aikyam fellows

Support the fellowship

We back people who have already started.

aikyam fellows is constituted not for profit. Four foundations and a number of individuals pay for it — there is no advertising, nothing is sold, and no fellow is ever charged.

What your support pays for

A fellow arrives with work already under way and something in the way of it — money, a skill they do not have, a room to work in, or simply nobody to think out loud with. The fellowship supplies what is missing: peer learning, coaching, and access to resources, so they can turn their ideas into reality.

Six fellows have come through since 2023. ⚠️ That number is the one the About page states; it has not been checked against the organisation's own records.

Give once, or regularly

Three amounts are needed, and what each one buys. The Guardian's page sets three tiers with the middle one marked “Recommended”. What makes that work is not the prices — it is that each tier says what it does. For a fellowship the honest version is a unit of the actual work: a month of coaching, a fellow's travel to the space, a year of one fellow's resources. ⛔ Inventing these would anchor every gift the site ever receives.
  • Once

    Amount

    What a single gift covers.

  • Monthly · recommended

    Amount

    ⭐ Regular giving is what a fellowship can plan against; a one-off cannot be budgeted a year ahead.

  • Annually

    Amount

    What a year of one fellow’s support costs.

A payment destination is needed. No payment page, form or account exists on aikyamfellows.org — checked 8 Aug 2026. Until there is one, the buttons above have nowhere to go, and a control that collects a decision and then loses it is worse than no control.
Tax treatment needs the organisation, not the designer. Indian donors will ask about 80G; anyone giving from outside India raises FCRA. ⛔ Design will not write either sentence — a wrong claim about a donor’s tax position is a legal exposure for aikyam and a false promise to the person giving.

Who already funds this

  • Samagata Foundation

    A non-profit that supports projects and ideas that bring value to society — across science, culture, art, technology and education, with an emphasis on creating public commons, institutions and community spaces.

  • Rohini Nilekani Philanthropies

    Supports ideas, individuals and institutions doing ground-breaking work that enables a strong Samaaj.

  • Rainmatter Foundation

    Backs individuals and organisations working on climate change, with a focus on afforestation, ecology and livelihoods.

  • FOSS United

    Promoting and strengthening the FOSS ecosystem in India.

Sincere thanks to Satyam Vyas, Rishabh Lalani, Mekin Maheshwari, Sree, Nisha and many more for their crucial early-stage support.

Other ways to help

Money is not the only thing a fellowship runs on, and for this one it may not be the most useful.

  • Tell us about someone. We back people who have already started. There is no form and no deadline — tell us what they are working on.
  • Volunteer a skill. The organisation asks for help with design, technology, strategy, fundraising, storytelling, talent management and finance.
  • Read and pass on a story. The fellows’ work is the argument for the fellowship — start here.