The Food For People Program Is a Fake Charity Scam

Disclaimer: The Prem Rawat Foundation and its Food For People programs are scams designed to maximise propaganda for Prem Rawat with minimum actual charitable activities at the least possible cost. None of the money comes from Rawat Himself but from his followers who believe he is basically divine and wish others to believe he is at least worthy of respect. However there is some value in any help to those in need. The Food for Peace program began in 2006 in Bantoli, Ranchi district. The area was described by one Western devotees as "the blue sky and sunshine of a rural timeless countryside passing fields, small towns and country roads, which are punctuated with vegetable and fruit markets, alive with vibrant colors."

The TPRF 2022 Annual Report claimed it paid to feed 736,864 meals to those in need in 2022. The total cost for Food For People program that year was $168,000. The average cost for each meal was 23 cents 12 cents less than in 2018. The cost of producing each individua item of phony publicity for the program must have been much higher. The total cost of its other charitable programs was $605,262. It spent $1,445,255 in 2018 promoting the wisdom and benevolence of Prem Rawat via speeches, the PEP and MOP programs among other ways. Over the life of the program TPRF has They have claimed to have provided 2,183,293 meals for children and ailing adults. The world requires 23,400,000,000 meals a day so even TPRF should be given smidgen of respect. This smidgen turns to shit when the gigantic boasting and self-important PR spin put out washes it away.

The Mission of TPRF is a simple one: to address the fundamental human needs of food, water and peace so that people can live with dignity, peace & prosperity.

How Can Prem Rawat Address the World's Fundamental Human Needs Of Food, Water and Peace With $491,160 Per Annum?

TPRF have claimed to have provided 2,183,293 meals for children and ailing adults since the program's inception. If the cost in previous years was no more expensive than in 2018, then TPRF has spent less than $US774,506 on free meals for the needy, a fraction of the cost spent promoting Prem Rawat and supplying him with luxury.

In the past 7 years in which financial details have been published, the Prem Rawat Foundation received $US$17,656,201. It funded the Food For People Program with $US$1,604,170 about 9.25% of their funding. The rest of the money - $US36,126,278, about 3½ times as much - was spent on Prem Rawat, either directly funding his lavish lifestyle or promoting him with phony PR campaigns. These have two objectives, make it look like he is a successful businessman/investor and inspirational public speaker and secondly to attract more people into his cult of disciples to donate more money for his luxury lifestyle and to promote those two objectives. It's a vicious circle. You won't find this mentioned in any TPRF press release.

TPRF has only published separate figures for it's Food For People Program since 2015.

They have claimed to have provided 2,183,293 meals for children and ailing adults since the program's inception. TPRF has only spent around 10% of it's revenue on the Food For People program despite it's lofty mission statement. During the Covid scare, meals could not be distributed but overheads remained so the meals were not as expensive as figures show. In the No Covid years the average amount spent to provide each meal was around 35 cents.

Prem Rawat Rips Off ¾ of the Donations for Himself And Scams Phony PR Press Releases

Rawat appears to have three major objectives:

• to increase his following thereby receiving more money and personal adoration and maintaining his opulent lifestyle.
• to avoid publicity and media attention which would bring his history to the attention of the public and make him the butt of ridicule and contempt.
• to gain respectability and respect as an International Ambassador of Peace or at least the appearance therof.

These objectives are difficult to balance together as there are inherent conflicts between them. Judging by the resources and subterfuges that have been used to try to gain him public respect and respectability over the years since that time he must feel the desire for public respect very strongly. It must hurt knowing that his eldest brother stole his birthright and has gone on to publicly succeed in politics and as a guru/Godman and has kept their father's legacy and wordly goods.

The Prem Rawat Foundation's donations to worthy causes are relatively small but Rawat glories in being mock humble while not stating that the amounts are really piffling. MJ: thank you very much and I didn't do anything for the tsunami. What could I do for the tsunami? Tsunami's over. I did do something for the victims of the tsunami. (Applause)

TPRF is making an effort to make sure that these people have at least food. Clean water and food are very very important. "Thank you very much. Thank you very very much." It is happening and I hope that uh it continues to happen. TPRF is doing some good stuff and trying to take care of people who need the help even though you know the greatest gift you can give anyone is a gift of joy. That is the tops, that is the greatest greatest gift. The gift of peace is the greatest gift you can give anybody. Hungry or not hungry, believe me. Peace rules. (Applause)

