Ashwini Charitable Trust

Annual Report

2013-14

Trustee Information 3

Message from the Managing Trustee 4

ACT: Mission and Vision 5

ACT: Philosophy and Methodology 6

ACT: The Beginning 7

ACT: Centres & Activities 8

ACT: Mothers, Alumni, Volunteers Speak 12

ACT: Mission Accomplished 16

Key Accomplishments 2013-14 18

Acknowledgements 19

A Call to Action 23

Financial Analysis 25

Financial Statements 28

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At ACT Also...Managing Trustee

Sujata Mukherjee (Operations) Social Worker

Secretary

Dr.J Bhavani Ramesh (Counselling) Family Counsellor

Treasurer

Priyanktha Iyengar (Design) Fashion Designer

Trustees

Radhika Aravindam (Fund Raising) TutorAarthi Muralidharan (Educational Strategy) Educational Specialist

Dr. Hemlatha (Healthcare) Paediatric SurgeonShobha Jaidev (Healthcare) Homeopathic Healer

ACT is registered under:Income Tax Department under Section 80-GIncome Tax Department under 12 A (a)FCRA Registration 094421447Registration No - DOCUMENT No.434 of Book IV 2000-01

Bankers

State Bank of India, M G Road, Bangalore, 560001Vijaya Bank, Cambridge Road, Bangalore, 560008

Auditor

Radhakrishna Upadhya & Co.Chartered AccountantsNo. 1378/5, South End Main Road,9th Block East, Jayanagar- 560069 3

Dear ACT Supporter,

From one to three hundred, our journey has been long, it has been eventful, and it has been the most satisfying journey we have ever undertaken. Thanks to your support and participation, our journey is strong, and gaining momentum.

We are proud to share with you that two more girls, Veneetha and Pooja have successfully passed out in 2014. Whenever a student passes out, and takes her first independent step into a new exciting world, we celebrate. You celebrate.

We are all here because of the opportunities that others made possible for us. One hour per week makes a difference. Your one hour, plus her one hour, plus his one hour make a huge impact. We all have something to give. If we can pay it forward to every child, what a beautiful way to show our gratitude to those who supported us along the way. And what an impact we can have together.

This year ACT was felicitated with the iVolunteer ‘Finalist - Leader in Volunteer Engagement’ award, thanks to you, all of our volunteers and supporters.

It is true, as Henry Ford said, ‘Coming together is a beginning, Keeping together a progress, Working together a success’. We thank you for all you’ve done so far, and hope to travel a much longer distance in our journey… together.

Warm Regards,Sujata Mukherjee

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To educate and empower underprivileged children and support them till they

are gainfully employed.

• To do our best so that the current generation of underprivileged children

living below the poverty line integrate seamlessly within mainstream society

and that they are productive from the first day in their jobs.

• To impart quality education, including skill building and matching children

with employment opportunities that are suited to their dominant

intelligence and strengths.

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Work is done through Community Participation;

Focus is on all three critical aspects of the child's

development

As per the Theory of Multiple Intelligences, by Howard Gardner, theidentification of the dominant intelligence of each child is done.

The child is then encouraged and enabled to hone the identified intelligence and later take an occupation complimenting the same for greater success.

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ACT was started in 2000 with an intent to educate and empower

underprivileged children of Ulsoor slums in Bangalore.

We began by sponsoring the education of one child from one slum, Ashwini,

and have grown to support over 300 children across four neighborhood

centres in Bangalore.

ACT sponsors hardworking and dedicated children whose lower income

parents typically work as house maids, vendors, painters, or tailors. All the

children in ACT are first generation literates who attend semi-government

and government aided private schools.

ACT CENTRES

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ACTIVITY HIGHLIGHTS 2013 - 14

Volunteers take classes and provide academic support to our students throughout the year. Many volunteers also take non academic classes including dance, singing, karate, and crafts.

Senior students of ACT also take classes and serve as mentors to younger students in the trust. This helps develop leadership skills and emotional intelligence.

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Health & Physical Wellness are critical for a child’s success. A sick child cannot attend school or ACT classes, and a malnourished child is at a developmental disadvantage.

Mothers and childrenattend classes on physical wellness. Children are vaccinated and have access to doctor visits. Mothers are provided with protein mix and taught how to administer this to their children. And all students receive a healthy snack daily.

