Akanksha was born when a group of friends started volunteering on weekends at public hospitals and homes for destitute children and women in Chennai in 1998.

Akanksha Public Charitable Trust was created on July 15, 2000 in Chennai, Tamilnadu and was registered soon after when some of its volunteers decided to devote more time and energy to Akanksha to make it their primary work.

Akanksha works to learn along with and support individuals caught up in life's unfortunate circumstances.

The Chairman of Akanksha Public Charitable Trust, Khodadad Moradian has more than three decades of experience in business and financial consulting. Dr Oswin Thayal, a senior pulmonologist and medical diagnostics entrepreneur is a trustee and was the Chairman of the Trust for a decade since its inception. Prayaag Joshi, currently a teacher and an erstwhile tax advisor is the executive arm of the board of trustees. He works full time on the activities of the trust.

The three trustees work together in a spirit of camaraderie and determine the work of the trust increasingly in consultation with its many beneficiaries who are still very young people.

The trust works with individuals through collaborative initiatives in areas of education, health, livelihoods, culture and ecology especially engaging with the old, the young and women.

ANEW - Association for Non-traditional Employment for Women, based in Anna Nagar, Chennai, is an NGO committed to the cause of upliftment of underprivileged women.

Young, underprivileged women are selected and trained so that they can become financially independent. They have trained over 9500 candidates since the inception and currently train around 900 candidates per annum.

The training courses include: Auto/Car driving, Home nursing (co-certified by Sundaram Medical Foundation), Basic Computer Applications (co-certified by NIIT Foundation), Basic IT program customised for hearing impaired (co-certified by NIIT Foundation), Desk Top Publishing Applications (co-certified by NIIT Foundation), TALLY & Accounting (co-certified by Veetech software solutions), Web Designing (co-certified by NIIT Foundation), Optometry (co-certified by Sight Care Foundation).

All their courses have mandatory spoken English and counselling classes to improve their scope of employability. Internships are provided whenever there are corporate opportunities available."

Three like-minded friends in the year 2006 related closely to the need for quality education and believed a solution that creates educationally empowered youth capable of active participation and development of the community they belong to will make them self-reliant, and self-sustainable.

Thus, Bhumi – India’‘s largest independent youth volunteering organisation was established in the year 2006 with a vision to help build a more influential, equal and socially conscious society and a mission to drive social change by fostering an environment where young adults & children learn, lead and thrive. Bhumi as a platform enables over 20,000 volunteers in over 12 cities across India for causes like education, environment, animals and community welfare.

With an aim to render quality education, Bhumi provides comprehensive educational support for over 25,000 underprivileged children across India to help them break the cycle of poverty. Bhumi bridges the gaps in formal education and opportunities by providing language and STEAM education, life-skills support and scholarships for higher education:

- through volunteers at orphanages during weekends

- at low-income (private and government) schools with development support for teachers

- education at after-school community centres in urban slums

Most of our volunteers are students or working professionals under the age of 30 and go through mandatory orientation and in return gain immensely through our Leadership programme. Through this platform, the volunteers progress to more leadership roles and responsibility where they switch to education sector from the experiences gained from Bhumi. While holistic education is imparted to the children, Bhumi’‘s young volunteers are also transformed into socially conscious leaders in the education sector.

DEAN Foundation provides Palliative Care services to the urban poor of Chennai, Coimbatore and Kancheepuram districts. Patients are referred to DEAN Foundation by doctors. They also approach through word of mouth referrals, website and through social media.

Over 80% of the patients are from the lower income group. With no financial means, terminal illnesses like cancer leaves them traumatised both physically and mentally. Cancer patients form about 78% of the total patients treated.

The organisation primarily works in the area of pain relief. Once diagnosed with terminal illness, treatments are gradually stopped and patients are only left with pain management during the rest of their lives. This involves both medicines that are ingested as well as periodic change in dressing of the tumours. The family members of the patients are also trained to nurse the patients and administer the medicines as required.

There are two forms of services - Out-patient services and Home Based Care. Out-patient care is for patients who are able to come to the office or have family members who are mobile. Home Based Care is primarily for patients who are immobile. In addition to this they also work with the Department of health & Family Welfare and State health Society, Govt. of Tamil Nadu actively to provide training and create awareness.

