Projects
Update! – August 2024 – First Meenaz Kassam Fellow – Jane Windsheimer
OUR FIRST MEENAZ KASSAM FELLOW
We have our first student intern serving as our Meenaz Kassam Fellow, and she is wonderful.
WHO IS MEENAZ KASSAM?
A role model for people who care about others, near or far, and a person whose reputation for kindness precedes her.
Dr. Kassam is a philanthropist who wants not only to support, but to participate. Dr. Kassam discovered Aseema, and after studying it, became a loyal supporter, serving on the Board of Advisors. Dr. Kassam also is a retired Associate Professor. Her teaching and research interests focus on the nonprofit sector, volunteering, philanthropy, and women’s empowerment. She is an author, having co-written several books and numerous journal articles on these subjects. She also runs a separate school for marginalized children in India.
We are proud to name a fellowship in her honor. Here are two photos of Dr. Kassam, one in her office and one on site at an Aseema school.
WHO IS JANE WINDSHEIMER?
Jane is an up-and-coming powerhouse who actively seeks out opportunities to learn and grow. She began volunteering in her teens. She is self-starting, hardworking, and friendly.
She is a woman with an agenda: to determine the best way to serve for the underserved. She is an advocate in the making.
Currently, Jane is pursuing her bachelor’s degree at Carlow University. Her major is communications with a concentration in advocacy and social change and a minor in women’s studies. Jane has an open mind and open heart. You can learn more about Jane from her beautiful essay.
We hope to contribute to her success and broaden her horizons on her path to social change. The separate headshot photo was taken by Greg Sciulli. Another is a photo of Jane with our team at a market selling Aseema products.
Welcome Jane! Thank you, Dr. Kassam, for all you do to make the world a better place!
Update! – July 2024 – New Grant for Preprimary Classes
This summer, we were proudly able to give another grant to Aseema to cover the expenses of several pre-primary divisions at different Aseema schools in Mumbai.
Grants like this cover everything needed in a classroom, including but not limited to educational materials, food, field trips and more.
Take a look at these little ones you supported!
Update! – January 2024 – New Grant and Board Member Visit
We began the year with another sizable grant to Aseema to cover expenses for multiple classrooms at several of Aseema’s different schools, including in the tribal region.
In addition, our president and board members Aruna and Manasa Ravi visited the schools and offices. Have a look at some of the photos I took on the visit to see what you’re supporting! – Christine Biancheria
Update! – December 2023 – Aseema Art Steals the Show!
This year ended with a bang! We held a local event, our first since COVID began to weaken. We are thankful to the Square Cafe of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, for hosting an event featuring the art of Aseema children and young alumni who were paid to make art to help them survive the height of COVID difficulties. We raised money for our effort to support the Aseema Charitable Trust. In the process, people had fun and learned more about us and our mission. Take a look!
In addition, the First Unitarian Church of Pittsburgh held an exhibition and sale of Aseema art over a month and a half. The show created a lot of buzz and intrigue, and the art sold well. THANK YOU TO THE UNITARIANS!
Update! – Hooky Game Sales to Date Sponsored an Entire Aseema Class – Why Not Buy a Copy?
Hooky is the board game that Friends of Aseema volunteers co-designed after the core of the game was created by James M. Miller, unfortunately died in 2020. Hooky was published by Rio Grande Games earlier this year.
Sales have already funded a classroom at Aseema!
Hooky was surprise on the game market, and even now, reviewers and critics continue to discover it. Hooky made several reviewers Top 10 Games of 2023! It has been described as a combination of Wordle and Clue.
Take a look at this Canadian Reviewer’s year-end comments on Hooky! Why not buy one?
A Popular Canadian Reviewer Lists Hooky as the Number One Game of 2023! Click on the photo to listen.
Top U.S. Reviewer Tom Vasel, in this video, said, “This game is a winner!”
Update! – SAVE THE DATE & PAINT THE TOWN – Art Sale and Party – Saturday, December 2, 2023, from 7 to 9 p.m.
