Summary
ASHRAYA relies on the TEAM to ensure success in its activities:
- Time
- Expertise
- A Good Word
- Money
Time:
You can become an active member of ASHRAYA. Projects will include the following
- Become a liaison for an Indian organization for the physically challenged or rurally poor sections of society of your choice (preferably in your Indian home state);
- Monitor progress of our beneficiary organizations by visiting them during trips and contributing to their agendas
- Organize fundraisers for ASHRAYA’s projects in your local area
- Attend our weekly progress status calls (Sundays 10:30 AM EST)
Expertise:
We need the following expertise
- Evaluate assistive technologies being developed in the US for all impairments and putting them to use for the challenged in India
- Provide management expertise to our beneficiary organizations on designing and implementing educational and employment generation programs (e.g. running libraries, science clubs, nature clubs and conducting experiential learning projects)
- Make presentations and conducting seminars of topics of your choice at the libraries and science clubs we manage under Project Terra Firma in Hanur Taluk, Karnataka (120 km from Bangalore). You can also participate in activities with Children or take them out on a local trip. To do this while in India, please contact Savukar Raj at 998 657 9754
A Good Word:
As you all know, the “word always spreads”, whether it is good or bad. Lips and ears are eternal siblings, forever connected and in sync. We would like you to spread the word around about our activities and encourage people to contribute to the cause.
Money:
And last but not the least, money is what makes the world go around, and is the foundation of any non-profit organization. Like in any other walk of like, money can make or break an NGO, while at the same time it is subjected to risks of being abused. We have taken the following steps to ensure efficient and effective usage of your funds.
- Strict edicts described already in this document
- Stringent project evaluation criteria described already in this document
- Elimination of all requests for membership fees and general donations.
- Solicitation of funds for specific projects
- Since 2007, our main focus is Project Terra Firma in which ASHRAYA is a primary executor rather than a funder of projects of other organizations. This gives us tight control over how money is spent. Our project coordinators on the field track project progress on a daily basis. We also have a weekly project status meeting between the President, India Coordinator (Vivek Ethiraj) and the Field Coordinator (Savukar Raj)
- Very low overheads (<0.5% to date)
Participation
If you are interested in helping us in any one of the ways described above, please fill the Participation Form below and submit it online we will contact you as soon as possible.
Monetary Contribution
If you would like to contribute to Ashraya or one of its projects, please fill the Monetary Contribution Form below and make your contribution facilitated through PayPal. If you would like to make a contribution towards a specific project, please visit our Current Projects section and decide which project you would like to fund and contribute to.
Site Visit Reports
If you would like to visit our project areas on your next visit to India, please reach out to us at 404-457-1073 (Vasuki Subbarao) and we will facilitate the site visit. Once you conduct your site visit, you can fill your Site Visit Form and submit it online.