Why I Named the Foundation After My Children
People often ask Nizi Bhandari why his charity carries the names Iva and Shiv. The answer is the simplest and the most personal one of all: they are the reason any of it exists.
Two names, one reason
The heart behind the name
Every parent knows the feeling — that the love you have for your children doesn't quite fit inside your chest. For Nizi, that love became a question: how do you hold someone close when life keeps you apart? His answer was to put their names on something that would travel further than he ever could.
So the foundation became The Iva and Shiv Foundation. Not a brand, not a slogan — two children, carried into every village, every classroom, every giving day. When a child in the Philippines opens a new school bag, a small part of Shiv and Iva is there too.
It's a father's way of saying: everything good I do, I do in your name.
"Every joyful smile is a gift dedicated to Shiv and Iva. Even far apart, our hearts are always connected."— Nizi Bhandari
Naming the foundation after them did something Nizi didn't expect. It made the giving personal for everyone involved. Volunteers and supporters don't just hear about a charity — they hear about a dad and his kids, and they remember their own. Kindness, it turns out, spreads fastest when it has a face and a name.
You can read more about the love that started it all on the For Shiv & Iva page, or see where that love goes in his good deeds.
Good to know
The name behind the foundation
Why is it called the Iva and Shiv Foundation?
Nizi Bhandari named the foundation after his two children, Iva and Shiv. They are the reason it exists, and naming it after them is how he dedicates every good deed to the children he loves.
Who are Shiv and Iva?
Shiv and Iva are Nizi Bhandari's children and the inspiration behind his philanthropy. Even across distance, he keeps them close by turning his love for them into kindness for children everywhere.
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More of Nizi Bhandari's world
For Shiv and Iva · Shiv and his dad · The good deeds in their name