Help empower children from underserved communities

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Updates (5)

Why am I fundraising?

I was fortunate to have studied at IIT Madras and IIM Lucknow. I also did very well at both my corporate roles at PepsiCo and Citibank. However, the turning point in my life was my fellowship with Teach for India. I taught in a government school for 2 years with dust, heat and inhospitable conditions but watching my kids grow made it all worth it.

I was thoroughly moved by the potential displayed by my class of 8-9 year old girls from Aya Nagar, Delhi. All they needed to shine was an encouraging teacher. They did very well in class and in their lives, despite the challenges life threw at them. That decided it. I did not go back to the corporate world to continue working with children.

Parinita and I conceptualized Alohomora Education in early 2015 to create an enabling space for many more children to shine!

All children have the potential to be who they want to be if they have right experiences, skills and tools that will allow them to realize their dreams. We want to directly impact 5,000 children by 2017-2018, transforming education practices in India in the long run.

ANALP (Alohomora New Age Leadership Program) is our flagship program that enables children with 21st century life skills to be able to take well informed, empathetic life choices and take charge of their lives. The program builds Digital Literacy, as a tool for students to acquire knowledge aligned to their interest area.

From directly impacting about 150 children in 2015-16 to working with 1000 children this year, our aim is to be ready for big scale deployment by March'17.

What do I plan to do with the funds?

Currently there are 2 people (Parinita Jain and I) working full time on the project. We are sustaining the idea due to support from our families. However, we need more resources to fulfil our commitment and directly impact 1,000 students this year.

Getting more people on the team will ensure we fast track refining our program and researching a comprehensible measurement tool to track program outcomes.

The 2 main areas where we need financial support.

1. Tablets & Bandwidth to build Digital Literacy enabling children to self learn.
(120 tabs *INR 6000 per tab = INR 7,20,000).

2. Salary to hire 2 people to reach out to 1000 children this year

(Salary 30,000/month (30000*2*12) = INR 7,20,000)

Total funds requirement: 7,20,000+7,20,000 = INR 14,40,000

Cost of 1 tab is 6,000, Donate and share!

I invite you to get us a tab from the wish list below learning for 50+ children!

Alternatively, you may want to buy us the tabs directly. Please visit the wish list on Amazon and purchase the tab for us directly. The address is mentioned on the link.

https://www.amazon.in/gp/registry/ref=cm_reg_rd-upd?ie=UTF8&id=2W2Z90K4LM6GM&type=wishlist

FAQs

1. Are we a registered company?
Yes, we are incorporated as a non-profit company under Section 8 of the Company's Act.

2. Are donations Tax exempt?

We will be applying for our 80G and 12A certification soon. However, at this point we will not be able to provide income tax rebate certificate. The donations are NOT exempt from tax.

3. Are donations accepted in USD?

Yes. You could buy us tabs directly (a Lenovo model which is inexpensive and of good quality is listed in my wish list. Please feel free to choose.)

4. What is our contact information?

You may visit our website - www.alohomora.org,

Facebook page - www.facebook.com/UnlockMyPotential

or write to us at divakar@alohomora.org/parinita@alohomora.org

5. How will you know the utilization of funds?

We will send you quarterly newsletter with updates and stories from our classrooms. We intend to publish details of our expenses on our website www.alohomora.org.
Kindly also follow our Facebook page (www.facebook.com/UnlockMyPotential) for regular updates.

Ask for an update

6th July 2017

Dear Alohomora family!

It gives me immense joy to share with you that we are strongly moving towards our goals for this year. We have formal partnerships with 8 government schools and are on track to deeply impact 1000+ Grade 11 and 12 students with a structured career readiness (focusing on 21st century skills) program in 2017-18. It will make a tangible impact in their lives and we hope that in future they will be able to break out of the cycle of poverty they are stuck in.

We recently concluded a leadership academy for 110 students from Grade 11/12. These student leaders will be instrumental in helping us reach 1000+ students in their respective communities. The effort was also captured in an article in Indian Express. (http://indianexpress.com/article/education/at-leadership-camp-government-school-students-discover-their-potential-4669025/)

It is only because of supporters like you that we have been able to keep this movement alive. Heartfelt thank you to you :).

We will soon be relaunching a fundraising effort for this year and will look forward to your continued support. Since you all strongly associate with our cause, I invite you to become our fundraising champion and anchor our fundraising campaign for this year. I am available at divakar@alohomora.org and +91 9711499304. Looking forwards to an 'impact'ful year ahead :)