Friends of Aseema is holding its first in-person community event! An evening of food, friendship, fun, fine art and fundraising.
WHAT?
We will be auctioning and selling original more than 20 works of art by children and young alumni from Aseema. There will be other surprises and cool items on sale, too.
There will also be food, including pastries, and a cash bar. Join us and spread the word!!
WHERE?
The Square Café in Pittsburgh on 134 South Highland Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15206.
You can see the café here: https://square-cafe.com/.
WHEN?
Saturday, December 2, 2023, from 7 to 9 p.m.
HOW?
If possible, let us know you are coming through an RSVP on the invitation and announcement here or email us at info@friendsofaseema.org. We can’t wait to see you!
Update! – September 23, 2023 – Benefit Performance by Madhuri Murli of Flute Theory
This month, multi-talented singer, songwriter and dancer Madhuri Murli of www.flutetheory.com held a benefit concert in San Jose, California.
Madhuri is so generous that instead of selling tickets, she took donations for Friends of Aseema! We were treated to a SOLD-OUT SHOW!
The concert showcased original songs sung by Madhuri with the support of an array of dancers and amazing musicians. You can see Madhuri perform originals on YouTube. Here is an interview done by radio channel Bolly 92.3 fm of California where you can learn more about Madhuri’s mission and her choice of Friends of Aseema to benefit from her work. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b9alEGscrl0
What an amazing gift. Friends of Aseema will be forever grateful to Madhuri Murli, one of our earliest supporters, and her kind friends who welcomed our representative with open arms and so much consideration.
Update! – September 2023 – New Grant for Aseema Class
This month, we sent a grant to Aseema for expenses at one of Aseema’s Mumbai schools.
Here is a photo of Aseema’s Pali Chimbai school (PCMS) from a visit by our Vice President Tyler Gillett and his spouse Vibha Shetiya, a Friends of Aseema volunteer, being welcomed by friendly, well-mannered children at the school.
With this grant, you are helping to provide everything a classroom needs, such as:
■ Meals for children living in food insecurity
■ Medical care for children
■ Educational materials and field trips
■ Teacher salary
THANK YOU! ASEEMA TRANSFORMS LIVES. YOUR SUPPORT MAKES THIS ALL POSSIBLE. JOIN US IN SUPPORTING THIS MODEL FOR CHANGE ANYWHERE.
Update! – June 2023 – A Game to Raise Funds and Awareness – Now Available!
Friends of Aseema is pleased to announce that our game “Hooky” is now available! You can find it online by searching for “Hooky board game,” but here are a few links to try:
The game combines a word game with a logic and deduction game. It is a bit of a brainteaser for 3 to 5 players, ages 14 and up. Sales benefit Friends of Aseema, so please consider buying a copy and spreading the word! It is also available from several online stores in Canada.
We recently held an event at a game store, Games Unlimited, which donated all proceeds from sales that day to Friends of Aseema! The illustrations on the game cards were done by artist and volunteer Tessa Samuelson and the backdrop art on some cards came from Aseema students and alumni.
You can find a review of the game here.
Here are some photos from our recent event as well as a photo of some of the volunteers who helped develop the game trying it out when we finally held the first copies in hand! One popular display showed photos of Aseema children whose activities inspired the activities on the game cards.
Update! – May 2023 – New Grant for Four Classrooms
This month, we sent a sizable grant of to Aseema for expenses at 4 different classrooms at Aseema’s4 different schools, including in the tribal region.
What is it like in an Aseema classroom? From one of the visits of our president, here is who you are supporting.
Please meet Sushma Phulsunge, Senior Teacher at Aseema’s Kherwadi school, as she teaches sentences on cake and cupcakes:
You are helping to provide everything a classroom needs, such as:
■ Meals for children living in food insecurity
■ Medical care for children
■ Educational materials and field trips
■ Teacher salary
THANK YOU! PLEASE CONTINUE TO HELP US SUPPORT THIS MODEL FOR TRANSFORMATIONAL CHANGE.
