exemptions are only on monetary contributions.

If I pay you for the transportation, will you be able to send someone for pick up?

If we know of a transporter near you who will pick up your material and bring it to our processing center, we will let you know his details and you can talk to him directly about the charges or costs.

Are you active in Delhi slums?

We collect and share material with many Delhi and NCR based NGO’s who are working with slum communities.

Can you give me the feedback regarding whereabouts of my material?

We deal with vast quantities of material and it is impossible for us to say where exactly each individual’s material has been distributed. What we can tell you is where we have sent material in the last month or last 3-6 months.

What will BUILDING DREAMS FOUNDATION do with this material?

BUILDING DREAMS FOUNDATION has been distributing material to parts of 23 states of India. People get this material not as charity or Daan, they work on local community issues and get the material as motivation. Schools have been built, wells have been dug, and bridges have been built by people under the Dignity for Work initiative (earlier known as Cloth for Work). Essential school material reaches children in the far-flung village schools under our School-to-School programme. Rural women are provided the most basic need of a sanitary napkins under our clean cloth sanitary napkin initiative.

Can I come with you in the villages where you are working?

You are most welcome to travel with our team members when they go on field visits but
a) you will have to work according to their schedule
b) the facilities and the living conditions at the villages are the most basic, so be prepared for some rough living. Let us know about your available dates and if there is someone traveling at that time, we will let you know.

How can I volunteer with BUILDING DREAMS FOUNDATION?

Anyone irrespective of age, gender, education, nationality can volunteer with BUILDING DREAMS FOUNDATION in many different ways, even remotely from home. Write to us at Contact@Bdf.Ngo or call up the BUILDING DREAMS FOUNDATION office (6399463996) to find out what suits you best.

Do I have to pay any membership fee to become your member/ volunteer?

No, there is no membership fee for joining BUILDING DREAMS FOUNDATION. Anyone anywhere can become a member by joining our work in different capacities.

I want to do an internship with Building Dreams Foundation. Who should I contact?

To intern with Building Dreams Foundation, please fill in the volunteer form on this website. Kindly note that the minimum duration of internship is of one and half months and interns are expected to work closely with the team from Monday to Saturday (10 am – 5 pm).

Will I get a certificate if I volunteer with BUILDING DREAMS FOUNDATION?

On request we will surely issue a certificate for the work and duration of time that a person volunteers with BUILDING DREAMS FOUNDATION on the tasks assigned by us. On the other hand, we strongly discourage people from approaching us with requests from their friends, relatives, children, college kids wanting a certificate when they are not actually interested in working with us as a volunteer.

I want to join you formally. How do I do that?

Send us your details and whenever there is an opening, we will get in touch with you. If you are very keen on working with us, we recommend that the best way to start is by doing voluntary work with us. That will give you a fair idea about our work and our work culture. Send us your detailed resume on Contact@Bdf.Ngo for future reference.

I want to do my internship. How do I proceed?

Please ask your institute to send us a formal letter, mentioning about your interest in doing an internship with BUILDING DREAMS FOUNDATION. Also, please mention the duration, specific interest area, geographical preference. Clear and detailed information from your side will help us revert back at the earliest.

Q; What logistics expenses and stipend does Building Dreams Foundation provide to interns?

Ans; We would be happy to help with arranging accommodation and other aspects but given our limited resources we are unable to offer accommodation and other stay related arrangements to interns. Also we do not give stipend for internship.

Q; I really like your work and would like to volunteer with Building Dreams Foundation? What opportunities are there for volunteers?

Ans; Good to know that you wish to connect with our work. There are many ways in which you can volunteer with your time, skills and even networking. For us to better understand you are requested to fill up this volunteering form. Also please get in touch with the nearest Building Dreams Foundation office for some local opportunities and to connect with the local network of volunteer in your state.. Interactions with others who have been volunteering with Building Dreams Foundation for many years will also give you some great ideas. For more queries on volunteering you can write to Ms. Juhi Pandey at Juhi@BuildingDreams.Org.In

Q: I live abroad but I want to volunteer/intern at Building Dreams Foundation. What do I need to do?

Ans; First off ,if you can fill the volunteering form to share more information about you. Also please make sure your that you have all the requisite visa requirements and permissions from the Indian Government in place. For internships we would also need a letter from your academic institution backing your application.

How do you raise funds for regular functioning?

BUILDING DREAMS FOUNDATION manages its funds through income from three different sources.
• Individual donations: from people who have gone beyond giving us their material only and understood the fact that we also need money to manage the entire logistics of reaching material from cities to the villages.
• Corporate/Institutes/Retails: contribute to Building Dreams Foundation general funds or partner with us on specific projects.
• Funding from funding agencies: from time to time we get funding limited to certain projects or for certain duration.

How do I make monetary contribution to BUILDING DREAMS FOUNDATION?

Here are some options below to contribute:
• For Direct/Online Contributaon – click here
• You can also make a cheque / draft in the name of BUILDING DREAMS FOUNDATION and send to BUILDING DREAMS FOUNDATION, Thakurpur Road , near Doon valley International School, Premnagar , Dehradun- 248007
• For receipts, please send your name, amount, email ID, tel no. and address to Juhi@BuildingDreams.Org.In , with date & mode of transfer, transfer code/cheque number, Bank’s name and location with last 4 digits of your account number.

