Asha Danbury

our work ethics and transparency are evident in our ratings from Charity Navigator. For 4 consecutive years from 2014-17 (pending recent years ratings), Asha for Education is among the top 1% of 10000+ organizations with a Full score rating of 100 (exceeding industry standards). It reflects our discipline in accountability and financial responsibility. Funds are disbursed based on annual budget(s) and within 12 months of site visits for urban projects and within 18 months of site visits to rural project sites.

Asha Danbury was founded in summer of year 2010.  It all started with a casual discussion on an article published in the Hindustan Times, on hungry children in Ganne, Uttar Pradesh, India, eating mud due to poverty. A few of us had been 1:1 donors to high school students for a few years by then and had shaped their lives. We shared our thoughts and talked of ways in which we could make a positive impact on communities at a greater level. As we talked, we linked poverty to education, and Asha for Education’s philosophy of empowering underprivileged communities with education resonated with us. We realized the need to have an organization in Danbury where we could all contribute efforts. This formed the beginning of Asha-Danbury and the Chapter was launched on August 15th, 2010. Starting with only 2 members in July 2010, a month later we doubled on our team and 10 years later, we are a team of 10 motivated individuals.

In India:

Asha Danbury is currently providing educational support to 6 schools. Students belong to underprivileged communities, with a significant number having hearing, physical or mental disabilities. While the needs within each project vary, on an average across all projects, $1 keeps a child in school for 2 days.
# of children impacted to date: >3000

In Greater Danbury, CT:

Asha Danbury has provided support to CT Invention Convention by mentoring students in Danbury schools and serving as judges. Our Junior Asha groups of Brookfield and Ridgefield have read books in classrooms, organized toy drive to bring holiday cheer to needy kids in the community, and have participated in walks and events to support the mission of local nonprofit organizations.

Why we do this:
1 in 5 children in India can’t read or write. Based on a 2019 survey, nearly 50% of all disabled children are illiterate.

Support 1 of 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals:
End Poverty in all its forms everywhere!
“The decline of global extreme poverty continues, but has slowed. The deceleration indicates that the world is not on track to achieve the target of less than 3 per cent of the world living in extreme poverty by 2030. People who continue to live in extreme poverty face deep, entrenched deprivation often exacerbated by violent conflicts and vulnerability to disasters. Strong social protection systems and government spending on key services often help those left behind get back on their feet and escape poverty, but these services need to be brought to scale.”