Aseema is a lesson in how to change the world with your own two hands.
Singer Ben Harper wrote:
I can change the world with my own two hands
make a better place with my own two hands.
make a kinder place with my own two hands…
I can make peace on earth with my own two hands.
I can clean up the earth with my own two hands.
And I can reach out to you with my own two hands.
Update! – 2023 – A Game to Raise Funds and Awareness – Coming Soon
Friends of Aseema is pleased to announce that we have a game coming out soon.
The game is called “Hooky” and is being published by Rio Grande Games. The game was invented by a supporter, James Miller. Unfortunately, James, a wonderful man, died in 2020 at the age of 50 before he had put the final touches on it. However, before his death, he wanted the game to go to Friends of Aseema to benefit the mission of support the schools and children at the Aseema Charitable Trust.
Our volunteers and some officers worked hard to finish developing the game. The artwork is in part art made by Aseema’s children with illustrations by volunteer Tessa Samuelson, who knew James Miller nearly all of her life.
It is a deduction game for 3 to 5 players, and someone described it as a bit of a combination of Wordle and Clue but with its own unique twists.
Sales will benefit Friends of Aseema. Look for the game in stores soon!
Update! – December 2022 – New Grants, New School
In the second half of 2022, Friends of Aseema was proud to assist Aseema, first by reallocating some funds to the repair and renovation of the Pereira Wadi municipal school building. Here, you can see a photo why repairs are needed.
This building will be the new home of one of Aseema’s existing schools, but here is the best part: it will increase enrollment capacity! A seat at an Aseema school is a sought-after position in the area communities. More funding, a bigger building, more students, more opportunities!
What a way to celebrate Aseema’s 25 th year of service.
Additionally, thanks to you, we were able to send money toward expenses for two grades at Aseema’s Kherwadi Municipal School, Pali Chimbai Municipal School and for the Computer Lab.
Update! – June 2022 – New Grants – In-Person Learning Begins – Visit to India
A Lean Budget: We are often asked about Aseema’s financial integrity. Donors want their money to have an impact, not to disappear in bloated costs. Aseema runs on a lean budget to maximize service to the children. Aseema’s administrative expenses are under 7% of the overall budget. That is lean.
Ask Questions: Our president visited Mumbai in February 2022 and met with Aseema staff and is in regular contact from the U.S. Ask us any time to prove Aseema’s financial integrity. We welcome these inquiries!
Staff Retention: To make a successful school, you need two things: motivated students and great staff. Aseema teachers and staff are highly trained, and they acquire valuable and specialized skills in working with children with disadvantaged backgrounds. And the results are stunning! Just look at the 100% SSC pass rates from 2017, 2018, 2020 and 2021 (it was still an amazing 93% in 2019).
Healthcare: We want those staff to be able to afford to stay. Studies prove the obvious: one factor in retaining teachers is salary and benefits. Until last year, Aseema staff did not have health insurance. Having a worldwide pandemic certainly highlights the importance of health insurance. Our independent board of directors just approved a grant to fund health insurance for Aseema staff for the next year!
Teaching Materials and Student Tracking: We also reallocated funds toward a whole variety of items for the children’s benefit, such as projectors for classroom instruction, Montessori materials, cabinets to display their works and computer systems to help track their medical histories and needs and attendance and to allow parents easy access to the children’s report cards and performance data. This will free up time for Aseema’s work-all-the-time social workers as well.
Sustainability: Donors also want to know about sustainability of the organizations they support. Is Aseema sustainable? The short answer is this:
Happy 25th Anniversary to the Aseema Charitable Trust!!!
Our board responded to a modest request to help build an endowment that will help Aseema stay the course with even more security. Congratulations to Aseema on 25 years and counting!
School is Back and In Person: This June, school resumes – in person. Finally. While COVID-19 numbers are waxing and waning in India, they have generally been under control, and Aseema students are thrilled to begin full, in-person learning in mid-June.