How much tax exemption will I get for my monetary contribution to BUILDING DREAMS FOUNDATION?

50 % rebate.

Can you tell me how exactly my money has been utilized & for what purpose?

All small and one-time contributions go into our pool of funds for carrying on our multiple activities in education, food, environment and empowerment programs. It is thus difficult to specify the exact utilization of each person’s contribution. However, if you or your organisation contributes to a specific project/activity which takes a few months to complete, we provide a monitoring and evaluation timely reports to keep the donor abreast of the progress and a final report. You could also refer to our Annual Reports.

If I want to send money by cheque/draft, in whose name shall I make the cheque?

All donations should be made in the name of BUILDING DREAMS FOUNDATION. Please make sure you get the receipt for the same and also please give us your details (Pan no, name, address, email id, contact no) at the time of making the contribution. We need this information as a statutory requirement under the law.

How do I organize collection in my office/colony/schools? What kind of support BUILDING DREAMS FOUNDATION will provide to initiate the collection?

We request you speak with us to know exactly the what, where, how, when, why you are choosing to undertake this activity. We can then guide you on next steps to be taken before initiating a collection drive. If need be, we may also provide you leaflets for local publicity and manpower. Organizing a collection drive may sound like a simple thing, but having done it consistently for the last many years, trust us that we know where the usual bottlenecks come up. We want your collection drive to be a big success, it not only helps us, it encourages more people to take up this kind of initiative. Happy to hear from you on Contact@Bdf.Ngo

If I want to open a dropping center at my place, what is the procedure?

If you are in the cities where we have our own operations you can get in touch with our offices to find out more about setting up a dropping center.
Write to us on Contact@Bdf.Ngo
9775807086 / 6295649511

Q; I notice that there is no volunteer run Dropping Center in my area. I want to start one in my home. How can I do this and who should I talk to, to guide me on this?

Ans; Thanks first for your offer to open a volunteer run dropping center in your area. For a permanent dropping center, most important thing is how you will be reaching the collected material regularly to the nearest Building Dreams Foundation office (Detail of our office on this link – https://Building Dreams Foundation.org/our-offices/ ). Please do share your thoughts on this. Also we request you to visit our office and processing center to see and understand our work first hand to understand in detail what we do & how. For more details on what goes into opening and running a dropping center please write to Juhi@BuildingDreams.Org.
Meanwhile some other options to begin your connect with Building Dreams Foundation;
• You can start by organizing a collection camp/drive in your working /residential area. You can involve your family and friends in this fun and hugely satisfying process. See this video to know how we organize collection camps – https://bit.ly/2KNili3 on how to organize a Building Dreams Foundation camp/drive. Please write to Contact@Bdf.Ngo if you wish to organize one..
• With Material Giving, Money Matters for Building Dreams Foundation. This is needed for the huge logistical and transportation costs involved in reaching the material to remote villages of the country. One can also sign up for Team 5000 to become a regular contributor. There are many other options for contributing to Building Dreams Foundation’s pan India work on difficult rural issues. refer https://BuildingDreamsFoundation.org/donate/
· You can also tap into your vast network of family and friends to spread the word about Building Dreams Foundation’s work.

What are various Initiatives that BUILDING DREAMS FOUNDATION is involved with?

With its primary focus on channelizing resources from the cities to the villages, BUILDING DREAMS FOUNDATION works on following programmes :
Education
1. Door Step School
2. Digi-Ed
3. Navadha School
4. Back To School

Food
1. Meals on Wheels
2. Food For All
3. Zero Food Wastage

Empowement
1. Aasha Project
2. Sanitary Pad For All and Awareness Program
3. Adult literacy program

Environment
1. Cleanliness Drive
2. Plantation Drive
3. Ecobricks (Plastic Upcycling)

I am writing on behalf of a corporate. We really like the work of Building Dreams Foundation. How can we connect with your work?

Building Dreams Foundation has been working with national and MNC corporates from different sectors, for many years now.
1. As an organization you can connect with our work through
– CSR funded projects
– Giving your surplus/2-3 months to expiry inventory
– Giving your surplus office material like furniture/IT equipment
– Matching grants to employee payroll giving

2. Engaging your Employees
– Special campaigns involving employees in giving campaigns motivating your teams to contribute their surplus material.
– Organising environment friendly recycled Green By Building Dreams Foundation products stalls.
– Sessions and visits to sensitise teams about rural issues or value of recycle and reuse with Building Dreams Foundation.
– Payroll Giving – employees can support Building Dreams Foundation work with payroll giving on a regular basis or for its disaster relief and rehab work.
– Connect with some innovative giving ideas at Building Dreams Foundation.

To know more about corporate engagement please write to Contact@Bdf.Ngo

I am a research scholar and am writing on one of the issues Building Dreams Foundation is working on. I have some queries about your work. Who should I speak to?

We hope you have gone through our website bdf.ngo thoroughly to understand the work we do. It would be great if you visit our centres to see and experience the issues we work with. This experience may help you with your research. Do send in your queries to Contact@Bdf.Ngo with a letter from your research institution.