DFN encourages creative giving solutions to fund the work benefiting the Dalits of India. We are happy to assist you in finding the best financial partnership arrangement for you.
Fresh Start Challenge - The Children’s Education Fund
This spring, we are happy to announce that all donations to Fresh Start Challenge are designated to The Children’s Education Fund—and they will be matched, dollar for dollar! In each of our 100+ Dalit Education Centers, India’s most at-risk children are taught the values of freedom, equality, and human dignity through a top-quality English medium curriculum. All your donations this spring help pay for the education costs of the children in our schools that are not individually sponsored.
Join the Cause - May
Your gifts to Join the Cause May support programs that advocate on behalf of India’s Dalits and provide safety, hope, education, and opportunity to history’s longest standing oppressed people group.
Cornerstone
A cornerstone is a component of the foundation of a building that determines the standing of the entire structure. Similarly, The Cornerstone Fund will uphold the momentum that DFN has experienced since its founding in 2002. These necessary funds will support the infrastructure that keeps the DFN office operating efficiently so that we can increase our impact in India. Gifts to The Cornerstone Fund will also be used for capacity building, development initiatives, and organizational expansion. The metaphor of the cornerstone reminds us that the fortitude of The Cornerstone Fund is proportional to the overall fiscal and giving ability of the organization.
Free a Dalit Child
This is absolutely the most critical need that we have and the way you can make the most impact immediately. Watch and experience how your sponsorship can change not only your freed child, but also all of India. Someone’s freed child will grow up to be the person that leads the Dalits out of bondage. Will it be yours? Free a child today at www.dalitchild.com
The Social Justice Fund
DFN’s social justice work, headquartered in Washington, D.C., is critical to the big-picture goal to bring justice and freedom to the Dalits. The Social Justice team advocates for positive change at the highest government levels, drafts legislation that will bring transformation and ensure significant freedoms for the Dalits, and provides ongoing e-communiques on Dalit issues to the Executive and Legislative branches of our government. Gifts to The Social Justice Fund directly contribute to this essential task.
The Healthcare Fund
All gifts designated to The Healthcare Fund support our comprehensive Four Tier Healthcare Delivery System in India, which includes Community Health Workers, Regional Clinics, Mobile Clinics, a Nurses Training College, and a 40-bed hospital. Your donation of $20 will provide the medicines and necessary treatment for one child suffering from malaria, or the medicines and the life-saving treatment for one dehydrated child.
Provide Vaccinations for One Dalit Child
Dalit children often suffer from serious, preventable diseases because they do not receive proper vaccinations. Choose the number of children you want to treat on the shopping cart.
$27 (Suggested Price)
Provide Surgery
Surgeries vary in cost and type, but $235 covers an average, much-needed surgery for a Dalit patient.
$235 (Suggested Price)
Start a Vegetable Vending Stand for a Dalit
Your gift will help a Dalit man purchase a push-cart and fresh vegetables. In a time when the Indian government is decreasing financial support to the agricultural sector, vegetable vendors receive less support from the government and from the community as they desperately seek faster means to buy and sell groceries. With your gift, the vendor can generate income to pay back the loan and earn enough money to feed his own family.
$105 (Suggested Price)
Start a Bicycle Rickshaw Business for a Dalit
Rickshaws are the main form of transportation in Indian cities with approximately 8 million drivers on the road for at least three quarters of the year. Driving is often the only option for Dalit men who are unable to find employment in agriculture or construction. Your generous gift will help a Dalit man purchase a rickshaw so he can secure a source of income, save money by not commuting into the city each day to rent a rickshaw for a higher price, and enable him to care for his family.
$105 (Suggested Price)
Tools and Supplies to Accompany a Sewing Machine
This kit includes basic tailoring tools and cloth for one woman in a tailoring center, enabling her to begin learning and practicing her new trade immediately. You can choose how many kits to give on the shopping cart.
$55 (Suggested Price)
Sewing Machine, Table, and Chair
A simple sewing machine, table, and chair will change the lives of many Dalit women. Our Indian partners will place your gift in one of our tailoring training centers for Dalit women or will make it available at a greatly discounted rate to graduates of that training who will pay for it over time. This equipment allows one woman to start her own tailoring business and gradually pay for the machine into a revolving fund so other women may receive a similar opportunity. You can choose how many sewing machines you wish to donate on the shopping cart.
$160 (Suggested Price)
Supplies for a Salon
Dalits are not welcome in upper caste beauty salons because of the stigma of “Untouchability.” DFN’s partners train Dalit women in beauty treatments and hair care. Then the women receive a set of supplies to start their own home-based salon that can generate income and meet a need in the community.