Please stand by us by donating. It only takes about two or three minutes to donate on this site. Contact us any time with questions. We love to talk about this NGO we enthusiastically support. Thank you for making this possible.
Update! – October 2021 – New Grant – Partial In-Person Learning Begins
On September 27, 2021, our independent board of directors approved another new grant of approximately $65,000 to the Aseema Charitable Trust. This grant was similar in nature to our last one. Aseema’s needs throughout the COVID-19 period have remained consistent. This grant provides a funding package for the schools’ special nutrition program, for clothing for children unable to afford or access sufficient items, for the remedial program that helps to ensure that children moving up to the next standard (or grade) are able to work at that level, for sponsorship of the needs of particular classes and for office expenses.
Within the last month, Aseema students began returning to in-person learning. The first students to return are the upper-level students who are learning subjects that are the hardest to teach remotely. Assuming that the pandemic remains under reasonable control and depending on government directives, more in-person learning will be phased in. Meanwhile, many children continue to learn on devices that Aseema is distributing, such as smartphones and laptops.
We are proud to assist these amazing children and staff. What an inspiration they are!
Update! – August 2021 – New Grants – SSC Triumph
Aseema students, teachers, and staff have had to adapt to the Covid-19 pandemic that continues to impact daily life across India. Because of the ongoing situation, Aseema will implement remote learning for the foreseeable future.
On June 21, 2021, our independent board of directors at Friends of Aseema approved a new grant to help Aseema address their current condition. This grant includes funds for supplemental nutrition for students affected by the threat of malnutrition due to the lockdowns, clothing distributions, classroom sponsorship, remedial education to keep children up to speed, and teacher and staff support.
We are also proud to announce the 2021 SSC results, with Aseema students once again achieving a 100% pass rate! The SSC is the challenging exam all 10th standard students in India take to receive their secondary school certificate. Aseema had a 100% pass rate last year, and also in 2018. We salute their amazing success in difficult circumstances!
Update! – May 2021 – HUMANITARIAN DISASTER – What You Can Do
India is an epicenter of the pandemic, with the second wave causing hundreds of thousands of cases per day. An accurate count is hard to obtain, with varying reports and with the difficulty of ascertaining the realities in the rural regions of this vast country.
Infections in Maharashtra and some major cities seem to be leveling off. Given the lack of oxygen, hospital beds, and vaccines, the situation remains grim. Children have lost parents. Staff and teachers have fallen ill and lost loved ones.
Right now, lockdown is back in Mumbai, leaving daily wage-earners mostly without work. Last time, Aseema families burned through any small savings they might have had. Families are scraping for earnings: women who had worked as maids are not wanted for fear of contagion. The streets are empty of vendors. In desperation, one Aseema mother found work helping those with Covid despite the obvious danger.
Aseema estimates needing five rounds of food distributions again this year, reaching up to 10,000 people each time. For many students, the school uniform is their primary clothing, especially in the tribal region, so clothing will need to be distributed this year, too.
Last year, Aseema crossed the frontier of remote learning in poor communities. Now, with the pandemic wave, more students in younger grades also need devices. Aseema students need 75 laptops (about $425 each) and 800 smartphones (about $95 each).
In the photos, you can see children still persevering at learning from home. Have a look at one student’s remote-learning video on India’s population to see how hard the students try and to learn about the geography and population of India.
Last year, Aseema employees went on salary cuts. Although they, too, are suffering from the pandemic’s medical and psychological effects, they continue to work on salary cuts. The 4-person IT department works nonstop programming devices and training students, parents and teachers on how to use them.
Fortunately, Aseema alumni have been helping. Because kindness breeds kindness. Be a part of this community.
As international aid arrives and the government tackles difficult logistics, regional NGOs like Aseema – with your help – can make an immediate and direct impact on fragile communities.
With donations from you, Friends of Aseema can be at the ready to send relief.
