Glossary
The Indian non-profit sector runs on abbreviations. Here is what the ones on this site actually mean — for donors, CSR teams, and anyone reading an NGO's paperwork for the first time.
Giving & tax
80G
A section of India's Income Tax Act. When a charity holds a valid 80G registration, an Indian taxpayer who donates to it can deduct 50% of the donation from their taxable income. The deduction is claimed when filing a return, using the receipt the charity issues.
BSS holds a current 80G registration. The certificate and its registration number are on the documents page.
See for yourself12A
The registration that makes a charitable organisation's own income exempt from income tax. It is separate from 80G: 12A is about the charity's tax position, 80G is about the donor's. Most Indian charities need both.
BSS holds a current 12A registration; the certificate is published.
See for yourselfForm 10BD
An annual statement every 80G-registered charity files with the Income Tax Department, listing each donation it received and the donor's PAN. It is what allows the tax department to pre-verify a donor's deduction claim.
BSS files Form 10BD each year. This is why the donation form asks for a PAN — without it, a donation cannot be reported and the donor cannot claim the deduction.
See for yourselfForm 10BE
The certificate a charity issues to a donor after filing Form 10BD. It is the document a donor keeps as proof of an 80G-eligible donation. Issued once a year, after the filing.
PANPermanent Account Number
India's ten-character tax identification number. Organisations have one, and so do individuals. A donor's PAN is required to report a donation under Form 10BD; an organisation's PAN identifies it to the tax department.
BSS's own PAN is published on the documents page — it identifies the organisation and is meant to be public. A donor's personal PAN is not published anywhere.
See for yourselfCorpus donation
A donation given with a written instruction that it be held as capital rather than spent on running costs. Charities usually invest it and use the returns. Ordinary donations, by contrast, are spent on programmes in the year they arrive.
Registrations
FCRAForeign Contribution (Regulation) Act
The law governing whether an Indian organisation may accept money from outside India. Registration is granted by the Ministry of Home Affairs, must be renewed periodically, and requires foreign funds to be received into one designated bank account and reported annually. Most Indian charities do not hold it.
BSS holds a current FCRA registration, so it can legally accept donations from abroad. The certificate and the annual returns are published.
See for yourselfCSR-1
A registration with the Ministry of Corporate Affairs that an organisation must hold before an Indian company may route its statutory CSR spending to it. Without CSR-1, a company legally cannot count a grant to that organisation towards its CSR obligation.
BSS is CSR-1 registered, which is what makes it eligible to receive corporate CSR funding.
See for yourselfSchedule VII
The list in India's Companies Act naming the activities that qualify as CSR — education, healthcare, women's empowerment, rural development and others. A company's CSR spending must fall within it.
BSS's programmes fall under the education, healthcare and women's-empowerment entries.
See for yourselfNGO Darpan
The Indian government's public register of voluntary organisations, run by NITI Aayog. A Darpan ID is required to apply for most government grants, and the register is open for anyone to search.
BSS is registered on NGO Darpan; the registration document is published.
See for yourselfSociety
One of the three legal forms an Indian non-profit can take (the others being a trust and a section 8 company). A society is created by a Memorandum of Association signed by its founding members and registered with a state Registrar of Societies. It is governed by an elected managing committee.
BSS is a society, registered in Rajasthan in 1992.
See for yourselfProgrammes
TITargeted Intervention
India's national approach to HIV prevention among groups at highest risk. A TI project is sanctioned to reach a set number of people in a district and provides outreach, counselling, testing referral and treatment support through a drop-in centre.
BSS runs a TI project for people who inject drugs in Ajmer district.
See for yourselfIDUInjecting Drug User
The public-health term for people who inject drugs — one of the groups India's HIV programme designates as high-risk, because shared injecting equipment transmits HIV and hepatitis efficiently.
See for yourselfNACONational AIDS Control Organisation
The division of India's Ministry of Health that runs the national HIV/AIDS programme, sets the standards TI projects work to, and commissions their evaluations.
NACO commissioned the evaluation of BSS's Ajmer TI project and graded it Good.
See for yourselfRSACSRajasthan State AIDS Control Society
The state-level body that funds and supervises HIV programmes in Rajasthan, working under NACO. It is the funder of TI projects in the state, not their evaluator.
RSACS funds BSS's TI project in Ajmer.
See for yourselfDrop-in Centre
A small, deliberately low-barrier space where people from a high-risk group can come without an appointment — for counselling, basic health services, referral, or simply somewhere safe. Central to how a TI project reaches people who avoid formal healthcare.
See for yourselfGram Panchayat
The elected council governing a village or cluster of villages — the smallest unit of local government in rural India. Programme reach in rural India is often counted in Gram Panchayats because it maps to real administrative areas.
Anganwadi
A government-run village centre providing early childhood care, supplementary nutrition, immunisation support and pre-school education, under India's Integrated Child Development Services scheme.
How NGOs work
Statutory audit
The annual audit of a charity's accounts by an independent chartered accountant, required by law. The auditor's report, their firm's registration number and their signature appear on the audited accounts, so anyone reading them can identify and verify who did the audit.
BSS's audited accounts are published on the documents page. Earlier years are available from the registered office on request.
See for yourselfForm 10B
The audit report a charitable organisation files with the Income Tax Department alongside its return, prepared by its auditor. It sets out income, how it was applied to charitable purposes, and details of the organisation's governing members.
Utilisation certificate
A document, usually signed by a chartered accountant, confirming that a specific grant was spent on what it was given for. Corporate and institutional funders normally require one at the end of a project.
See for yourselfGoverning body
The group legally responsible for a non-profit — setting direction, approving budgets and overseeing management. In a society it is the elected managing or executive committee. Members are typically unpaid.
BSS's governing body and its members are listed on the members page.
See for yourselfBeneficiary
The person a programme is intended to help. Counts are usually split into direct beneficiaries (people the programme worked with itself) and indirect (people reached through them, such as family members), because the two numbers can differ by an order of magnitude.
Where BSS publishes both figures, each is labelled — the two are never added together or used interchangeably.
See for yourselfWhy the numbers aren't repeated here
This page explains what each registration is. BSS's own registration numbers live in one place — the documents page, beside the certificate that proves each one — so there is never a second copy to drift out of date. Every number there links to the certificate it comes from.