Frequently Asked Questions
No. The Board members do not receive any monetary compensation. They are donating their time and skill on a voluntary basis. Thank you for your interest in becoming a board member. We are currently not adding any new members to our board but we highly recommend that you become an active member of our volunteer team by applying for one of the available ‘virtual volunteering‘ or ‘onsite volunteering‘ opportunities. The need on the ground is much more than what we as an organization can afford to support. We plan our spend for the next fiscal year (calendar year) based on the fund that we have collected by the end of October in the current year. This ensure that we know the funds that we will need the following year and also plan for incremental expansion. We are careful not to expand the scope of our current programs or roll-out our programs to new sites in year, unless we feel confident that we will be able to meet the financial needs consistently year-after-year. Our programs require that kind of a commitment and we are committed to the girls that we support through our organization. The short answer is ‘No’ Every organization has is own criteria for providing ‘Awards’ and/or ‘Recognition’. Our Team of volunteers work with these organizations to provide them with the information they require, either on their website or make the information public on our website. We are proud of the word these organizations do (most of them are non-profits) and we are honored to receive the award / recognition from them. Yes. Sneha Karma Foundation is a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization in the United States. Donations are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law, and we provide receipts for every gift. More than 90% of every donation goes directly to our programs for the girls. We keep overhead lean so the maximum share of each gift reaches the children we serve. Sneha Karma Foundation is led by a founder-president and governed by an active volunteer board, with leadership from the United States and program teams in India. The board sets direction, oversees finances and keeps the mission accountable. No. All board members serve as unpaid volunteers. Every rupee and dollar donated goes to the programs, and our financials are published openly. We welcome skilled volunteers and prospective advisors. Visit the Get Involved page to submit a volunteer profile, and the board will reach out when a suitable role opens. Board members are volunteers chosen for their experience in education, nonprofit governance, finance and technology. They are appointed by the founder and serve without compensation, guided by our mission and values. The board reviews program impact, budgets and audited financials, and reports progress to supporters. Our financial documents are shared on the Our Financials page. We are based in Fremont, California, USA, and our programs run in India — beginning with the Garbhanga forest villages near Guwahati, Assam. You can reach us any time via the Contact Us page. Yes. Sneha Karma Foundation Inc. is a USA-registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit (EIN 47-3774368). Donations are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law. Sneha Karma Foundation is a USA-registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit that empowers underprivileged girls in India. Through three programs — Support-A-Girl, Skills Development and Social Enterprise — we support a girl from the classroom all the way to an independent livelihood. We keep operating costs under 10%, funded directly by our founder, so that 100% of your donation reaches the programs — schooling, accommodation, books, healthcare and vocational training. Make a donation or read our impact. We take the responsibility of ensuring that our donors contributions reach the needy very seriously. To ensure total transparency, we publish our annual financial reports on our website. Our top donors receive personalized report on a quarterly basis to provide insight into how their contributions are making a difference. All our other donors and patrons receive a quarterly newsletter, which highlights the impact of their contributions. We also make regular post on our Facebook page to keep our donors, volunteers and patrons informed. Unlike a lot of other Non-Profit organizations out there, we ensure that at least 90% (if not more) of your donations reach the needy. We believe that all our donors, volunteers and supporters must be informed about Sneha Karma and its activities. This includes information about money raised, spent, and disbursed to projects. We declare our financial results to everybody through our annual reports and publish our accounts on our website for public viewing. We report on the progress of supported projects and achievements through our Facebook page, website, blogs and newsletters regularly. Volunteering is the ultimate exercise in democracy. You vote in elections once a year, but when you volunteer, you vote every day about the kind of community you want to live in. Community advocate The cost of our ‘Support-A-Girl’ varies based on 2 factors For Example – For Garbhanga Girls in our Support-A-Girl Program The reason for the difference in the cost is mainly because of the cost of higher studies associated with the older girls. Our programs currently operate in India, including the Northeast, where we run education, skills and artisan-livelihood work with girls and women. Social Change changes how families and communities see girls — the belief that makes everything else possible. Girls’ Education keeps a girl in school through Support-A-Girl and carries her on to college through our Scholarship. Women’s Livelihood turns that education into an income through Skills Development, Support-A-Artisan loans and the Artisans Direct marketplace. Each focus area builds on the last, so one girl can walk the whole path — from a changed mind, to a classroom, to a career. Because they are separate forces. Poverty removes opportunity, while gender inequality decides who within a family receives the little opportunity that exists. A girl kept poor because she is female needs both an income and a family and society that values her — so we address each on its own terms. We support underprivileged girls and women, starting in the Garbhanga forest villages of Assam, India. Many are first-generation learners facing poverty and gender inequality; our programs give them education, safe accommodation, healthcare, skills and a path to independence. The short answer is that it mainly depends on the maximum impact we can have with our programs. A more detailed response is that it depends on multiple factors, some of them are listed below If you would like to nominate / propose a location, Please do not hesitate to contact us Children shouldn't have to suffer, yet there are so many out there who have no family, no home, no food, no clothes and no education. We need to do whatever we can to educate and empower them so they can build a better life. Donor Absolutely, Yes. More than 50% of our volunteers join us when they are in this situation but they then stay on as a volunteer even after they get a full-time job. We have all been in such situations