The Bombay Community Public Trust (BCPT) was the first community foundation to be established in India in July 1991. Community Foundations are permanently endowed charitable organisations that raise money from individuals, corporates, government as well as other funding agencies for enhancing the quality of life of the people in a limited geographical area. BCPT’s area of operations includes territories falling within the boundaries laid down by the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA). Like other community foundations, BCPT has certain unique features which sets it apart from other citizen initiatives:

Its mandate is limited to a geographic region but its canvass spans the entire development process.

It plays several roles – grant maker, vehicle for philanthropy, a catalyst and a network facilitator.

It collects funds and channels them to the most urgent needs of the region and to organisations that have demonstrated capabilities of project implementation.

BCPT’s mission is to bring about synergy between the resources of the individual and the community, between the donor and the doer, between the NGOs and administration, and between the activists and activities, to make Mumbai a better place.

Cumulatively, over the 12 years since its inception a total of Rs.451 lakh has been given to 199 projects. The focus areas are: education, senior citizens, health and nutrition, environment and waste management and promoting communal harmony.

During last year, one of the new initiatives of the Trust was raising public awareness on issues facing the city and encouraging people’s participation in the development of the city. Towards this end, we collected and developed a range of information about the city. Amongst these was a series of booklets on “Understanding our civic issues” which was recently released by Mr Johny Joseph, Municipal Commissioner. The series consist of nine booklets, which provide information on several issues affecting Mumbai city and its citizens relating to solid waste management, bio-medical waste management, sanitation, water supply, healthcare, open spaces, travel safety, care of senior citizens and early education of children. With the launch of these booklets, BCPT aims to raise awareness on these subjects among Mumbai’s public and citizen’s associations and encourage them to contribute to the development of the city. BCPT will also partner with the Mumbai Mahanagarpalika to help resolve these matters and improve the quality of life in Mumbai.

These informative booklets, which have been written by activists, academicians and journalists like Dr. Athar Qureshi, Dr. Ravikala Kamath, Ms. Jagruti Bhatia, Mr. Bejoy Davis, Mr. Ravindra Parasnis Mr. Vidyadhar Date, Ms. Surekha Sule and Ms. Seema Kamdar, address both infrastructure and human concerns. The focus of the texts is on facts and different facets of the issues giving the reader a sense of the dimension and complexity of the subject. We hope to continue the activity in the coming year, add new booklets as well as translate the existing ones in to Marathi.

These series will be widely distributed to various citizen groups, educational institutions, libraries, voluntary organisations and others and have also been placed on our website. This set of 9 booklets can be collected from our office for a nominal voluntary contribution of Rs.101/-.

BCPT also invites suggestions from readers on the above issues by calling on the numbers given below or by posting it on the organisation’s website.

Ms. Harsha Parekh (Executive Trustee) /

Ms. Dinaz Parab ( Project Executive)

The Bombay Community Public Trust
Earnest House,
7th floor Nariman Point
Mumbai 400 021
Tel: 2284 5928
Telefax: 2283 6672
Email: bcpt@vsnl.com

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