Question 1

Who funds the Foundation?

Accepted Answer

Most of our income is corporate CSR, and the largest single donor is our founding partner Dollu Ltd. The rest comes from other companies' CSR spend, institutional grants and a small amount of individual giving. The split is published on the transparency page and updated annually.

Question 2

What share of my money reaches the field?

Accepted Answer

87% of spend goes to programme delivery, with a further 8% on the monitoring and field supervision that makes delivery work. Fundraising is 3% and governance and administration 2%. We would rather show a slightly lower programme share and count monitoring honestly than bury it.

Question 3

Is my donation tax deductible?

Accepted Answer

Eligibility depends on your circumstances and on our exemption certificates, which are listed on the governance page. We confirm the position that applies to you in writing before you give, rather than making a general claim on a website.

Question 4

Why is there no donate button?

Accepted Answer

Individual giving is a small share of our income and we would rather every individual donor has actually spoken to someone here, seen the accounts and had their questions answered first. Write to us and we will set it up properly.

Question 5

How do you choose where to work?

Accepted Answer

We pick the district before the programme. The criteria are need, whether the local administration will genuinely work with us, and whether we can stay for at least three years. A place we can only visit once does not qualify.

Question 6

Do you work only on digital projects?

Accepted Answer

No. We started with connectivity because it is what our parent company knows how to do well, but we now run 11 states of work across health, water, nutrition, education, livelihoods, elderly care, disability inclusion, child welfare, animal welfare, environment and heritage.

Question 7

Can I visit a project?

Accepted Answer

Yes, and we encourage it. Site visits are arranged through the partnerships team, subject to our child protection policy - which means no unaccompanied access to children and no photography without consent.

Question 8

How do you measure impact?

Accepted Answer

Late, and at the point where programmes usually fail: twelve months for placements and connectivity, twenty-four months for water points, three years for tree survival. Figures go into the annual report whether they rose or fell.

Question 9

What happens if a programme is not working?

Accepted Answer

The programmes committee can close it. That has happened, and the closure and the reasoning appear in the annual report. A programme that quietly disappears from a charity's reporting is a warning sign, so we do not do that.

Question 10

How can I volunteer?

Accepted Answer

Tell us your skills, your location and how much time you can genuinely sustain. The volunteering that helps most is regular rather than one-off - the same mentor for a year, the same weekly call. Everything goes through the screening our child protection policy requires. Write to volunteer@dollu.org.

Question 11

Do you accept equipment rather than money?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Working laptops and tablets go into device libraries; network equipment goes into community connectivity sites; end-of-life electronics are routed to certified recyclers with a certificate returned to you. If we cannot genuinely use something we will say so rather than accept it and quietly dispose of it.

Question 12

How do I raise a concern about the Foundation?

Accepted Answer

Concerns involving a child or an adult at risk go directly to grievance@dollu.org, an inbox that programme staff do not read. You can report anonymously. Everything else can go to hello@dollu.org and will reach the executive team.

Question 13

Do you campaign politically or promote religion?

Accepted Answer

No. Donor funds are never used for political lobbying or to promote any religion, and our programmes are open to everyone in a village regardless of faith, caste or politics. This is written into our donation acceptance policy.

Question 14

Are you related to Dollu Ltd?

Accepted Answer

Dollu Ltd founded the Foundation and remains its largest donor and technology partner, contributing bandwidth, engineering time and hardware at cost. The Foundation is a separate legal entity with its own board, its own accounts and its own audit.

The questions people actually ask.

Frequently asked questions.

Ask us the one that is not on this list.