and can completely understand that you might need to go back to focus on your new job for a few months before you come back to contribute as a part-time volunteer. If you are looking for paid work rather than volunteering, you may also want to explore our paid opportunities at Artisans Direct. Thank you for your interest in supporting Sneha Karma Foundation through a donation by Check / Cheque. We truly appreciate your generosity. For the most convenient way to give, please visit our Donate page, where you can make a donation online using a credit card, PayPal, or other available options. If you would still prefer to send a check or cheque, the page also includes the mailing details for your region. If you have any questions or need assistance, please don’t hesitate to contact us — we would be delighted to help. Sneha Karma partners with individuals, networks, corporations and foundations to raise funds. Some key fund-raising strategies include email newsletters, tele-calling, events and promoting the organization through our website. Simple. Just complete the form above. explaining the event you are participating in and how your family/ friends can support you by donating to the Sneha Karma Foundation. If you do collect any offline contributions by check, please make sure follow the guidelines in the ‘Donate by Check’ page and ensure that the donor puts your name / cause in the memo field on the check. we will manually add it to your fund raiser within 24 hours of receiving the check, so that you fund raiser goal automatically reflect the offline contributions. Firstly, Thank you for considering donating your time and Thank you for considering us as a organization where you would like to volunteer. Every virtual volunteering job that we currently have open, requires a minimum of 4 hours per week of volunteers time. Please review the list of ‘virtual volunteering‘ Our Onsite volunteering assignment are more time intensive. They require some preparation time and also some dedicated onsite time. we recommend you visit our ‘onsite volunteering‘ page for more details. It is completely understandable that you might not be able to commit to the minimum time required for virtual volunteering or the dedicated time required for onsite volunteering. We have many other volunteer programs available such as ‘Raise Funds‘ and/or ‘Be Our Ambassador‘ for individuals who might not be in a position to make time commitments and would yet like to contribute to our cause. If none of these options work for you but you have an idea on how you can help us, please contact us and we will take it from there ? No. We are ever so grateful to all our volunteers for donating their time and skills to Sneha Karma Foundation. Virtual volunteering is done entirely online, from anywhere, on a flexible schedule. Roles include teaching, writing and design, website and e-commerce support, marketing, and program management — a few hours a week makes a real difference. You can donate, raise funds, or volunteer — onsite at our program sites in India or virtually from anywhere in the world. Start on our Get Involved page. Onsite volunteers travel to our program locations (such as Assam) for a defined stay, where they teach and mentor girls, help at the handloom centre, and experience the work first-hand alongside our teams. There are many ways to help: donate, sponsor a girl, volunteer onsite or virtually, become an ambassador, start a fundraiser, or partner with us through your company. Visit Get Involved to find your fit. Absolutely. You can volunteer (onsite or virtually), raise funds for a program, or donate. Following us is just the start — there are many ways to get involved. Absolutely Yes. We use SSL encryption to encrypt all the information you provide on the payment form. Also, we use Stripe as our payment processor. Stripe is known to be a leader in online payment processing and supports payments in 135+ countries. Click here to read more about Stripe. Every virtual volunteering role that we currently have open requires a minimum of 4 hours per week of a volunteer’s time. Our onsite volunteering assignments are more time intensive — they require some preparation time and also some dedicated onsite time. Please review our virtual volunteering and onsite volunteering pages for more details. We have many other volunteer programs available such as Raise Funds and/or Be Our Ambassador for individuals who might not be in a position to make time commitments and would yet like to contribute to our cause. If none of these options work for you but you have an idea on how you can help us, please contact us and we will take it from there. Our website is build such that it answers all the questions our visitors might have and we constantly update it to make even more information available. Feel free to contact us if you have any additional questions or have a recommendation on additional information that you would like to see us make available on our website. An investment in a woman’s work is repaid in the wellbeing of everyone she loves. Impact You will find us on Facebook, Instagram, X (Twitter), LinkedIn and YouTube. Follow whichever channel suits you — we share the everyday life of our programs and the moments your support makes possible. You can also subscribe to the newsletter to get the highlights by email. Yes, it is completely free. Click Subscribe Now on this page and enter your name and email — you will receive the next issue straight to your inbox. You can unsubscribe at any time with one click. Every issue brings program and impact updates, a story from a girl or family whose life has changed, upcoming events and volunteering opportunities, and a short, honest note on how your support was used. It is brief and visual — easy to read in a few minutes. Our main update is a quarterly newsletter, alongside periodic blog posts and social posts from the field. We write when there is something worth sharing rather than to a schedule, so you will hear from us a few times a year — never a flood. Past newsletters are collected on our Newsletter page, and our Blog carries stories, updates and impact reports from the field. Both are linked from this page, so you can catch up whenever you like. Share the posts that move you, forward the newsletter to a friend, or simply tell someone about the girls we support. If you would like to do more, you can volunteer your time or make a donation — every share and contribution strengthens the circle around her. Yes — our SKF Supporters group brings volunteers, donors and friends together for updates and conversation. Visit Be Our Ambassador or contact us to be added. Save a girl from poverty and you change the story of her family for generations. Impact
1. Age Group of the Girl
2. Location of the Program Site
Generally for Girls under the Age of 15, cost of Support-A-Girl program is Rs. 2000 per Month
For Girls under the age of 18, cost is Rs. 4000 per month and Girls over the age of 18 cost Rs. 5000 per month.
1. Government and other NGO Programs already working in the region
2. Socio-Economic conditions on the ground
3. Availability of Onsite Program Co-ordinator
4. Ability to interact directly with the Girls and their Parents
5. Sneha Karma Foundation Board Approval