Message from the President - Winter 2021

Not wanting to waste a moment of the new year, the Sambhali U.S. board gathered via Zoom for our first meeting on January 9th. Although, like pretty much everyone, we were happy to put 2020 in hindsight, we did so knowing there was a lot to feel very good about looking back over the organization’s first full year.

When we launched Sambhali U.S. in the fall of 2019 we had three main goals: raising funds to support grassroots work empowering women and girls in Rajasthan, India, recruiting volunteers to support this effort both in India and here at home, and providing substantive support for the work of Sambhali Trust from afar. Last year we achieved a trifecta, making major strides in all three.

Raising Funds: A Year of Growing Generosity

Our donors are amazing people who stand up for the women and girls of Rajasthan even – and especially – during hard times. Over 275 of you combined to shatter our (admittedly conservative) fundraising goal, raising nearly $83,000. We are an all-volunteer organization with combined administrative and fundraising expenses of just over $5,000, three-quarters of which were paid either by in-kind donations from volunteer leadership or through a corporate grant specific to administrative costs. In all, 93% of our expenditures go directly to programs in India.

Part of the funds we raised in 2020 has already been allocated through grants last year, some of which will continue through the end of Sambhali Trust’s fiscal year that ends on March 31, 2021. Other donations will support programs beginning April 1st of this year.

At our January 2021 meeting, we made our initial new grants including fully funding the Fatima, Laadli, and Jodhpur Empowerment Centers. Because social distancing requires participants to come in shifts with less classroom time per week, the vocational and educational program has been extended from 12 to 18 months. There may be more changes as we slowly work our way through the pandemic – but the fundamentals of the program and our commitment to it will remain the same. 

We also renewed our commitment to supporting the Sheerni Boarding Home and will provide enough funding to support at least four girls. The older girls have returned to in-person learning while the younger girls are currently learning remotely. All are aided by a team of tutors and have access to computers and computer training for the first time.

At our April 2021 meeting, the Sambhali U.S. Board will consider further grants including renewing our funding for the Nirbhaya project on gender-based violence, which is completing an expansion pilot. You can read about the project here.

Raising Volunteers: Hands Gratefully Grasped (remotely, of course)

Volunteers are the lifeblood of our organization. During 2020, our ranks of board and committee members, interns, and other volunteers grew to over 30 passionate souls, adding decades of expertise in fundraising, communications, volunteer engagement, and non-profit management.

Working through five committees – Communications, Development, Executive, Finance, and Governance and Board Development – we have built the infrastructure for our future as reflected in our GuideStar Gold rating. This includes the ability to successfully bring on new volunteers through both board and general volunteer orientations. Although the pandemic currently prevents us from recruiting volunteers to work directly with Sambhali Trust in India, we are fully ready to do so when that changes with an orientation directed toward that group as well. And if volunteer orientations sounds dull to you, you’ve never seen the magic that Board Member Laura Iwanyk puts together. Interested? Learn more here, apply here, or just drop me a line at shereenarent@sambhalius.org. There is so much we are doing, but so much more that can be done with your help.

Substantive Support: Sambhali Trust and the UN Commission on the Status of Women

We want to lend our skills directly to Sambhali Trust when appropriate and recently had the opportunity to do so when we were asked to help write Sambhali Trust’s statement for the 65th convening of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (UNCSW). Sambhali Trust is a non-governmental organization in consultative status with the Economic and Social Council under which UNCSW falls. The priority theme for this year’s conference is “Women's full and effective participation and decision-making in public life, as well as the elimination of violence, for achieving gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls.”

This theme worked perfectly with the expansion of the Nirbhaya gender-based violence project, which was being developed at the time the statement was due. Working from the research for the expansion put together by Sambhali Trust staff psychologist Abhilasha Chouhan and lawyer Shivani Singh (whose work on the Nirbhaya project is discussed here), Board member Sarah Abedin led the Sambhali U.S. team in drafting the statement for Sambhali Trust’s consideration. The statement has been accepted and is now published here. Several Sambhali U.S. Board members will join Sambhali Trust founder Govind Singh Rathore in attending the virtual conference in March.

One of the pandemic silver linings is that Govind will be able to virtually attend the New York-based conference year. Some day soon we all hope he will be here in person, both for the UN meeting and to meet in person with his supporters in Sambhali U.S. Until then, we will continue to bridge the gap between here and Rajasthan.

All the best,

Shereen

Shereen Arent
President, Sambhali U.S. Board of Directors