Update! – December 2020 – New Grant – Move Toward Synchronous Learning
Due to the continuing impact of Covid-19, Aseema’s children and teachers have worked to adjust to distance learning. Aseema students, many of whom had limited access to smart phones, began the process with asynchronous learning, typically by lessons pre-prepared by the teachers.
Aseema has now started preparations to move to synchronous teaching. This means that students and teachers require more ready access to smart phones, laptops and related accessories.
On November 29, 2020, our independent board of directors at Friends of Aseema approved a new grant as a Covid-relief package. This award was aimed primarily at remote-learning support but once again allowed flexibility to sustain core functions where needed, such as teacher and staff salary and/or food distribution. Please have a look at our Testimonials page where we have added a short video from an Aseema teacher who was a member of Aseema’s first class more than 20 years ago!
Update – October 2020 – Inaugural BEAUTY WITHOUT BOUNDARIES 2020 Art Auction!
Friends of Aseema, the Aseema Charitable Trust and Artrepreneur.com collaborated to host the inaugural Beauty Without Boundaries 2020 Art Auction in October 2020.
The auction featured 21 original works by Aseema children ranging in age from 10 to 17. Some of the art was created recently by children in COVID-19 lockdown. You can meet some of the child artists describing their paintings on our YouTube channel. You can still buy limited-edition prints at the Aseema / Friends of Aseema Showroom.
Recognizing the increased needs during this extremely difficult time, numerous celebrities and professional icons agreed to offer online conversations with auction high bidders. The guests came from places like the United States to Brazil to Sri Lanka and India, as you can see below.
- Danny Boyle, Academy Award-winning director of films such as Slumdog Millionaire, 28 Days and Trainspotting
- Priyanka Chopra Jonas, actor, producer, activist
- Nick Jonas, Golden Globe and Grammy-nominated singer, songwriter, actor and producer
- Dr. Shashi Tharoor, former Undersecretary General to the United Nations, Indian M.P. and author
- Colonel Terry Virts, astronaut and former Commander of the International Space Station
- Mrs. Joanne Rogers, Pittsburgh-based wife of the late Fred Rogers, beloved U.S. children’s television personality
- Amish Tripathi, prolific author and director of London’s Nehru Centre
- Anjolie Ela Menon, India’s leading contemporary artist
- Vanessa German, Pittsburgh-based multimedia artist, sculptor and poet
- Nitin Rakesh, CEO of Mphasis, a $1 billion IT services company
- Kate Johnson, President of Microsoft U.S.
- Anita Dongre, famed Indian fashion designer
- Elizabeth Grimaldi, executive director of Pennsylvania’s Fleisher Art Memorial, the country’s oldest community art program
- Al Gury, author and chair of the Painting Department of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA)
- Karambir Singh Kang, former general manager of Mumbai’s Taj Mahal Palace and winner of the Uttam Jeevan Raksha Padak award for bravery
- Raghava KK, cutting-edge artist and inductee into the National Geographic Society for scientific exploration through art
- Tulio Milman, Opinion Editor and Columnist for RBS Media Group, one of the largest in Brazil
- Senaka Senanayake, Sri Lankan artist renowned for his lush paintings of endangered fauna
- Navrin Alvani, Vice-Chairman and Managing Director of the Al Shirawi Group based in Dubai and CEO of Arcadia Education
- Jerry Wind, prolific author, marketing consultant and lauded professor of the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania
Update! – September 2020 – Mumbai Children’s Art Auction Coming Soon!
Aseema’s robust art program and Room 13 classes have produced stunning results over the years. Room 13, a concept born in Scotland, is a worldwide network of art studios where skilled adults teach children art but slowly encourage the children to take the lead and become more independent in their creativity. You can learn more about it here: http://room13international.
Many of Aseema’s children have won art prizes, and they have exhibited work at Mumbai’s Harmony Art Shows. Even during Covid-19 lockdown, the children are creating amazing art.
But now, we are taking it global. Friends of Aseema is collaborating with Artrepreneur.com under the generous leadership of Artrepreneur’s CEO Grace Cho to bring you the opportunity to view and acquire this amazing art. Stay tuned. We have some surprises in store for you!
