My Nonprofit Reviews

IDRF provides a wonderful opportunity for Indian living in America to give back to their country. It has projects in multiple sectors and donors can find a cause that speaks to them. It is led by Dr. Vinod Prakash who has years of experience in International Development and brings the focus on results and making sure that projects are well executed and meet the expected outcomes. IDRF also provides disaster relief in India and America and wit the COVID pandemic they have taken a leadership role with the India American community to provide food to the DMV area. Through IDRF I am able to support Women's empowerment in India as well as the COVID relief in DMV area

Edu-GIRLS has a fairly unique and holistic model for Girls Living in extreme poverty to receive quality education and enter the job market. The organization is led by people who are dedicated and committed and have deep knowledge of the education sector. Guidstar has given the highest seal of transparency to the organization for the level of disclosure, governance and financial reporting. The program is highly results oriented.

Girls living in extreme poverty face greater economic, social and gender constraints to education and jobs than boys. First there are barriers to enroll; secondly, if they do enroll, there is a high drop out particularly in secondary school; thirdly, the quality of education is typically weak, and fourth if they do complete their education, they face barriers to entry and continuation in the job market (women contribute only 20 percent of GDP in India). Yet there is overwhelming evidence from the World Bank and UNICEF that girls education in one of the most transformative interventions to break the cycle of poverty at the family, community and national level. Hence, its mission is to go all the way from early childhood to grade 12, onto vocational or college and then into jobs. Solidly based on international best practices, Edu-GIRLS is implementing 10 customized interventions that address not only the constraints girls face in enrolling and staying in school, but also provides quality education, avoiding early marriage and helping them enter the job market.

And this is a fairly unique market niche in India, as there are very few NGOs that do this holistic approach. What this organization does is not easy...it educates stick the girls for 14-17 years and do everything that is needed to get the job done. And it is now beginning to see good results. Over 50% of the girls in the program score first division on their grade 10 and 12 Board exams and the first class of 32 girls are in vocational training/college programs. And the organization does this efficiently. It less than $300 per girl annually, compared to $500 in public schools. Over the last five years, Edu-GIRLS has raised nearly $1 Million and expanded its reach from 1 school in India to 4 schools in three countries, supporting over 850 girls annually, of which over 85% are in India.

And this is what drew me to the organization - its mission, people, holistic approach, and focus on transparency, efficiency, partnerships and results.