ACT provides employability trainingwith the help of our volunteers and organisations.

Students learn computer skills and have access to our computer lab. They also learn about resume writing, interview skills, and how to work within a team. These are paramount to achieve the goal of employability for all our students.

Infosys invited our students to visit their Mysore campus. While there, the students visited historical sites including Mysore Palace and Chamundi Hills.

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Celebrations are an important part of life in ACT. Children are encouraged to celebrate and enjoy life.

Birthdays are celebrated monthly with cake for everyone. Holidays were celebrated with singing, a rangoli competition, and a Rakhee event with the local police force.

And our students worked hard to prepare singing, dancing and karate performances for ACT’s Annual Day!

And, of course, FUN is an important part in any child’s life!

This year our children have learned to make short films and participated in the Adobe Youth Voices competition, learned to read for pleasure in our library, enjoyed gardening with volunteers and participated in activities like sports days and kite flying.

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MOTHERS SPEAK:

Jaya speaks about her daughter Shruthi O., in class VII, with ACT since 2011

Shanti is the proud mother of Sandhya & Manigandan, with ACT since 2009

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ALUMNI SPEAK:

We asked some alumni to reflect on their time at ACT

Some ACT Alumni with Mrs. Mani

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“Don’t be worried that you don’t know anything and you can’t give anything. Just be there…”

“It amazes me how hard they work - after a full day in school!”

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“I always leave ACT with a smile!!!”

“I have learnt to give space to others to create and take initiative and above all, learnt to love unconditionally..”

This year we had two more students graduate from the trust and join the workforce.

Pooja Takes a Step Forward:

Pooja came to us in Std VI. She was full of life: bubbly, confident, brave... very popular with her seniors and juniors in the Trust. Her only problem was academics: No matter how hard she studied, she was not able to recall more than 10% after a week. So she fared poorly in her Tests and Exams.

We enrolled her in NIOS, the one-on-one volunteering helped her a great deal.

Meanwhile we started mapping her latent skills and talents to suitable career paths. In Std X we organised a site visit to one of our supporting Five Star Hotels to create awareness of the Hospitality Industry in Pooja and other such children. Pooja took to Housekeeping like a duck to water.

From then on, there was no turning back. She cleared SSLC, we enrolled her in a training program in the various branches of Hotel Management. Housekeeping continued to be her passion. Today, Pooja works in a famous Five Star chain. She loves her job, and her colleagues and managers love her enthusiasm and spirit.

SUCCESS IS NOT MEASURED BY WHAT YOU DO COMPARED TO WHAT OTHERS DO, IT IS MEASURED BY WHAT YOU DO WITH THE ABILITY GOD GAVE YOU.

- ZIG ZIGLAR

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Veneetha's Story:From Class 5 at ACT

to an Employee at Standard Chartered Bank

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• Felicitation in Mumbai by iVolunteers: Based on a nationwide survey, ACT was elected as one of the top 10 NGO Finalists in the Category “Leader in Volunteer Engagement”. Sujata Mukherjee personally received the certificate from noted celebrity, Abhishek Bachchan.

• Adobe Youth Voices: Adobe and American India Foundation involved our children in this unique movie making project for children from underprivileged backgrounds to create short films, documentaries, animations, radio plays on socially relevant issues. Thirty ACT children learned to create story boards, upload music and edit the movies. Finally, the ACT students published a Selected movie in Chowdiah Memorial Hall and received participation certificates.

• ACT adopted the Government Tamil Higher Primary School at Murphy Town

• 24 children participated in the celebratory Majja Run of the TCS World 10K Run

• 41 Students underwent karate training and obtained various belts corresponding to their ability

• 12 students enrolled in the Karnataka Institute of Cricket

• Over 300 volunteers contributed more than 16,000 hours at ACT

Managing Trustee, Sujata Mukherjee, receives the iVolunteer citation fromAbhishek Bachchan on behalf of Ashwini Charitable Trust at the ceremony inMumbai in March. What a great way to start the year!

We are grateful to all the individuals and organisations who have contributed financially to the mission and work of Ashwini Charitable Trust.

We would like to recognize, in particular, those who have made a contribution of more than Rs. 4,000:

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Individual Donors

In-Kind Donations:

The following individuals provided in-kind donations to ACT, from sweets to school supplies, storybooks to cameras, and many other gifts!

