Bidyanondo Foundation is a Bangladeshi voluntary organization working with children . The organization provides basic education , food, medical and legal services to street children, underprivileged poor and underprivileged children . The institution was awarded the 2023 Ekushey Padak by the Government of Bangladesh.
| বিদ্যানন্দ ফাউন্ডেশন | |
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| Founded | 22 December 2013 |
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| Founder | Kishor Kumar Das |
| Type | Non Profit Organization |
| Registration no. | S-12258/2015 |
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Area served
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Bangladesh |
| Website | www |
History
Bidyanondo Foundation was established on 22 November 2013 in Narayanganj. Then in March 2014 Chittagong branch and finally in 2021 Vidyananda’s twelfth branch was opened in Khagrachari . Vidyananda has a total of 17 branches.
Activities
Bidyanondo Foundation does several things for underprivileged children. Notable activities of the organization include providing basic education to underprivileged children, individual meals at one rupee, medical and legal Providing services. 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.
Financing
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, its budget in 2017 was approximately 20,000,000 Bangladeshi Taka (US$250,000 as of 2017). [24] As of 2020, financial assistance came from about 5,000 donors, most of them from Bangladesh. But a large part of the donation comes from abroad. [25]
Criticism
In April 2023, the Vidyananda controversy erupted due to the unauthorized use of another’s photo and misrepresentation 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 being posted repeatedly using different names at different times, a person called Majid Chacha sometimes being an old man, a boatman in different posts. , destitute, day laborers, dead-end travelers, petty traders etc. [28] [29] [30] Criticism was followed by an apology from the company.