At True Gifts—part of the Bhoomika Trust formed after the Gujarat earthquake in 2001—the gift money is given to an NGO of your choice and you get a voucher that can be presented as a gift. Bhoomika Trust follows up with that NGO to ensure proper use of your money and updates you about it three weeks later. "Bhoomika’s strength lies in linking NGOs, businesses, community-based groups and government," informs programme manager Latha Subramaniam.
Murali’s gift helped meet a month’s expenses of a resident of Adaikalam, a home for mentally ill women, and provide cots and spectacles to the inmates of a residential centre for the aged destitute. "This is your best-ever birthday gift to me," remarked his father....