Asha for Education (Asha) is a secular, volunteer run 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to the education of underprivileged children in India. Today, there are over 73 Asha chapters worldwide, with more than a 1000 volunteers. Asha has disbursed over $17 million as of 2008 and supported more than 400 different projects spanning 24 states in India. The organization has a zero overhead policy on donations, i.e. 100% of all donations get spent on educational projects in India. Asha for Education has received a four star rating from Charity Navigator and was ranked #1 among the "top-ten slam-dunk charities" in 2005 and 2007.

The Stamford chapter was started in September 2002 with the following three goals in mind:

• Support the local community through volunteer involvement and collaboration with local non-profit organizations.
• Promote awareness in the local community of social issues in developing countries.
• Support education of under privileged children in India.

Asha - Stamford volunteers maintain a close personal involvement with the organizations and projects that are funded. The group has grown rapidly and has close to one hundred patrons and a core working group of about fifteen volunteers. The core group works in the form of focus groups - projects, fundraising and publicity. We only support apolitical and secular organizations and projects. Our volunteer meetings are open to anyone interested in social and developmental issues.

Please contact us at ashastamford@gmail.com to get onto our mailing list and learn more about upcoming events and projects.

In addition, we have regular teleconferences to discuss time-critical issues that may come up and to plan for and coordinate upcoming events.