Vidyadaan Sahayyak Mandal, Thane (VSMThane) was founded in 2008 by a small group of like-minded people who wanted to help the needy and deserving students who were unable to continue their education due to a weak financial position. VSM quickly realized that in order to truly nurture these lives, they would need to give emotional as well as 360-degree support rather than just sponsoring academic fees.
“Quality of help was chosen over quantity, as the MANTRA by VSM founder members.”

Empowered Students, Empowered Nation.
- Enable needy and deserving students to pursue the education of their choice and help them realize their potential
- Inculcate values such as self-sufficiency and sensitivity towards society in students to help them become responsible citizens.
- Encourage active participation from all sections of society to contribute to a better world.

VSM coined the term “KARYAKARTA PALAK (KP)” literally meaning “VOLUNTEER PARENT” or in short a “MENTOR”. VSM innovated and developed a unique “Mentor-Student” model in order to support every student enrolled, with around the clock guidance, to become financially independent, responsible citizens. With the help of this Model, each and every student is taken care of by a mentor, who keeps in touch and communicates with the students on regular basis. This helps in getting timely updates of the students, be it the grades in exam, participation in extra-curricular activities, attending VSM events, getting to know any academic or personal difficulties faced by the students and addressing same with timely interventions. This regular communication helps create a very strong bond wherein the mentors become an extended family member and guardian of their ward. This unique VSM model with personal, focussed approach ensures an all -round development of each and every student.
VSM grooms the students academically and holistically, by conducting various programs throughout the year which includes specific career guidance, soft skill development, goal setting, communication skills, social camps sponsoring, Be Frank, mock interviews etc. All this is done with the ultimate aim to see the student develop into an independent, self-reliant, socially sensitive and responsible member of the society.
VSM operates primarily from the funding received from its donors and is very proud of the fact that majority of donations are from individual donors who have been with VSM since its inception. The trust and support extended by donors and well-wishers are the major assets along with the force of dedicated and untiring volunteers.
At VSM, we maintain complete financial transparency and strive our best to utilise donations to support students’ educational activities helping them to realise their dreamsof completing education and becoming self-sufficient.
Less than 5% of donated funds being spent on administration/operations
Education Expenses – 95%
Admin Expenses – 5%










BHAU NANIVADEKAR
A notable personality in Thane, Bhau has inherited the legacy of social work from his father and retired voluntarily at the age of 60 as a Mechanical Engineer.
Bhau and some of his friends visited Baba Amte’s ‘Anandvan’, ‘Hemalkasa’ and were impressed by the work they saw. The thought of doing something for the society laid the foundation of Anandvanasnehi Mandal in 2003. While doing this, Bhau and some of his colleagues were helping as much as they could, for the education of needy and deserving children. This led to a humble beginning of Vidyadan Sahayyak Mandal (VSM) on 15th August 2008 at Shahapur. Bhau coined the unique mentoring concept of Karyakarta Palak (Volunteer Parent) in holistic development of the student. Bhau deeply inculcated the values like strive for excellence, transparency and continuous improvement mindset in VSM culture.
Honoured with ‘Thane Gaurav’ award by Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC), Bhau’s presence at the age of 88+ years truly serves as a guiding star for VSM
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2022VSM achieved~350 students enrollment milestone with 300+ volunteers till date – Upwards and onwards!
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20218 governance policies were rolled out for robust VSM operations
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2020Beginning of Aurangabad branch
VSM achieved~350 students enrollment milestone with 300+ volunteers. Digital empowerment initiative to help students with smartphones, laptops in wake of COVID 19 -
2019"Utsavatun Samajakade" campaign launched 1st VSM Sports Day was organised
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2018Career Teams were formed to help students with appropriate skills, knowledge from their streams Corpus fund donation account started
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2017Beginning of Nagpur branch. Achieved 1st Guidestar certification. VSM Connect – quarterly bulletin started. iVSM – a fully internally developed platform – was launched for smooth opertions
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2016Beginning of Pune branch
Students enrollment reached 225 with 170 volunteers -
2015VSM Niwasi Shibir at Yeoor, Thane
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2014VSM students Dapoli camp was organized
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2013Beginning of Borivali branch
"Be Frank" initiative started with a core belief - it is when we start expressing ourselves, we start exploring our inner selves! -
2012VSM achieved - 100 students enrollment milestone with 60+ volunteers.
VSM work was acknowledged in media (Loksatta-Chaturang) -
2011VSM new office at Khopat Thane started
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2010Unique concept of Karyakarta Palak was coined to support students holistically
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2009Beginning of Thane branch
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2008Humble beginning of Shahapur branch with 8 students and 23 volunteers