Visthar

What Visthar does

Visthar Trust is a Bengaluru-headquartered, secular civil society organization founded in 1989 by David Selvaraj. It operates programs across gender equality, child rights, environmental sustainability, and arts-based education, serving girls and women from marginalized communities (including Dalit families and Devadasi-affected households in North Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh), development organizations seeking gender training, educators, and rural adolescent girls in Koppal district. The organization is led by Founder and Executive Trustee David Selvaraj and Executive Director Mercy Kappen, with an Associate Director (Nazar PS) and program coordinators; its ownership and control rest with a Board of Trustees under a typical Indian charitable-trust structure, with no parent company, private equity, or venture capital involvement.

Visthar's product and program portfolio is organized into four verticals: educational programs (VACCS degree-granting visual-arts academy launched 2022; Samagra Shikshana Shale primary school; certificate courses on intersectionality, gender-responsive planning, leadership for social transformation, and financial management); empowerment programs (Bandhavi for girl children since 2005; Kanasu Kishori Sanghatane for adolescent girls; Rural Women's Collective; LCN shelter-home network); eco-initiatives (six-acre Eco Sanctuary, annual Bhoomi Habba festival since 2008, Srujana Recycled paper unit, Manoranjitham plant nursery, Children's Movement for Climate Justice); and arts/social-transformation programming (Visthar Ranga Shaale theatre). The underlying delivery model is campus-based experiential learning across two physical sites — Bengaluru (headquarters, KRC Road, Doddagubbi) and Koppal — augmented by training workshops, fellowships (Samvidhana Payana), and immersion programs for international university partners. The organization also operates a conference and events facility available for external bookings.

As a non-profit civil society organization, Visthar does not operate commercial pricing or distribution channels. Its revenue model is donations, grants, and institutional funding; key named funding/CSR partners include Kindernothilfe (Germany) for Bandhavi, Cisco (600+ employee volunteers in 2023), the KIA Partners network (EFICOR, MV Foundation, CNI SBSS, CASA, CARDS, HIMSERVE, SAVE), the LCN feminist network, the University of North Carolina (via St. Joseph's University Bangalore), and Art Mantram. Go-to-market is community and partnership-driven rather than sales-driven, with awareness generated through its blog, newsletter, social media, the annual Bhoomi Habba festival, and earned media coverage in outlets such as the Indian Express.

Name

Visthar

Legal name

Visthar Trust

Website

https://visthar.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

1989

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Short description

Visthar Trust is a Bengaluru-based secular civil society organization founded in 1989 that runs gender-equality, child-rights, environmental, and arts-education programs serving marginalized girls, rural women, educators, and partner NGOs across Karnataka from two campuses in Bengaluru and Koppal.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Non-profit Social Services / Civil Society Organization

NAICS

Child and Youth Services (624110), Civic and Social Organizations (8134)

SIC

Services-Social Services (8300)

akta.pro industry

PRIMARYBPAGABAG

Child Protection & Child Rights

Business & Public Services/Nonprofit, NGO & Social Services/International Development & Poverty Alleviation

SECONDARYEDAJAIAD

Safeguarding, Child Protection & Reporting Services

Education/K–12 / Primary & Secondary Education/K–12 Student Health, Safety & Wellbeing Services (Counseling, Mental Health, SEL, Safeguarding)

Keywords

• Civil society organization
• Gender equality programs
• Social justice education
• Child rights advocacy
• Community development

Headquarters

HQ city

Bengaluru

HQ country

India

HQ region

Asia

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure, Others

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Visthar Trust is a non-profit Civil Society Organization that delivers social justice, gender equality, child rights, environmental sustainability, and arts-based educational programs through two campuses in Karnataka. Its offerings include the VACCS visual arts academy, primary school (SSS), girl-child empowerment programs (Bandhavi, KKS), gender and leadership training courses, an annual earth festival (Bhoomi Habba), and research/publications on shelter homes and women's rights.

Product overview

Visthar is a secular Civil Society Organization offering a diverse portfolio of programs and services focused on social justice, gender equality, child rights, environmental sustainability, and arts education. The organization operates across multiple verticals including: educational programs such as the Visthar Academy of Culture and Contemporary Studies (VACCS) offering art degrees, Samagra Shikshana Shale (SSS) primary school, and various certificate courses on gender and social transformation; empowerment programs including Bandhavi for girl children, Kanasu Kishori Sanghatane for adolescent girls, and Rural Women's Collective; eco-initiatives such as the Eco Sanctuary, Bhoomi Habba annual earth festival, Srujana Recycled paper unit, and Manoranjitham Nursery; arts programs through Visthar Ranga Shaale theatre group; and conference facilities. The offerings are distinct programs under one organizational umbrella rather than a unified technology product.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Visthar Academy of Culture and Contemporary Studies (VACCS): An environment for budding artists to pursue art, conceived as a holistic education centre offering Bachelor of Visual Arts (BVA) degree, diplomas in painting and sculpture, certificate programmes, and community outreach programmes.
• Bhoomi Habba
• Bandhavi
• Samagra Shikshana Shale (SSS)
• Visthar Ranga Shale

Products and services

• Visthar Academy of Culture and Contemporary Studies (VACCS) Art education institution offering Bachelor of Visual Arts (BVA) degree, diplomas in painting and sculpture, certificate programmes, and community outreach programmes for aspiring artists, situated on Visthar's eco-sanctuary campus in Bengaluru.
• Samagra Shikshana Shale (SSS)

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Eleven partnerships are on record, tiered minor, moderate and core.

• GreenKraftminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaborator for Bhoomi Habba 2026 - environmental and sustainability festival organized by Visthar.
• Elements OrganicsminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaborator for Bhoomi Habba 2026 - contributing to the annual environment festival focused on community paths to climate action.
• Fair Trade Alliance of KeralaminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartner organization for Bhoomi Habba festival, contributing to fair trade and sustainable consumption themes.
• Abheek AcademyminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerEducational collaborator for Bhoomi Habba 2026, supporting engagement with children from government schools.
• University of North CarolinamoderateStrategic or Co-development PartnerSocial work students and faculty from UNC participated in a two-week educational immersion program at Visthar as part of their program at St. Joseph's University in Bangalore. Sessions covered India Today issues and Gender and Diversity.
• CiscocoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerOver 600 Cisco employees volunteered at Visthar in 2023 through CSR partnership. Volunteers participated in sustainability initiatives, organic farming, pottery, and paper recycling units.
• Art MantrammoderateStrategic or Co-development PartnerManaging Trustee Dr Jija Harisingh inaugurated Bhoomi Habba 2024. Art Mantram focuses on arts and cultural initiatives.
• KIA Partners NetworkcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerNetwork of development organizations engaged in gender training programs with Visthar. Includes organizations like EFICOR, MV Foundation, CNI SBSS, CASA, CARDS, HIMSERVE, and SAVE from various Indian states.
• LCN (Lam-Lynti Chittara Neralu)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerFeminist network of organizations working for rights-based shelter homes for women and transgender survivors of violence. Visthar developed training manual for DV shelter homes with this network.
• EFICORminorOthersEvangelical Fellowship of India Commission on Relief - development organization engaged in disaster response, risk reduction, and youth development projects. Participated in gender responsive planning workshop.
• MV FoundationminorOthersOrganization working towards eradicating child labour and promoting child education. Participated in ToT workshop on gender responsive planning.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Broad incumbents

• Oxfam India: Large Indian development organization working on gender justice, inequality, and social justice, with substantial research and policy advocacy output. Comparable thematic overlap but at a far larger scale than Visthar.
• Save the Children India: Large established Indian affiliate of Save the Children operating across child rights, education, and child protection. A peer in mission but with materially greater scale, geographic reach, and institutional funding than Visthar.

Direct peers

• HAQ Centre for Child Rights: New Delhi-based organization focused on child rights, child protection, and policy advocacy. Comparable to Visthar's Bandhavi and Child Rights Education programs in terms of direct legal/rights-based work with vulnerable children.
• Jagori Rural Charitable Trust: India-based feminist NGO working on women's empowerment, gender-based violence, and rural women's collectives. Closely comparable to Visthar's Kanasu Kishori Sanghatana and Rural Women's Collective programs.
• CREA (Creating Resources for Empowerment in Action): New Delhi-based feminist civil society organization focused on gender justice, sexuality, and rights. Highly comparable to Visthar in mission, capacity-building through training, and feminist network participation (LCN-style).
• Bachpan Bachao Andolan (BBA): Nobel laureate Kailash Satyarthi's organization working on child rights, child labour elimination, and child-led advocacy. Comparable to Visthar on child rights education and the Bandhavi girl child empowerment vertical.
• Narmada Bachao Andolan: Long-running Indian social justice movement organization emphasizing grassroots mobilization and rights-based advocacy. Comparable to Visthar in its secular civil society profile and decades-long institutional persistence.
• CORO India (Committee of Resource Organizations): Maharashtra-based civil society organization focused on leadership for social transformation, capacity building, and community empowerment. Highly comparable to Visthar's Leadership for Social Transformation and training programs.
• Vanangana: Uttar Pradesh-based women's rights organization running rural women's collectives, Kishori Samoohs (adolescent girls' groups), and gender-based violence intervention. Closely comparable to Visthar's KKS and Rural Women's Collective models.

Regional players

• Hasiru Dala: Bengaluru-based organization working on waste picker livelihoods, urban environmental sustainability, and ecological justice. Comparable as a Bengaluru-based CSO with environmental programming similar to Visthar's Bhoomi Habba and Eco Sanctuary initiatives.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights8 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/Visthar.academy
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/visthar---india

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles5 records

Subsidiaries1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about Visthar