Past Art Exhibitions
Lockdown Art
Room 13 at Aseema
Update! – August 2020 – Covid-19 Relief Grant – Distance Learning Continues – Aseema Teachers’ Impact
Aseema’s children, families, staff and teachers have been working under Covid-19 lockdown for months. Some restrictions have eased, but Aseema teachers continue to teach remotely, with the children tirelessly learning via smart phone. Students at Aseema’s tribal school are doing the same and also engaging in peer-to-peer learning. When students nearing graduation had difficulty learning advanced subjects by phone, Aseema, always watching and responding, began raising money for laptops.
On August 12, 2020, our independent board of directors at Friends of Aseema approved a new grant as a Covid relief package. The award allowed Aseema flexibility between specific options to help sustain core functions such as teacher and staff salary and/or food distribution. We invite you to have a look at our new Testimonials page where we are beginning to post videos we made. Listen to the children and alumni tell you themselves about why you can be proud to support Aseema teachers!
Aseema Remote Learning
Practicing Big and Small
Practicing Circles and Squares
Update! – August 2020 – Aseema Students 100% Pass Rate on the SSC Exams
In India, when children graduate from their 10th standard, they must take a difficult exam to get their secondary school certificate. This exam is known as the SSC and is a major source of stress for Indian children.
We are so proud to announce that Aseema’s students managed a 100% pass rate this year! This happened in 2018 as well, when Aseema had only one of two schools in all of Mumbai’s municipal system to get a perfect record.
Update! – July 2020 – Lockdown Continues – Distance-Learning Begins – Covid-19 Relief Drive Underway
As you can read from our April update, due to Covid-19, on March 25, 2020, the Indian government announced an immediate 21-day lockdown to slow the spread of the virus. Indians were required to stay home, only going out for essentials. Because Aseema’s children live in extreme poverty, they rely on the schools for food, and their normally hardworking families of daily wage-earners were unable to engage in day labor for meager sums.
Aseema rushed to raise funds, as did Friends of Aseema. We raised $12,000 in one week and wired it to Aseema. Aseema quickly distributed ration kits to all the children’s families: 1,808 hampers of food were distributed for the benefit of 9,986 people.
But Mumbai became a Covid-19 hotspot, and the lockdown continued. As of June 30, 2020, Aseema families were in lockdown, most in one tiny room and in brutal heat, for more than 3 months. Aseema again raised funds and, at great expense, completed a second food distribution, this time with hampers 50% larger to make them last longer.
School in India started on June 15, 2020. Therefore, Aseema distributed school supplies for distance learning, a new frontier. Many of Aseema’s teachers, on altruistically low salaries, could not afford a home computer, so Aseema sought donated computers for them. The children use smart phones with headphones for lessons and turn in assignments by video and photo. Have a look at some of the photos below.
But many of the children still needed phones and data plans, requiring Aseema to again raise money in a troubled global economy. And then there are the usual expenses to fund, such as salaries for the staff and teachers. You can see some of the staff distributing textbooks below.
Obviously, Aseema could use our help like never before.
After consulting with Aseema, and subject to the approval of our independent board of directors, we are raising money for another Covid-19 relief package that would assist with some of these expenses.
Some Good News: Thanks to the extraordinary generosity of the Moez & Marissa Kassam Foundation, now is a great time to donate because the foundation will match your donations up to $21,000 or until Covid-19 ends!
Staff distributing texts
Distance Learning
Aseema children record homework as distance learning begins
Update! – April 2020 – Lockdown!! – New Round of Grants
Due to the worldwide Covid-19 pandemic, on March 25, 2020, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced an immediate 21-day lockdown across the whole of India, giving people just 4 hours’ notice. Schools and businesses are closed, except for those essential to life, and as in the United States, even those can be hard to access or find fully stocked. This lockdown received praise for its extraordinary attempt to slow the virus, but even the prime minister acknowledged its particularly grim effect on the poor. Aseema’s children live in extreme poverty and rely on the schools for meals. Aseema families earn meager wages through such activities as day labor by driving rickshaws or doing domestic work. Now, they cannot earn even this small amount. These puts the families in a dire situation with regard to food.
