We didn't start as an NGO.
We started as neighbours.
Active Bengaluru Foundation was not born in a boardroom. It was born in the middle of a crisis — when a city was struggling to breathe, and a group of ordinary people decided they could not stand by and do nothing.
The work that became ABF.
Long before we had a name, a registration, or a letterhead, the people behind ABF were already on the ground. Some of us were running community kitchens. Some were driving patients to hospitals at 2 AM. Some were tracking down oxygen cylinders when they had become near impossible to find.
When COVID-19 hit Bengaluru, what had been scattered individual effort became something much larger. We came together under initiatives like Mercy Mission and co-founded the Emergency Response Team (ERT) — a volunteer-led effort that at its peak was helping families:
- Find and book hospital beds in an overwhelmed system
- Arrange ambulances when none were available
- Source oxygen cylinders during the acute shortage
- Procure medicines and emergency supplies
- Navigate a healthcare system that was under enormous strain
When patients did not survive, our team was also part of Mercy Angels — a group that quietly stepped in to support COVID burials and cremations, standing beside families in their most devastating moments.
None of us planned for any of this. We simply showed up — and kept showing up.
Why we became an NGO.
After COVID, the team stayed together. The need did not go away when the headlines did.
But we realised something: goodwill and effort alone are not enough to create lasting change. To truly serve the community — to scale, to be accountable, to build trust with the people we work with — we needed structure.
In 2024, we formally registered Active Bengaluru Foundation as a Section 8 NGO, recognised under 80G for tax-exempt donations. Not because the paperwork mattered to us, but because the people we serve deserved an organisation that would still be here five years from now — with proper processes, documented impact, and full accountability.
We are still the same people. We just formalised the promise.
The people behind ABF.
ABF is built by people who choose, every week, to give time to it — most of them with full-time careers, families, and other commitments. The team below is the spine of everything we do.
Directors
Active Bengaluru Foundation is registered as a Section 8 company. These six members serve as the foundation's directors — the legal stewards on the registration — and are part of the wider team that built ABF.
- Tabraiz AmmanDirector
- Syed Tousif MasoodDirector
- Syed SalmanDirector
- Mohammed Irfan SadiqDirector
- Tauseef AhmedDirector
- Mohammed SheriefDirector
Core Team
ABF runs because of a dedicated group of individuals who give their time, skills, and energy — most of them professionals with full-time careers who choose to spend their evenings and weekends building something for the city they live in.
- Tanveer AhmedCore Team
- Mohammed Ibrahim AkramCore Team
- Dr Mohammed Rafiuddin RashedCore Team
- Dr Sadiq SheriffCore Team
- Syed MehranCore Team
- Anas MahmoodCore Team
- Muhammed MehrajCore Team
- Nasrullah SharifCore Team
- Naveed Irfan IqbalCore Team
- Mohammed IsmailCore Team
- Afsar AhmedCore Team
- Saifulla KhanCore Team
- Sadiq RahmatullahCore Team
Health Team
The people who power our 24/7 Active Health helpline — on call so families in need are never left without a direction to turn.
- Mohammed ShahidHealth Team
- Sanaulla KhanHealth Team
Research Team
Working behind the scenes to shape our policy advocacy and minority welfare work with evidence and rigour.
- Soail Faraz AdoniResearch Team
Be the bridge. Don't duplicate.
We are not here to duplicate what others are already doing well. We are here to be the bridge — between the people who need help and the organisations, government systems, and resources that can provide it.
We believe that community care is not charity. It is responsibility. And responsibility does not need a reason or a season.
Be part of the next thing we build.
ABF is always growing — in the work we do and in the people who do it with us. If you want to be part of something that genuinely makes a difference in Bengaluru, we would love to hear from you.
Built to be accountable.
CIN: U85500KA2024NPL184982