Introduction

In 1986, on request of the AV Council, the Project Coordination Group was created in response to the need for a formal working group to interact with the Foundation for World Education (FWE) and Stichting De Zaaier (SDZ) for their yearly funding of Auroville projects and programmes. At the same time, there was a request from the AVI Centres to have funding requests from Auroville endorsed by an "officially" recognized Auroville body.

Objectives

To stimulate the development of Auroville by:

• coordinating Auroville's grant proposing activities on an administrative level;

• interacting with FWE and Stichting De Zaaier for their yearly funding of Auroville projects;

• providing assistance in grant proposal writing;

• developing documentation and information material on Auroville and its activities for fundraising purposes;

• developing a fundraising resource centre that provides information on donors and funding agencies in India, the United States, and other countries worldwide.

This group deals with smaller projects (generally below Rs.10 lakhs) to be submitted to a number of Auroville-friendly organisations. It collects, evaluates and prioritises projects and sends the selected projects to these organisations, which decide on their funding. It also maintains the list of projects that appear on the Auroville website for funding. Project consultancy and assistence with grant writing are also available. The group is Auroville’s officially recognised channel to Auroville International Centres, to the Foundation for World Education and to Stichting de Zaaier on all fundraising matters, and for endorsing all proposals for fundraising outside Auroville.

The PCG can be contacted at pcg@auroville.org.in , or phone the office at Town Hall, 0413-2622250

Apart from these groups, unit executives or working groups also undertake fundraising for their specific projects independently.