The idea for a memorial centre to Vakkom Moulavi, the great social reformer of the early twentieth century in Kerala, was started by a group of intellectuals, under the leadership of Shri K.M. Bashir, a senior official of the International Labour Organization (ILO) who established the Vakkom Moulavi Foundation in 1982. In doing so, they were not only trying to correct a historical injustice, as the memory of Vakkom Moulavi had been forgotten despite his many contributions to the development of the Muslim community in particular and Kerala society in general. They were also trying to establish an organization which would promote communal harmony, enhance the knowledge and skills of the people of Kerala to make them employable and address the social and developmental issues of the state.
In 1983, a memorandum requesting the Government to allot a piece of land for the proposed Memorial was signed by many leading legislators and eminent persons and submitted to the then Chief Minister Shri. K. Karunakaran. Despite a commitment made by the government in the state Legislature to donate a site for raising a memorial, the Foundation did not get any land or resources from the government. With its limited financing, the Foundation succeeded in attracting wide public attention by holding meetings and seminars on important issues of public interest during this period.
In the face of government inaction, Shri K.M. Bashir decided to donate his own resources and established the Vakkom Moulavi Foundation Trust (VMFT), which was subsequently registered as a Public Charitable Trust in 1986 in Thiruvananthapuram. Through his personal contribution, the trust purchased land in Thekkummoodu Junction in Trivandrum and a temporary building was constructed, from which it started operations. The VMFT was inaugurated on 21 June 1987 by Shri. E. K. Nayanar, then Hon. Chief Minister of Kerala.
Right from its inception, the VMFT became a vibrant intellectual centre in Trivandrum, attracting people from all walks of life and has steadfastly stood for the values and ideals of Vakkom Moulavi. It organised a number of meetings and seminars on topics of concern to the people of Kerala, in the social, political, economic, educational and scientific fields and came to be widely known in Trivandrum. Shri K.M. Bashir began collecting materials for a biography of Vakkom Moulavi. These included copies of the newspapers Swadeshabhimani, Deepika and Al-Islam.
Following the untimely demise of Shri K.M. Bashir in 1990, the VMFT continued to be financed through resources donated by his widow, Smt. Aisha Bashir. In 1998, the family decided to fulfil the vision of the Founder and donated resources to construct a building with an auditorium, library and training rooms to permanently house the VMFT. The foundation stone for the building was laid by His Excellency the Governor of Kerala, Justice (Retd.) Sukhdev Singh Kang, on 3 March 1998. The K.M. Bashir Memorial Building was inaugurated by Justice Fathima Beevi, Governor of Tamil Nadu on 24 March 2001.
Eng. A. Suhair took over as Chairperson of the Board of Trustees following the demise of Shri K.M. Bashir up to 1992. Between 1992 and 2012 Dr. Sajitha Bashir took over as Chairperson. Eng A. Suhair resumed Chairmanship of the Board of Trustees in 2012, with Dr. Sajitha Bashir as Vice-Chairperson.