Titus Educational Endowment Fund

About IRCDS

Integrated Rural Community Development Society (IRCDS) is an NGO established by Thiru. P. Titus in the year 1986. He founded IRCDS with a vision to serve the poor and marginalized people of Tiruvallur District. It is a value-based organization, striving to build capacity of the people, in order that they are responsible for their own development. The mission of IRCDS is to build knowledge, skills, , noble values and continue to be of service to humankind as founder Thiru. P. Titus envisioned. IRCDS works with and for women, children and persons with disabilities particularly from vulnerable and marginalized communities have been organized into  community based organizations to  actively participate in their development and well-being.

IRCDS always prefers to work with  Government  at different levels to ensure quality delivery of services related to education, health, nutrition and Livelihood to marginalized communities. IRCDS has been serving as a  member in various committees formed by government at district level in Tiruvallur.

About IRCDS Founder

Thiru, P. Titus has completed Bachelor’s in science, Masters in Sociology and Education and served as a school teacher for 24 years. His contribution for the past 35 years to the development of rural marginalized communities has been well recognized and awarded by the Government, Lions Club, Chennai Citizen Forum and reputed NGOs across the country. The staff members at IRCDS were rattled by the sad, sudden and untimely demise of their beloved Founder and Executive Secretary/ Director of IRCDS, Thiru. P. Titus on 2^nd May 2021.

He was a social worker par excellence, a devoted leader, grass-root worker, able manager and above all a nice human being who showered love,  affection and was compassionate with everyone he met. He led IRCDS for the past 35 years and now the organisation stands tall as one of the reputed institutions in the state.

But as they say, “The Show Must Go On” and all the staff members of IRCDS have taken this loss in their strides and will ensure the legacy of Thiru. P. Titus continues to thrive. IRCDS continues to address the root causes of poverty through its dedicated team of professional and experienced staff members.

The board of IRCDS has entrusted the leadership of IRCDS with   Mr. P. Stephen as Executive Secretary. Mr. Stephen has completed Diploma in Civil Engineering, Master of Philosophy in Sociology, Masters in Public Administration and PG in Guidance and Counselling. He has 32 years of experience in IRCDS and managing different development projects.

“Titus Educational Endowment Fund”

Thiru.Titus was a teacher and had clear understanding about the grassroot reality of socially & economically poor families. He used to support children’s education in multiple ways both personally as well as working along with Educational Department and different NGO partners. His dream was to ensure higher education of children  to improve their quality of life.

In order to add value in realizing  his dreams, IRCDS has planned to create a fund called “Titus Educational Endowment Fund” to support deserving orphan/ semi orphan, children/ youth belonging to socially excluded communities ( dalits, tribals and differently abled ) and other marginalized vulnerable communities who are faced with challenges in continuing their higher education due to poverty to pursue their higher education ( after 10^th / 12^th grade) .

Objectives of the Endowment Fund :

• To support the needy children and youth from vulnerable and excluded communities particularly girls in grades 10 and above to continue their education
• To save girl children from  child / early  marriage by assisting them financially to continue their education.

Activities will be carried out to realise the objectives :

• Mobilise financial contributions to build this Endowment Fund and IRCDS envisions mobilizing about Rs. 15 lakhs within the next 3 years.
• Identify most deserving children/ youth for scholarship support (priority will be given to girls)
• Provide career guidance / mentoring support
• Educate communities about the  negative impact of child/ early marriages and importance of education
• Share the impact utilization of the Endowment fund with the well-wishers/ donors periodically

Mode of operation and scope of coverage :

• Initially IRCDS will contribute 2 lakhs from its own sources for establishing the endowment  fund.
• Donations from individuals/ well-wishers/ donors, NGOs and others  will be received and deposited in the designated bank account.

• Funds will be kept in the form of fixed deposit (FD) with the Indian Overseas Bank,Tiruvallur Branch ( Local contribution) and Indian Overseas Branch, Manavala Nagar Branch ( Foreign Contribution) for this “ Titus Educational Endowment Fund”. Bank interest will be used to provide scholarship support ( to the identified children and youth . Initially, out of seed money Rs two lakhs,  Rs One lakh will be kept  as fixed deposit and the remaining Rs one lakh will be used for giving scholarship during first year. It is expected that Rs. 15 lakhs will be mobilized within a period of three years. The bank interest will be used to support deserving and needy children/youth to join and continue their higher education.

• Once application received from the needy students, IRCDS staff will do house visits and assess the family situation and provide all information to IRCDS steering committee (Educational Endowment fund).
• A Steering committee will be formed to scrutinize the applications and select the children/youth for educational assistance.
• On a half yearly basis this committee would review the applications and conduct one to one interview (online/ offline) and take decisions.

Educational assistance will be provided to needy and deserving children and youth by directly transferring/paying the fees to the concerned school/college/educational institution.. Annual audit will be conducted as part of IRCDS general accounts and exclusive audited certified financial reports will be shared with the well-wishers/ donors. Four pages Quarterly “E” Newsletter will be circulated about the funding position, children/youth supported and the progress made through this Educational Endowment fund.

All funds received for this purpose will be kept exclusively for this purpose. No other administrative expenses will be met from this fund. Existing IRCDS staff/ admin support will be used to carry out the required work to realize the purpose of this Educational Endowment Fund.

Criteria for selection, terms and conditions

• Orphan /Semi orphan children who lost their mother/ father due to COVID among socially excluded and other marginalized/vulnerable communities will be considered. Among them, children/youth who are multiple vulnerable particularly from Dalits, tribals, girls and differently abled will be given priority.
• Educational scholarship to students as grant to the maximum of Rs.20000/ - per student /year will be given.

Review meeting with the supported students and Convergence with other programs of IRCDS:

• IRCDS will also provide career guidance, counselling and mentoring support to children / youth who will be supported through this Educational Endowment Fund. IRCDS will facilitate these children’s families to access eligible social security schemes from the Government and link with other programmes of IRCDS and other NGOs to enable them to overcome poverty.

• Once in six months, we will conduct review meetings with the scholarship supported children/youth to understand their progress, challenges and support them appropriately. On such occasions, we will invite our well-wishers/ donors / Mr.Titus’ family members to interact with the children/ youth directly.

Founder’s Day

• In addition to that, we have planned to observe Thiru.Titus’s Birthday (11^th May) as founder’s day every year by conducting  free medical camps, tree plantation, and convergence camp to access Govt social security schemes/ educational benefits by the most deserving children/ youth / dalit & tribal families in the remote villages by inviting Thiru.Titus’ family members.

Legal status:

• IRCDS is registered under the Tamil Nadu Societies registration Act, 1975( Registration Number 44/ 86 dated 20.10.1986.
• It has registered under Income Tax Act, 1961 and has 80 G Income tax exemption .Donations to IRCDS are tax-deductible ( 50 % tax benefit ). We will send official receipts by regular mail for the donors
• IRCDS is also registered with the Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India under Foreign Contribution Regulation Act, 1976 ( FCRA) . Registration Number 076020050

Contact Details:

Integrated Rural Community Development Society

#13, Dr. Abdul Kalam Street, MDM Nagar, Tiruvallur – 602001

Tiruvallur District, Tamil Nadu

Phone: 044 27660084

Email: ircds1986@gmail.com   Website: http://ircds.in/

Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/ircdsindia

Contact Persons for this Endowment Fund

P. Stephen, Executive Secretary Mobile: 9443417433 / 9566047433

D. Vijayan, Program Manager : 9159711841

T. Antony Damian, Volunteer Coordinator, Mobile: 9940503779