$30 (Suggested Price)
Support a Woman to Attend a Women’s Empowerment Conference
With your gift, one woman will receive practical training in basic health/hygiene practices, learn valuable truths about her personal worth and discover many opportunities for further economic development programs and vocational training. If you would like to support more than one woman to attend, you can do so on the shopping cart in increments of $65.
$65 (Suggested Price)
Fully Support a Women’s Empowerment Conference
Provide encouragement and valuable training to 100 Dalit women who will be taught their value as human beings and gain crucial health, hygiene, and economic training while enjoying a unique opportunity to be nurtured and to network with other women.
$6250 (Suggested Price)
Ongoing Development of a Teacher
All DFN teachers are trained with Indian government standards and have at least four years of prior experience working among the Dalits. Teachers also participate in continuing education and enrichment courses. You can invest in training a teacher or develop a current teacher for our schools.
$145 (Suggested Price)
The Gift of a School Bus
Would you like to help make it possible for Dalit students in our schools to go back and forth every day without having to walk miles each way? Choose to give them the gift of a school bus.
.jpg)
Build Out Campaign
Our enrollments are bursting at the seams, and we need to build out new classrooms to accommodate additional students.
Totals cost is $25,000 per classroom.
Support the Work of a Washington, D.C. Advocate
DFN’s advocacy efforts in Washington, D.C. are rapidly raising national and international awareness of the plight of Dalits. Your gift of $500 will support this vital, groundswelling work for Dalit freedom. If you would like to contribute another amount, you can do so on the shopping cart.
$500 (Suggested Price)
The Economic Development Fund
Invest your contribution in the programs that support economic programs to help break the cycle of poverty and slavery. Empower the Dalit community to gain marketable/employable skills with which they can break free from oppression and earn an income for their family. Gifts to this fund support economic development programs in India including micro-loans, Self-Help Groups, and Vocational Training Centers
Fund a Loan to Begin a Small Business
One small loan enables Dalits to begin a small business such as ironing, tailoring, operating a telephone booth or vegetable vending. Loan recipients develop a reliable source of income and enjoy the resulting self-respect and dignity after repaying the loan. The constant cycle of funding generates new loans for others in the future.
$265 (Suggested Price)
CCA F.I.G.H.T. Campaign
Build a School
Classroom Makeover
Each DEC is well built and functional but not stimulating. A classroom makeover creates a fun, friendly learning environment through painting, supplying bulletin boards and adding child-friendly furniture.
$1250 (Suggested Price)
Computer Station for a School
One computer station in a DEC can greatly increase efficiency as the teachers and staff perform tasks such as tracking enrollment and developing innovative curriculum. A computer also opens the door to new learning methods and technological skills for children. A computer station includes a desk top computer, hardware, software, desk, and chair.
$1875 (Suggested Price)
Sponsor a Community Healthcare Worker for a Year
Community Healthcare Workers are the heart of our Healthcare Program as they operate near our DECs to provide hygiene education and heathcare for students, their families and other members of the community. If you would like to sponsor more than one Community Healthcare Worker, you can choose the number on the shopping cart.
$7500 (Suggested Price)
Sponsor a Teacher in a DEC
Encourage an Indian teacher by helping to provide for his or her needs. Suggested donation is $35 per month or $50 one-time gift. Choose “Education Fund” on the Donate page and put in the comments, “Sponsor a Teacher.”
Notes on Giving
If you live outside the USA
If you live in Canada and would like to get more involved in the Dalit cause, contact our sister agency, DFN Canada, at http://www.dalitfreedom.net
If you live in the UK and would like to get more involved in the Dalit cause or sponsor a Dalit child’s education, contact our sister agency, DFN UK, at http://www.dfn.org.uk
If you have a special request or designation for your donation, please call us at 202.375.5000 or email us at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Special note for International Donors.
If you live outside of the US and wish to donate to our US headquarters but do not want to use a credit card, there is good news: we can accept checks drawn in your currency on foreign banks. Please send your check to: Dalit Freedom Network, 631 Pennsylvania Ave SE, Washington DC, 20003. If you live in Canada, please keep in mind that we are assessed a $5 fee to cash each Canadian check. If you wish to avoid this charge to us, consider sending a money order instead.
All gifts are used as designated. However, in the unlikely event that a project becomes overfunded, your gift will be applied to a similar project in need or where needed the most.
Support DFN by Trading on eBay
Raise money for the Dalits by selling or buying on eBay. Follow the Mission Fish link below to see how you can donate a percentage of your sales or purchases directly to DFN.
Donate Your Airline Miles
You can donate your frequent flier miles to DFN for use in overseas travel by DFN staff or our Indian partners.
Contact us at:
202.375.5038
Email: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
