Two US-registered non-profit organisations whose founders, publications or associated initiatives have been linked to India’s Hindu nationalist movement received at least $24.4 million through donor-advised funds between 2020 and 2024, according to an investigation by Bellingcat. The funding represented 20.7 per cent of the $117.8 million in total contributions and grants reported by the two charities during the period, while public filings did not reveal the original donors behind the donor-advised fund grants.
The organisations identified by Bellingcat are Ekal Vidyalaya Foundation of USA Inc, known as Ekal USA, and Sewa International Inc, referred to as Sewa USA. The investigation examined their US tax filings and those of organisations listing them as grant recipients, identifying at least $8.3 million in donor-advised fund grants to Ekal USA and at least $16 million to Sewa USA. The actual total may be higher because filings covering partial years outside the investigation period were excluded.
The findings concern organisations with apparent historical or current connections to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), a Hindu nationalist volunteer organisation widely regarded as the ideological parent of India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a former RSS worker, is among its prominent supporters. The RSS advocates a vision of India as a Hindu nation, an approach that has generated sustained controversy over religious freedom and the place of minorities.
The investigation does not establish that donor-advised funds financed the RSS itself. Rather, it traces funding to two US charities that Bellingcat found had connections to the RSS or organisations associated with it. Some of the evidence for those connections dates from outside the 2020–2024 financial period, and the publicly available filings do not identify the original donors recommending the grants.
The RSS remains an unregistered entity in India and maintains that it is a “body of individuals” sharing ideological views rather than a formal membership organisation. These characteristics can complicate efforts to establish institutional relationships across the wider network of organisations associated with the movement.
“The RSS functions without independent oversight of its resources, finances, influence, and activities,” said Dr Angana P Chatterji, an anthropologist and scholar of South Asia studies at the University of California, Berkeley. She said its resources and influence were not matched by equivalent accountability, adding that its leadership and cadre were protected from scrutiny. The RSS had not responded to multiple requests for comment by the time of publication.
Donor-advised funds, or DAFs, are widely used in the United States to facilitate charitable giving while allowing donors to receive tax benefits. Donors contribute money to sponsoring organisations, which legally control the funds, and can recommend charities to receive grants. The sponsoring organisations report their grants in public tax filings, but they do not disclose the identities of the donors, who may remain anonymous.
Bellingcat examined annual Form 990 tax returns filed by Ekal USA and Sewa USA, alongside filings from organisations that listed them as grant recipients. Between 2020 and 2024, Ekal USA reported more than $48.4 million in contributions and grants, including at least $8.3 million from donor-advised funds. Its filings recorded $33.7 million in foreign grants, all directed towards the Ekal Vidyalaya project in India, and no domestic grants to organisations or individuals.
Ekal USA describes its mission as providing free elementary education and primary healthcare to children in remote and rural India. Its US branch was established in the early 2000s to support the expansion of the Ekal Vidyalaya initiative, which seeks to operate schools in rural communities. However, the movement has faced criticism over reports alleging that its schools promote Hindu nationalist ideology among disadvantaged children and women, including portrayals of Muslims and Christians as enemies of Hinduism.
Ekal USA did not respond to Bellingcat’s questions about those allegations or its relationship with the RSS. Its frequently asked questions page states that the organisation does not teach religion in its schools and does not discriminate on the basis of caste, religious affiliation or language.
Evidence cited by Bellingcat for links involving Ekal USA includes its origins as a programme of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad of America (VHPA), according to a spokesperson for that organisation. VHPA spokesperson Shyam Tiwari said Ekal USA began in the late 1990s and became independent in early 2000. A VHPA magazine article published in 2017 stated that its late founder, Mahesh Mehta, had been trained by the RSS from the age of 10 and was advised by a former RSS supreme leader to build the Vishwa Hindu Parishad in the United States. India’s Vishwa Hindu Parishad lists VHPA among Hindu organisations abroad, although its spokesperson Vinod Bansal described the Indian organisation as independent and said it sometimes shares ideology with VHPA.
Sewa USA, also based in Houston, reported almost $69.4 million in contributions and grants during the five-year period, including at least $16 million from donor-advised funds. Its filings recorded $29.7 million in foreign grants to organisations in South Asia and $622,613 in domestic grants in the United States. The forms do not specify how much, if any, was transferred to Sewa Bharati, an India-based organisation that appears to have RSS support.
Sewa USA describes itself as a “Hindu faith-based, humanitarian, nonprofit service organisation”. Its vice-president of public affairs, Rakhi Israni, told Bellingcat that it “does not operate as a branch or affiliate of the RSS” and does not participate in political activity. She also said grants to partner agencies in India, including service-oriented non-governmental organisations such as Sewa Bharati, were strictly project-based, fully audited and evaluated according to measurable humanitarian impact in education, health and disaster relief. Israni added that Sewa USA had no role in Sewa Bharati’s governance or operations.
Bellingcat cited Sewa USA’s own publications and online posts as evidence of connections between the organisations. These included references to Sewa Bharati as a “sister organisation” in a 2014 social media post and a “partner organisation” in a 2022 post. The RSS website also links to Sewa Bharati, which is mentioned in the movement’s 2016 annual report. Sewa Bharati did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
The funding arrangements have prompted scrutiny of the regulatory framework governing donor-advised funds. Samuel Brunson, a law professor at Loyola University Chicago, told Bellingcat that such funds face less oversight from the Internal Revenue Service than private foundations because their sponsoring organisations are classified as public charities. Lloyd Hitoshi Mayer, a University of Notre Dame law professor specialising in non-profits, said federal tax law generally permits donor-advised fund sponsors to make grants to organisations with 501(c)(3) charitable status without additional oversight of the recipient’s activities.
The three largest donor-advised fund sponsors identified in the investigation — Fidelity Charitable, the American Online Giving Foundation and DAFgiving360, formerly Schwab Charitable — accounted for almost $20 million, or 81.7 per cent, of the donor-advised fund grants to the two charities during full reporting years between 2020 and 2024. All three told Bellingcat that they maintained due diligence procedures for evaluating non-profits. Fidelity Charitable described itself as a “cause-neutral” charity that ensures grants are used for charitable purposes, while the American Online Giving Foundation cited eligibility requirements covering hate speech, discrimination and the use of funds. DAFgiving360 said recipients could be monitored or temporarily suspended when circumstances warranted, including where public-interest considerations arose or a recipient no longer furthered its mission.
