Bidyanondo Foundation is a Bangladeshi voluntary organization working with children. The organization provides basic education, food, medical and legal services to street children, the disadvantaged poor and underprivileged children. The institution was awarded the Ekushey Padak 2023 from the Government of Bangladesh.
| Based | December 22, 2013 |
|---|---|
| Founder | Kishor Kumar Das |
| Type | Non-profit organisation |
| Registration No. | S-12258/2015 |
Area served | Bangladesh |
| Website | www |
History
The Bidyanondo Foundation was established on November 22, 2013 in Narayanganj. Then in March 2014, the branch in Chittagong and finally in 2021, the twelfth branch of Vidyananda was opened in Khagrachari. Vidyananda has a total of 17 branches.
Activities
The Bidyanondo Foundation does several things for underprivileged children. Notable activities of the organization include providing basic education to underprivileged children, individual one-rupee meals, medical and legal services. The Vidyananda Foundation has two separate orphanages on its own land in Ramu and Rajbari, Bangladesh. The organization runs projects such as free libraries, publications and orphanages. Its founder Kishore Kumar Das received the Commonwealth Award in April 2022.
Funding
The Bidyanondo Foundation is a small non-profit organization, with only 40 full-time employees as of 2019. [23] According to Vidyananda’s founder, Kishore Kumar Das, his budget in 2017 was around 20,000,000 Bangladeshi Taka (250,000 USD in 2017). [24] In 2020, financial assistance came from around 5,000 donors, most of them from Bangladesh. But a large part of the donation comes from abroad. [25]
Critical
In April 2023, Vidyananda’s controversy erupted due to the unauthorized use of another’s photo and misrepresentations in a Facebook post about the Bangabazar fire. [26] [27] Soon after, netizens started posting various inconsistencies in Vidyananda’s past activities, including the same cow posted repeatedly under different names at different times, a person called Majid Chacha sometimes being an old man, a boatman at different positions. , paupers, day laborers, dead-end travellers, petty traders, etc. [28] [29] [30] The criticism was followed by an apology from the company.
