How important is education for the future?

In this age of information overload, there’s little that we are grasping. All the more reason that education should be emphasised upon now. Education is the knowledge of implementing information at the right place.

Schools in India have now come a long way since independence. The government today is ensuring that education is being imparted through aanganwadis, schools, midnight schools and so on. For a majority of the population, it’s formal education that can help them get where they wish to be. Hence, its importance cannot be overlooked. 

A major role of NGOs such as Akshaya Patra today is played out in the field of education, simply because it really is the foundation of the future. So if there’s a cause that you want to back up today or engage in a fundraising campaign online, you should pick education and choose to donate for education in India. 

Education paves way for choices 

Unless children are given equal opportunities of education, they will never learn about the various streams and avenues that could open up for them. Our future society needs skilled and educated professionals in every vocation. We need doctors, engineers, mechanics, teachers, nurses, writers, technicians, photographers, artists, dancers, actors and more. 

Education exposes children to the outside world 

Manthan Jikadra, a beneficiary of the mid-day meal scheme run by Akshaya Patra, is a Class VI student from Surat. He diligently attends school and loves to explore the subjects being taught. He regularly participates in cultural activities and has ambitions of becoming an entertainer when he grows up. This is an example of how schools can become a level playing field for children to see the outside world through various means of education. Often the choices and passions children take up in school become their means of earning a livelihood in future. 

Education broadens perspectives 

A future society cannot be founded on evils such as racism, corruption, malice or intolerance. How will future citizens know and learn to respect each other? Through education, children learn to co-exist, share and encourage each other. These qualities don’t come easy and cannot be inculcated overnight. These are often rooted deeply in our upbringing and culture. Education involves learning of various streams, development of mental faculties and exploring information from around the world. This helps children broaden their perspectives. When this happens, we can hope of building a society that treats everyone equally.

An organisation such as Akshaya Patra is working tirelessly to get children to attend schools because education is a cause worth investing in. Through its service of providing a wholesome lunch to children in Government schools, the role of Akshaya Patra as an NGO is to advance the cause of Food for Education. You may choose to back this up through online fundraising campaigns for the organisation or simply by donating for education in India through the online medium.

Some fundraising ideas that you can actually try for the cause of education

There’s greater joy in giving than receiving. And if this giving is directed towards education in India, you are practically building a more literate nation. What if this giving helps in sending children back to school? There are fun ways you can indulge in fundraising for organisations such as Akshaya Patra who are on a mission to bring children back to school.

What are those ideas?

Selling handmade cards/bookmarks 

Gather children in your area to create interesting cartoons, drawings or paintings related to school life under the theme ‘Back to school’.  Explain the concept of how many children drop out of school in India due to lack of resources and how they need to be sent back to school. Let the children use their imagination and create cards, posters and bookmarks. Organise a small sale in your area, school or college. Let the children do the selling. You can use these proceeds to sponsor a child at Akshaya Patra.

Book exchange

Students in school or colleges or even working executives can be invited on Facebook to exchange their books. Keep a nominal fee to enter the exchange programme. Inspire people to give away their unused or read books that they don’t wish to keep anymore apart from exchanging. Organise a fun gathering at your school, college or office to exchange the books. Ask each participant to ‘sell’ his or her book counting the merits of reading it so others are inspired to exchange their books. Use the proceeds to indulge in donating for education in India. Enlighten the participants that the proceeds would go for the cause of sending Indian children back to school.

Online fundraising campaigns

Today a thoughtfully created online poster for a good cause evokes real emotions since browsing online is the second nature of the millennial generation. Use the power of online media to create online fundraising campaigns for Akshaya Patra. Since the organisation provides wholesome lunch to school children to bring them to school, you can create campaigns around nutrition and education. Outline that by donating for education in India, participants are helping NGOs in India play a more impactful role in the field. It’s easier to create online fundraising campaigns and if done smartly, they can raise a significant amount of funds for the cause.

Garage sale

You can simply organise a garage sale in your office or colony and ask people to donate things from their school or college time. Ask participants to not only donate an item but also buy items that are priced at nominal rates. It could be a stereo, old books or unused notebooks, old bicycle, etc. Share with participants that the proceeds of this sale would be donated for education in India so more children could be incentivised to go back to school this year.

The role of citizens towards the cause of education is as big as the role of NGOs. You can be part of the great mission of sending children to school by creating your own online fundraising campaign.

How Online Fundraising Campaign at Akshaya Patra Works

Fundraising is of immense importance for non-governmental organisations (NGOs) as these organisations, despite the fact that they too contribute heavily towards the socioeconomic development of the country, are not at the liberty of using the tax-payer’s money … at least, not directly. Indirectly, the Government does give tax breaks or provides funds or subsidies, especially when it is also a stakeholder.

In order to implement the Mid-day Meal Programme in schools, for instance, the Government has got into a partnership with NGOs like The Akshaya Patra Foundation. In such cases, it shares the cost of the programme or provides land and other requisites. Even in such cases, NGOs have to develop fundraising strategies for both, sustenance and expansion.

Online Fundraising for Akshaya Patra

At Akshaya Patra, we understand that online fundraising has more to it than simply accepting donations online, hence we make a conscious attempt to reach out to as many people as possible through our campaigns using our website and different social media platforms. It also has something to do with the fact that for an NGO, a steady stream of funds is of great importance.

If you want to organise a fundraiser for us at your workplace or school, we’ll be glad to help. You just need to get in touch with us. What if someone wants to help by raising funds for the cause, but cannot due to time constraints. In such cases, a much easier option is to go for online fundraising.

In a broad sense, the concept also includes donations raised by resorting to call-to-action, wherein direct mailers, social media posts, etc., are designed with the intention to bring donor to the landing page from where he can donate. These are the options the organisation uses to raise funds. Beyond these options, there is one option that you can use to raise funds for Akshaya Patra, and that is to create an online fundraising campaign on the organisation’s website.

You have the option of either donating to an existing campaign or you can create your own online campaign by visiting our website. When you create a customized campaign, which will have a title and the target amount of your choosing, you can share it with your friends and family via email or social network. It won’t take more than a couple of minutes from your busy schedule and you’ll become a role model for other people.

In essence, you will help Akshaya Patra reach more people and raise funds for our cause, i.e., to eliminate classroom hunger, by starting and promoting an online fundraising campaign.

As of now, we are feeding over 1.5 million children across 25 locations in the country. Our mission is to reach 5 million children by 2020 and that, we know, will be an uphill task unless we have more people on board.

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Go through Gaurav Warman's Experience of fundraising: akshayapatra-ngo-india.blogspot.in/2016/03/fundraising-for-ngo-akshaya-patra.html