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Central Fund
For All - Pour Tous
Grants & Donations
data
1993-2001
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Generally
speaking, Auroville activities are financed by donations from Auroville
residents, through income generated by Auroville business units and
by international grants and donations. These activities are co-ordinated
by various Auroville working groups.
Presently,
the following bodies are functioning in Auroville's present
economic system:
The Central Fund
The Central Fund was
started in 1989 to collectively support Auroville's services and other
collective responsibilities.
Its income comes from:
- Commercial units, which contribute part of
their profits
- The Rs. 1200 scheme, under which each unit
contributes Rs. 1200 a month for each Aurovilian working for that
unit
- Contributions from guests and guesthouses
- Donations by individual Aurovilians
- 15% contributions from certain projects
- Interest on deposits with the Auroville Maintenance
Fund
The Central Fund distributes its income of approx.
Rs 35 lakhs (approx. US$ 75,000) per month to more than 40 activities
and Community Services. The Central Fund accounts are published each
month in the Auroville News. The Economy Group is responsible for administering
this Fund
The Central Fund budget specifically for the
maintenance of Aurovilians receives a great deal of attention. As of
today, the allocations for the basic subsistence of about 410 Aurovilians
and their families is under intense observation with the will to secure
a strong base for the well being of each one.
Community Services supported by the Central Fund:
Self-Sustainable Community Service:
Commercial units
Income generating Trusts co-ordinate the activities
of the various commercial units of Auroville.At
present there are over a hundred large and small commercial units, grouped
under fifteen Trusts (under the Auroville Foundation).
The various activities
of the units belong to the following categories:
- Natural handicrafts;
- Organic food processing;
- Construction engineering, architecture and solar
electronics;
- Ecological and cost friendly consultancy on
building and land use;
- Computer hardware and software;
- Retailing of AV products.
Auroville's commercial
units have an important role in Auroville's aim of becoming self-supporting.
They assist the community in maintaining its basic services and infrastructure.
They also provide employment/training for a few thousand workers/students
from neighbouring villages.
The Financial Service / The Auroville Maintenance Fund
The Financial Service started
in the eighties as an attempt to do away with cash transactions in Auroville
by keeping accounts of the cash holdings of Aurovilians. Since then,
nearly all transactions between units and Aurovilians are done through
transfers using these accounts. The Financial Service is the shorthand
name that Aurovilians use for the Auroville Maintenance Fund, but they
are actually identical.
Since July 1995, the Financial
Service/Auroville Maintenance Fund has successfully increased its income
from deposits by:
- Asking Aurovilians to transfer the amounts
they had in low interest-generating bank accounts to their Financial
Service accounts, and to forgo interests on these amounts.
- Incorporating the yet to be utilised funds
resting with Auroville Fund, SAIIER and CSR.
The interest on this capital is mainly used to finance
the monthly budgets of the Central Fund.
The Economy Group
The Economy Group's function
is to monitor and guide Auroville's internal economy. Its main tasks
are to:
- raise funds for the Central Fund
- disburse the Central Fund each month
- keep close contact with the Auroville services
and evaluate their needs and performance
- review maintenance allowances to see that
as far as possible the needs of individual Aurovilians are met
- acts as a liaison body between the community
and its commercial units
- study the Auroville economy to find ways
of moving towards a true collective economy in line with Auroville's
ideals
Financial activities are co-ordinated by the
above mentioned Auroville working groups, in collaboration with the following
AV agencies for accounting:
- Auroville Fund
-is the official receiving, disbursing and
accounting channel through which all foreign donations and some of
the Indian donations for various projects are passed to the wide range
of service units and development projects in Auroville.
- Matrimandir
- grants/donations from India and (through AV Fund) from abroad,
for completing Matrimandir and its gardens.
- Sri
Aurobindo International Institute of Educational Research (SAIIER)
- channels international (through AV Fund) and Indian funds and co-ordinates
educational and cultural research activities.
- Centre for Scientific
Research (CSR) - channels international funds (through AV
Fund) and organises training and consultancy for renewable energy,
appropriate building technology and wastewater recycling.
- Auromitra Trust - channels funds for environmental
technology and research on soil, water, forestation and farming.
Funding
The full realisation of Auroville, a township
for 50,000 people, requires a large amount of money to secure the land
and develop infrastructure, municipal services and collective housing
for its residents. This is a township of volunteers, from all over the
world, who dedicate themselves to the aims and ideals of the Auroville
Charter. In Auroville the usual mechanisms of self-financing through taxation
are in contradiction with the spirit expressed through this Charter. The
basic concept of no private ownership does not attract outside investors
looking for a profitable return on investment.
Given this context, Auroville's development is mainly
dependent on grants and donations from international funding agencies,
governmental and non-governmental organisations, and well-wishers. Among
its well-wishers are Foundations and private donors in India, Europe
and the United States. Foreign donations either channelled through the
Auroville International Centres or sent directly. Donations from residents
are a major form of contribution within the whole.
Over the past 10 years, Auroville received about
Rs. 50 crores (approx. US$ 11 million) from international agencies and
private well-wishers for a wide range of development projects and programmes
in various fields of Auroville's activities. About 16% came from the
Government of India, - 38% from other sources within India, and 46%
from abroad.
Auroville grands and donations
1993 - 2001
Rs. in lakhs (1 lakh rupees = 2040 U$)
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