Building Bridges for the Underprivileged
A non-governmental and non-profit organisation, Budimas Charitable Foundation was established in 1998 to provide financial aid to charitable homes in Malaysia. Today, this has extended to providing breakfast for more than 4,000 children from poor families and building libraries in rural and Orang Asli settlements. International Business Review speaks to its CEO, Anne Rajasaikaran, to find out more about its challenges and its hopes for the future.
“Budimas Charitable Foundation is unique in the sense that our management team and board work together as a team towards a single cause. We have a small team, but we continue to touch as many as a thousand lives each year. Our 10 year plan contains aims and projections on how many funds are needed to support a specified number of children.
We do not over promise with our projects. In fact, on many occasions we over-deliver. However, what I believe makes us stand out is our transparency and clarity on funds and donations. We are audited internally and externally, and our annual report is made available on our website for donors and sponsors alike.
Rising Above the Challenges
Over the last few years, our challenges have fallen under three broad categories: branding, credibility, and human resources. Previously, we had difficulty promoting the Foundation to people. However, thanks to years of passive advertising and free media, we have built our credibility and trustworthiness. This has resulted in an influx of donations from fellow Malaysians and corporate companies.
Another challenge we have faced is that a number of people (especially graduates) who join us underestimate the amount of work they need to put in, although their hearts are in the right place. Having said that, we have had some wonderful staff who have worked for us for more than five years.
Extending Our Reach
We continue to dream of a better 2021 for the underprivileged. We hope to reach out to the many school children who couldn’t get their free meals in 2020, and also make sure that they get to study – be it online or in school. In addition to this, we aim to provide shelter for those who are homeless in our very own home in Senawang.
We would like to see more teenagers complete their SPM, eventually joining universities and graduating, allowing them to escape the cycle of poverty and flourish in their personal lives. I am confident this will happen – slowly but surely.
We are thankful to the government for their support, and we hope to enhance our collaboration as well as form new partnerships with more collaborators to provide additional help and assistance to the underprivileged in rural areas.
Budimas Charitable Foundation is a champion for the orphans and the underprivileged children, it is our wish to support their way along to greatness.”