Anju and Vinay Jain Nitesh and Namrata Anchan Sangeetha KrishnamurthyAparna Sridhar, Sowmya and team Nitin Singh Shajiah SivaramakrishnanDitipriya Das Nupur Vilas Bhade Shantilal BohraDr. Sandeep Shetty Palli Shuabia RahamanIwata-san Premila Shetty Shyam and Kanchan KeswaniJake and Pushpa Daryanani Priya Virmani Solachi RamanathanMenaka Warrior Reinu Ojha Surekha ShettyNaina Jaisinghania RituBatra Tanu BaatraNandini Das Ghoshal Sahana Muherjee Vidya SinghNandini Gupta

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Individual In-Kind Donors

Corporates & Organisations

Corporate Engagement:

We are grateful to the below companies and organisations for all they have done in the form of financial support, in kind donations, and volunteer time.

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Volunteers:

ACT is a completely volunteer run organisation.

Our volunteers teach dance, singing, karate, crafts and academics. They assist in our outings and events, and coordinate our Annual Day celebrations. We simply could not do what we do without our volunteers.

This year, 108 active volunteers gave innumerable hours to ACT on a weekly basis.

We are very grateful to everyone who has taken time to help our children!

We are happy to welcome our new volunteers who joined us last year, as well as all of the U&I volunteers!

We would like to give special thanks to the family of Sonia Chugani, who kindly donated a meal for the children in her memory. Sonia was a treasured part of the ACT family and used to volunteer with ACT.

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New Volunteers 2013-14

A CALL TO ACTION

Description INR

School Fees 5500Bag 400Shoes 300Birthday Cake 240Socks 30

Snacks @10 for 360 days 3600

Stationery 250

Special Meals @95/2wks 2280

Vaccines 600

Protein Mix @50/mo 600

Outings 200Total 14,000

Our volunteer team makes it all happen!

Change a life today!Donate your time - one hour makes a difference!Make a contribution - Rs. 14,000/- supports one child for a year

Donations:ashwinitrust.org/ACT_Contribute.html

Cheques to be drawn in favor of Ashwini Charitable Trust

Volunteers: info@ashwinitrust.org

International Donors:Global Giving: www.globalgiving.orgCAF America: www.cafamerica.org

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Donations to ACT are exempt under Section 80-G

WhitefieldIndiranagarUlsoor Murphy Town

There are many ways individual and corporate volunteers can contribute to. Some potential volunteer opportunities include:

Corporate CSR - day long team events• Teaching a craft • Teaching / sharing their relevant skill set (tech, accounting, etc.)• Employability skills workshops - resume writing, interview prep, computer

training• Soft skills training - team building, group discussions• School upkeep - painting school classrooms, setting up computer labs &

science lab, gardening • Host medical camps• Sponsor school supplies• Teacher training for teachers at government schools• Host students for a campus visit• Gardening

Event Contributions and Volunteers• Birthdays• Annual Day• Diwali

Individual volunteer opportunities• Children’s activities• Academic classes• Music• Computers• Dance• Art• Photography• Sports• Reading• Counselling• Mentoring• Crafts

• Admin activities• Office administration work• Fundraising• Technology support• Social media communications• Maintenance of computers, tech

equipment• Librarian• General communications

• Christmas• Kite flying• Field trip chaperone/ assistant

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ACT continues to maintain administrative costs below 11% of total. This is thanks in large part due to volunteers.

In FY 2014, administrative costs decreased both as a percentage of total expenses and in total rupee value, allowing the trust to maximise funding

toward Child Development.

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In FY 2014, ACT achieved a 43% increase in donations over the previous year, and recorded the highest level of donations to date.

ACT continues to maintain and grow a large active network of individual donors. Individual donors account for 38% of total funds received.

In FY 2014, Rs. 21.4 lakh was donated by 466 individuals. Donations of Rs. 5000/-or less were received from 361 individuals.

INDIVIDUAL DONOR CONTRIBUTIONS

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Child Development activities funding increased 80% this past year as a result of the increase in donations.

This meant both accepting additional children and increasing the program spending per child by 23%.

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AN ODE TO OUR VOLUNTEERSACT is a volunteer run organisation.

Thank you to our many volunteers who make our work at ACT possible!

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