In 2001, The Prem Rawat Foundation was registered in California as a charitable Trust. It mainly consisted of an Internet website and sold downloadable excerpts of Prem Rawat's speeches, musical compositions and other 'art' works. Linda Pascotto, (née Haldan, a "trust-fund baby") is a premie with inherited wealth who was close to Rawat and became the President of the Prem Rawat Foundation once the advantages of having a foundation were explained to him. While the majority of the money donated to the Foundation would be spent on Rawat's travels and luxury accomodations while he was "spreading the Knowledge" a blizzard of publicity could be created depicting him as a philanthropist making meaningful charitable and humanitarian efforts. In the 15 years since TPRF was founded only an average of 23% of the funds spent have been used for charitable humanitarian purposes. As the Foundation is run very cheaply using mainly volunteer labour the rest of the money is spent on Prem Rawat's luxurious lifestyle. The $US7,673,769 used for charitable purposes have been mainly doled out in approximately $20,000 portions, each of which has been publicised in press releases (see PRNewswire) and stories in the Inspire electronic newsletter produced by TPRF from 2004 to 2010 and WOPG newsletters since. All of these donations, while of great value to the recipients at the time, solve no long term problems, and are short term fixes. Should the money be used for one long term solution of a problem then there would only be one press releae and one upbeat story avialable to put on the internet. All publications of Rawat's organisations display a totally upbeat, positive message of growth and success and their writers are very creative in this regard.

The foundation began when Maharaji raised more than $700,000 for TPRF in the form of proceeds from a benefit auction where all the auctioned items were gifted by him and purchased by devotees. This was an opportunity for Rawat's richest disciples to get together and try to outdo each others in conspicuous donating and public devotion buying worthless articles that had some connection to their divine guru such as pieces of his artwork.

The Inspire Electronic Magazine that was published by TPRF in nearly 200 issues over the years 2004 - 2010 and the TPRF Annual Reports and the press releases distributed through PRNewswire provide a complete picture of Prem Rawat, his activities and Knowledge that he wanted to show to the public (though mainly to his followers) during that time.

Examination of the Prem Rawat Foundation annual reports shows that less than 30% of the funds spent by the foundation (by Rawat's devotees, not by Rawat personally) were spent on humanitarian or charitable activities. The majority has been spent on Prem Rawat himself and helps fund his travels in his private multi million dollar jets, staying in luxury hotel suites and giving speeches that inspire his followers to donate money that is spent on his travels in his private multi million dollar jets …

TPRF disbursements, 2002 - 2022

A full record of TPRF finances is available here.

HDSK

Financial records for Human Development Through Self-Knowledge. The fall in donations is probably explained by people switching donations to WOPG.

This is only a part of the money donated by his followers and spent on and by Prem Rawat. All of the many web-sites dedicated to Prem Rawat have facilities for contributions and Rawat has moved his main public organisation, Words of Peace Global, to The Netherlands so that no detailed public financial accounting is required.

The directors of TPRF have all been long-term dedicated and in many cases close and wealthy followers of Prem Rawat since the time he was the 14 year old child God and Lord of the Universe, Guru Maharaj Ji. They include Linda Haldan Pascotto who has been moved to Chair after years as the President, Stephen Sordoni, Scott Mazo, Karen Pearse, Brad Griffin, Kenneth Delaski, Dr Edward Hanzelik and God's daughter Premlata Rawat Hudson is the President and God's son, Amar Rawat, was appointed to Vice President in 2012. They are nearly all part of the inner circle of Rawat's followers along with the Major Donors' Group and such Rawatism luminaries as Timothy Gallwey, Alvaro and Valerio Pascotto, Dr John Horton, Jean-Marie Bonthous and his long-term paramour, Monica.

The Inspire electronic newsletter was TPRF's major vehicle for the promotion of Rawat up to 2010. It usually contained a brief story about an Élan Vital Inc. (EVI ceased operations in 2010) event or TPRF charitable or humanitarian activity and a short edited section of one of Rawat's recent speeches which was also available on subscription (after the first 10 issues) as a .pdf file. The stories were reused and published on the web at other sites including Young Peoples' Initiative (This site went off-line in 2015. It was supposedly created by and for young people rather than the majority of Rawat's students who had been initiated in the 1970's and were then in their 50's); Maharaji Blog (http://maharajiblog.net/) which shut down at the end of 2009, The Voice of Maharaji which closed down mid 2009. Only the Young Peoples' Initiative was updated after 2009. Articles about Rawat's public activities were distributed as press releases through PR Newswire though I have never seen one actually used by a newspaper.