Our first CSR partner: 98,000 saplings with ONGC in 2018

For its first seven years the Vriksh Mitra–Gram Mitra Abhiyan ran on the Foundation's own volunteers and individual donors. In 2018 ONGC's CSR programme joined in, and the campaign changed scale.

Two projects ran side by side that monsoon. In Bareilly and Kasganj, 38,000 saplings of grafted guava, lemon, bel, pomegranate and ber went to 4,144 families. In Mathura, 60,000 saplings went to 5,650 families. Each camp followed the pattern the campaign has kept ever since: a village meeting beforehand, invitation cards for registered farmers, packets of saplings placed at every seat, a short programme with local guests, and an oath to protect the trees before everyone went home.

In November 2018 village volunteers gathered for a karyakarta sammelan to plan the next year's drive — which, with ONGC's support again, became the largest project the Foundation has ever run.