The foundation of EKAM Foundation lies in the belief that every child has the freedom to live and none should be denied the right to healthcare. Thus, they are committed to the healthcare of neonates, children, adolescents, and mothers from underprivileged communities. Their primary focus is on rural health and they aim to achieve this through direct medical support and indirectly through community awareness, empowerment, and participation.

EKAM intervenes to bring a desired positive impact on the overall life-saving scenario by providing support and enhancing their health through several initiatives. They supplement care at primary health centers, district hospitals, and other tertiary care government hospitals by training nurses, helping in maintaining critical equipment, transporting sick infants to the nearest district hospitals, providing lab test support, drugs and medicines in select government hospitals. In addition to this, several camps, training programs, empowerment workshops are organized to create awareness among adolescent girls, expectant mothers, and the community.

Their mission is to complete the government health system and not replace it. As of last year, EKAM has reached out to over 1.08 million children and as many families through its multi-pronged initiatives.

Sankara Eye Hospital is an ISO 9001 certified, state of the art multi-specialty eye hospital located at Pammal, a well-developed suburb of Chennai City.

This hospital has been functioning as an exclusive eye care center with a singular vision of providing high-quality care to all segments of society, rich or poor. The Hospital offers nine specialty services (Cataract, Refractive, Cornea, Glaucoma, Retina, Orbit & Oculoplasty, Uvea, Neuro-Ophthal, Pediatric Ophthal) and support services like Contact Lens, Prosthetic eye, and Low Vision Clinic.

This hospital runs a charitable eye care program for the poor under the name 'Kannoli Vision Saver' project. State-of-the-art outpatient facilities exist for examination of all eye disorders and a team of highly skilled Optometry technicians and Ophthalmologists provide personalized and professionally competent care. The three-storied hospital has 140 beds, 20 independent bath-attached rooms, and a modern hygienic kitchen to cater nutritious food for the patients.

The hospital has four sophisticated and fully equipped operation theaters and a team of very highly committed and talented staff apart from 12 senior eye surgeons. The hospital currently carries out an average of 60 surgeries every day and has performed over 250,000 vision-restoring surgeries till now.

Located in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, Sankara Nethralaya has grown tremendously since its commencement thanks to the unconditional and generous support received from all quarters of society and has gained international excellence for its quality and affordable eye care services.

Its goals include providing quality ophthalmic care at affordable cost to patients, free eye care treatment to indigent patients and teaching and training an army of personnel to combat blindness affecting the population of India.Today, the institute has over 84 eye care professionals examining around 2,600 patients and performing around 200 surgeries every day.

About 50 % of the out-patient department and 35 % of the surgeries are done free of cost to the underprivileged. It offers state-of-the-art facilities and has 32 operation theaters equipped with the latest equipment. Sankara Nethralaya is one of the leading super specialty institutions for ophthalmic care in India. Sankara Nethralaya, meaning "The Temple of the Eye", was founded in 1978 as a unit of Medical Research Foundation.

Sri Arunodayam is a Registered Charitable Trust that was founded to fill the gap of awareness and medical facilities for the marginalized sections of humanity. The organization has built its foundation on humanitarian values that uphold the dignity and right of this much-neglected section of the society and have set out with a vision to ensure that the mentally challenged children remain safe and enjoy equal opportunities.

With a staff of over 50, the organization has worked relentlessly towards providing care and protection to the mentally challenged abandoned children and has promoted the rights of such children along with encouraging the society to integrate them. The organization has provided food, medical care, clothing, physiotherapy, special education and speech therapy to 106 children and restored 77 abandoned Mentally Challenged Children with their parents.

Their honorable work was awarded the World of Children Award by the World of Children Foundation for their Humanitarian service and the Duruva Star Award by the Sudesi Magazine for their service to the Mentally Challenged. With an emphasis on ability rather than disability, their core values reflected in their work include Transparency, Credibility, Equality, Compassion, Dignity, and Inclusion

Founded in 1993, The Tamilnad Kidney Research Foundation was set up primarily to provide financial assistance to underprivileged patients for dialysis, transplantation, investigation and medication costs. The Foundation also aims to encourage organ donation at the time of death. TANKER was started by Dr. Georgi Abraham along with a group of like-minded individuals. From providing financial assistance to needy patients and spreading awareness to providing subsidized and free dialysis, TANKER has taken every effort to live up to its vision. It currently provides services in the following areas:

