About Me

Shri. Shivakumar was a Chartered Accountant by profession, a Non-Government Organization (NGO) leader by choice and a Gandhian by ideology. He was a multi- faced personality with a strong desire to uplift the needy and contribute to village development. Son of Shri. V.Krishnamurthy, former Secretary of Gandhigram Trust, also a towering personality of the NGO sector, Shivakumar was attracted towards the NGO sector at an early age.

Shivakumar was the financial advisor to a number of NGOs and donor agencies in South India. He would help small NGOs working at the grassroot level without any financial consideration. Shivakumar was a practicing Chartered Accountant, but had a principle of being Auditor only for non-corporate entities like NGOs, Universities, Government entities and perform social audit. His expertise was in Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) and Income Tax Act – areas where NGOs required a lot of handholding. He has also written and co-authored books on financial management of NGOs.

Shivakumar also founded VK Foundation, a Trust which focuses on providing support to the NGO sector. As part of VK Foundation activities, Shivakumar has organized a number of seminars and workshops to NGOs on complying with various laws related to NGO sector and on Government in the sector. Shivakumar was also a member of Board many entities in the NGO Sector like Participatory Research in Asia (PRIA), Center for World Solidarity (CWS), Karl Kübel Institute for Development Education (KKID), Gandhigram Institute of Rural Health and Family Welfare Trust and other entities.

Shivakumar was also a champion of self-regulation of the Indian NGO Sector. He has written numerous articles in reputed newspapers and magazines on the rigid Government control over the NGO sector and the need to de-regulate the sector, which helped create awareness on this topic. Shivakumar has also prepared pre and post budget memorandums to Ministry of Finance to simplify Income tax provisions on behalf of the NGO sector. He firmly believed that FCRA is to be repealed or simplified, which was impacting the whole sector. Shivakumar was a member of the task force formed by the Planning Commission of India on NGO sector and provided inputs to simplify laws relating to the sector. He also served as a Government body member of Voluntary Action Network of India (VANI) to further this cause.

Shivakumar’s biggest contribution for direct village development was during his tenure in Gandhigram Trust. Affectionately, called as ‘Shiva Anna’ in Gandhigram, he formally joined the Trust in 2000 and rose from the rank of Associate Secretary to it’s Managing Trustee. Following the principles of Mahatma Gandhi and Vinobha Bhave, Shivakumar strived to create self-sufficient villages by promoting development of self help Groups and cluster approaches. Shivakumar helped raise funds for a number of projects from donors including Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) projects. Even during the present environment, he ensured that Gandhian ideology was embedded as part of design of new projects. During the height of COVID outbreak, he personally led the Trust’s response by visiting villages and providing food and materials to the rural poor. He also steered the Trust’s involvement in issues relating to women by launching schemes for girl children and for maternity benefit for rural women. As Secretary of Lakshmi College of Education, his priority was to provide education to the needy from rural areas.

Shivakumar has won a number of awards for his service to humanity, the latest being Nehru Literacy Award, 2022 for outstanding contribution to Adult Education.