-About the Foundation
A public trust, formed to do ordinary work well.
Jagannath Foundation was created on 17 August 2026. It is irrevocable. Its income and property can be applied only to the objects of the trust. There is no private profit.
Mision
We exist to serve communities across India, with partners and evidence, putting women at the centre of household economics and turning one-time assistance into a skill, a saving and a school that holds.
Vision
To enable communities across the country to improve quality of life — through education, healthcare, livelihoods and lasting household assets — on a sustainable and inclusive basis.
The organisation
Civic work across the country, with a wider partnership behind it.
The Foundation was established by the settlor, Dr Jagannath Patnaik, with an initial corpus, and founder trustees invited to hold the property for public benefit. The objects cover education, healthcare, relief of poverty, women’s and children’s welfare, environment, and community development.
We work directly with communities across India — cities, towns and villages — because a trust that only serves one district has no business announcing a nation.
The work is secular. Programmes are open to every community. We do not ask anyone to belong to a tradition in order to sit in a classroom, a camp or a self-help group.
At a glance
Legal form
Established
Geography
Trust headquarters
Scope of work
Record
How the mission is held
Four disciplines.
Jagannath Foundation does the community work across India. A strategic partnership with UNAccc will enhance climate and household-energy objectives. Government, CSR and local institutions carry the rest.
Dignity first
People we work with are partners in a household’s future, not recipients of a spectacle. We show up with respect, keep records, and do not photograph anyone into a slogan.
Evidence over theatre
A camp that looks busy is not the same as a bill that falls, a girl who stays in school, or a skill that pays. We design for what a family can still feel twelve months later.
Communities first
We work with existing schools, health workers, self-help groups and panchayats across the country rather than inventing a parallel system.
Women at the centre
Household energy, savings, nutrition and children’s schooling move when women have information, income and a seat at the table. Our programmes are built around that fact.
Founder & Managing Trustee
Dr Jagannath Patnaik
“Service is not a performance. It is the daily work of making education reachable, health understandable, and young people employable.”
Dr Patnaik is a teacher of positive living and purposeful leadership — a practical discipline of calm, work and service. He founded the trust to turn that teaching into classrooms, health awareness, youth skills, women’s agency and care for the living environment across the country. The picture he could not put down — a child in school, a bill that no longer ate the month — is the duty the Foundation now holds.
He founded the trust so teaching could become classrooms, health awareness, youth skills, women’s agency and care for the living environment across the country — without private profit.
Dr Patnaik is a teacher of positive living and purposeful leadership, a distinguished academician, author and education administrator. His career has been spent building and running universities, institutes and skill programmes in India and overseas — medical, dentistry, engineering, management and public schooling — from concept to commissioning.
He is currently Vice Chancellor of ICFAI University. Earlier appointments include Vice Chancellor of Kalinga University, Raipur; Pro Chancellor of Singhania University; Secretary General of the Confederation of Indian Universities; Director and Vice President of the Manipal Academy of Higher Education and the Manipal Education and Medical Group; Registrar and Director of Distance Education at Sikkim Manipal University; and Academic Registrar of the International Medical and Technological University, Dar es Salaam. He also serves as Global Chairman of UNAccc — a strategic partnership that will enhance the Foundation’s climate and household-energy objectives.
He has advised institutions including the British Medical Journal, the Pharmaceutical Advisory Forum of the Government of India, Aptech Computer Education, the Society of Business Practitioners (England), ICFAI University projects, and the International Management Centre, Australia. His public work has long sat at the junction of education, youth livelihoods, women’s agency and human rights.
| Position | Institution / Organization |
|---|---|
| Global Chairman | UNAccc – Unity of Nations Action For Climate Change Council |
| Vice Chancellor | ICFAI University |
| Vice Chancellor (from 2011) | Kalinga University, Raipur |
| Pro Chancellor | Singhania University |
| Secretary General | Confederation of Indian Universities |
| Director & Vice President | Manipal Academy of Higher Education / MEMG |
| Registrar & Director, Distance Education | Sikkim Manipal University |
| Academic Registrar | International Medical and Technological University, Dar es Salaam |
Written for the classroom and the system.
- Higher Education in the Information Age
- Private Initiatives in Higher Education
- Financing of Higher Education in India
- Vivek Management Model for Industrial Productivity and Profits
- Education Management Systems in India
- Regulatory Systems in India
- Politics of Human Rights in India
- Journey of a Curious Mind
Education, peace, and public service.
- Outstanding Leadership Award, United Nations University – International Leadership Academy, Jordan
- Ambassador of Peace, International Association of Educators for World Peace, USA
- Doctorates honoris causa in Science, Laws and Literature from international universities
- Sadbhavana Award (2013); Utkal Sanman (2013); Kalinga Sanman (2015)
- Women Empowerment Award and Education Excellence Award (2015)
Work philosophy
Lasting household assets, not one-time assistance.
The Foundation’s philosophy is simple: a child who stays in school, care before a crisis, a skill that pays, a woman who keeps the surplus, and a household energy asset that cuts the monthly leak. We work with schools, clinics, self-help groups and panchayats that already hold the ground.
A strategic partnership with UNAccc — the Unity of Nations Action For Climate Change Council — will enhance these climate and household-energy objectives. It does not replace them.
Governance
A management body and a general membership.
The trust is held by founder trustees for public benefit. A management body leads programmes; general members strengthen fieldwork, fundraising and the district presence. Membership is open by application and is not a commercial product.
What We Do
Jagannath Foundation works for the welfare and development of society through initiatives in education, healthcare, skill development, women empowerment, social welfare and environmental protection. We strive to create meaningful opportunities and support individuals and communities in building a better future.
Our Impact
Our efforts are focused on creating positive and lasting change in the lives of people and communities. Through education, healthcare support, skill development and social welfare initiatives, Jagannath Foundation aims to empower individuals and contribute towards a stronger, healthier and more inclusive society.
Why Join Us
Together, we can turn compassion into meaningful action. By joining Jagannath Foundation, you can contribute your time, skills or support to initiatives that empower people, strengthen communities and create positive change for a better tomorrow.
Join the work across the country.
Volunteer, apply for membership, or support a named cause. The Foundation needs people who will return.