Dialysis: A person suffering from kidney failure can survive only when he/she undergoes dialysis or a kidney transplantation. Haemodialysis involves the use of an artificial kidney termed "Dialyser", which emulates the functions of a normal kidney. It needs to be done 2-3 times a week and is an expensive process. TANKER Foundation has made dialysis affordable for economically backward sections using their Subsidised Units. Dialysis in a private hospital costs anywhere between Rs 1500 to Rs. 2500. At TANKER, dialysis is offered either free or at a subsidised rate of Rs. 375 to patients. It costs TANKER Rs.1100 for every dialysis. The shortfall of Rs.725 is covered by donations from well wishers. Presently 377 patients benefit from this every month.

Fistula- An A V fistula is essential for dialysis. This is created surgically by joining a vein to an artery in the area of the wrist. Impure blood is first drawn from the fistula on the patient's wrist, passed through the dialyser machine and clean blood is returned to the patient. A Fistula surgery costs between Rs. 10,000/- to Rs. 15,000/-, which is beyond what many patients can afford.

Financial Support- The Foundation helps needy patients from all over India by offering them one-time contributions ranging from Rs.1,500/- to Rs.20,000/- towards transplantation, investigation and post-transplantation medication costs.

Research grants- The importance of advances in Kidney research is recognised by TANKER. Funding is provided to research projects for studies in various aspects of kidney disease.

Internships and training- TANKER at its various dialysis units provides training and internship for budding nurses, lab technicians and those looking at Administrative roles. The Foundation is also a training ground for students of Social Work, Public Relations and Sociology.

Organ Donation- TANKER encourages deceased-donor organ donation that can be a boon for not just kidney patients but also for others suffering from life threatening ailments. Deceased-donor organ donation is not very popular in our country and hence the recipient waiting lists are long.

Deceased-donor organ donation consists of removing viable organs from brain dead donors and then transplanting them into a living patient who needs it. Soon after a patient is declared brain dead (the patient is dead but the heart maintains circulation usually with mechanical ventilation support), the organs are harvested. The harvested organs are then kept cold to delay the natural decaying process. These are then transplanted to the needy patient.

TANKER under the Deceased-Donor Transplantation Programme, sponsored a meeting of surgeons and physicians in October, 2005. Their recommendation to the health Secretary resulted in the expansion of the panel of specialists who certify brain-stem death. The TANKER Trustee Doctors were part of the team that performed the first government approved multi organ deceased-donor transplant in December 1995. TANKER also supports MOHAN (Multi Organ Harvesting Aid Network) Foundation in creating awareness about deceased-donor organ donation.

Mental illness and its treatment are still seen as a taboo in our society. While most walk away from this issue, the Banyan made sure it stood up, extended its branches and picked up the fallen leaves to breathe new life into them again.

A handful of people who believed in the cause built the Banyan almost a quarter of a decade ago, with hopes, dreams and very light pockets. Their perseverance has today resulted in reaching out to many benefactors who are helping in taking care of the mentally ill who have no means of fending for themselves.

The programs at the Banyan include sponsoring of doctors and psychiatrists for their in-house patients and providing lunch for the residents. Based out of Tamil Nadu, they have rural as well as urban clinics, rescuing and serving almost 2000 patients with a strength of over 150 volunteers and 200 staff on board.

Vidyarambam is dedicated to providing enjoyable quality education to all under-privileged pre-primary and primary children to encourage them to successfully continue their education. It started out of a passion for disadvantaged rural children who were not getting a quality education.

Mr. V. Ranganathan, Founder, and President is basically an Automobile Engineer worked in India and the Middle East in Managerial capacity. He is retired and he devotes his time entirely to the Trust. He asks-Can we do not provide enjoyable education to attract children? Can we remove the social injustice of denying them a quality education at the vulnerable age?

Close to 8600 Primary and Middle School children have been served in the lifetime of the foundation. Support classes are conducted for over 1200 junior and senior school children

In 2012, Midtown's was awarded the Best digital Literacy Center by the Vidyarambam Trust Digital Literacy.

The foundation until today has changed 25000 lives directly and indirectly