Aseema, as always, stepped up and began plans to navigate the very difficult logistics of getting basic, life-sustaining food supplies to the families to prevent hunger and starvation, which also renders people more vulnerable to the virus. At first, Aseema social workers compiled a list of the families most in need, but it became clear that all of the families would need help. Aseema and Friends of Aseema immediately began parallel fundraising endeavors the very day the lockdown was announced. Within five days, Friends of Aseema raised more than $12,000 and made yet another grant to Aseema to support their brave efforts to get food supplies through to the children’s families. Deliveries to those in greatest need are already underway.
An enormous thanks to the 70 open-hearted donors who rushed forward here in the U.S. and elsewhere, even though they, too, are affected here by the crisis, to care about these families in a faraway place. The world is interconnected as never before, and we must all stand together to get through this! Take a look at the kind of direct action your donations can finance.
Update! – April 2020 – Lockdown!! Covid-19 Relief Drive Still Underway!!
With Aseema’s families confronting enormous needs, the road ahead is full of challenges. Food deliveries are underway and might well need to be repeated, but the crisis will have tremendous additional fallout, such as needs for medical care. Once school resumes, good meals will be needed to keep the children’s immune systems strong, and measures will need to be taken to monitor the children’s health and keep the schools free of contamination.
There is another type of hidden Covid impact: as funds are directed and redirected to Covid damage, funding for other more traditional but essential functions of the schools and their administration will be more needed than ever. Our strength is our flexibility in how we distribute funds. Please contribute anything you can!
We remain in constant contact with Aseema’s chairperson and staff to stay abreast of their greatest needs. As always, Friends of Aseema’s independent board of directors will review Aseema grant requests to ensure that your donations go to the most needed and valuable goals within our means. And remember, “our means” are determined by the generosity of you, our donors.
Heroes of Aseema
On the right is Santosh Panigrahi, head of Aseema’s Community Work Cell. Santosh has worked diligently to identify families in need.
From left to right, Meeti Kapadia, Annapurna Acharya, Sarah Thomas, Sabina Talpade, Gargi Dutta, Asmita Kakade.
Update! – March 2020 – Second Round of Grants
By the end of December 2019, Friends of Aseema expanded our board of directors, all of whom donated even though their terms had only just began on December 1. We raised funds beyond our greatest expectations for our new organization and made yet another grant to Aseema. This time, we contributed to an effort to protect the beautiful and newly inaugurated tribal school outside of Igatpuri from intense monsoon rains. During a site visit by our president in February 2019, the head teacher proclaimed joyfully, “This is our dream school.” We want to keep it that way!
Over in Mumbai, Aseema recently moved to much-needed new headquarters to accommodate its staff. Many charities find it very difficult to obtain any help with office and staff expenses because many donors particularly enjoy giving for initiatives directly to children and specific programs, as does Friends of Aseema. But cutting-edge thinking in the philanthropic world, spearheaded by the CEOs of leading foundations, holds that healthy nonprofits also need general operating support that they aren’t getting. Schools do not run themselves, and we are proud that we stepped forward to help Aseema with its new office and in recruiting and retaining their hardworking, talented and heroic staff. If you want to know what we mean by heroic, keep reading the updates below.
Update! – March 2020 – IRS Officially Recognizes Our Charitable Status!
Friends of Aseema was formed on July 30, 2019. We obtained our 501(c)(3) status in March of 2020, retroactive to our formation. This means the IRS recognizes us as a bona fide charity. Rest assured that your donations to date and going forward are eligible for favorable tax treatment to the extent provided by law.
Update! – January 2020
Friends of Aseema is proud to announce that, within months of formation, our generous early donors had given enough money to allow us to award our first grant to help the children. We have given funds to Aseema to:
