National Culture Fund (NCF) was set up as a Trust under the Charitable Endowment Act, 1890 on 28thNovember, 1996 by the Government, with a view to mobilize extra resources through Public Private Partnerships .
The National Culture Fund is managed and administered by a council headed by Hon’ble Culture Minister to decide the policies and an Executive Committee headed by Secretary, Culture to actualize those policies.
The Fund aims at inviting the participation of the corporate sector, non-government organizations, private/public sector as well as individuals in the task of promoting, protecting and preserving India’s cultural heritage.
The broad guiding principles of the NCF are as under:-
(i) NCF sanctions grants to Government and Non-Government Organizations largely out of interest accrued on the Corpus Fund and out of the contributions of the donors.
(ii) Financial assistance under the NCF is given to Government or Non-Government Organizations to foster India’s contemporary culture as well as cultural heritage and to bring both within the reach of the largest possible number of its citizens. Assistance is, however, not provided to those organizations who are already in receipt of financial assistance from attached/subordinate offices or autonomous organizations under the Ministry of Culture or under any scheme of the Ministry.
(iii) NCF could accept projects relating to preparatory assistance, technical cooperation including studies of problems on heritage protection, provision of experts, supply of equipment, emergency assistance, training and support for promotional activities.
(iv) NCF strives to keep in readiness a number of projects requiring funding and shall, from time to time, renew, upgrade and add to them. The donors would be free to choose any projects or suggest new ones for funding and support.
(v) It would be possible for a donor to indicate to NCF a project along with any specific location/aspect for funding and also an agency for execution of the project while making donations to NCF, subject to general policy guidelines and rules, if any, in this regard. The NCF respects the choice of the donor to the extent possible. When a donor’s project covers a World Heritage Site, the matter would need to be specifically considered keeping in view the need to take care of environment surrounding the site, as also the fact that adequate funding for them could be already available from conventional sources and concentration of funds on a few important monuments should be avoided.
(vi) The donations/contributions to NCF are eligible for 100% tax deduction under Section 80G(2)(iii hh) of the Income Tax Act, 1961 subject to the limits and conditions prescribed in the said Section and relevant Rules.
