Hashtags, as much are a medium of awareness, conduct a numerical function of indicating the gravity of a cause – in this case, giving. Contrary to expectations, the development sector still needs more informed givers rather than hurried individual attempts to save tax.
KHUSHII’s tagline reads “Spend a while, spread a smile” and although we believe in it throughout the year, the festive season, beautifully colliding with the last quarter of the financial year fills us with renewed zest to reach out to more supporters of our cause. Knowing that festivity is incomplete without philanthropy, KHUSHII welcomed Daan Utsav, alongside Durga Puja, Navratras, Vijaya Dashami, Dusshera and Diwali. #DigitalDrive was our campaign empowering individuals to help KHUSHII with DIGITAL training and classrooms, in which we believed that anyone could participate in building a SMART future! In short we invited the much needed gift of Digitization.
This brings us to the next key source of sustainability – Employee Pay Roll Giving, which is not without its own challenges. While we heartily welcome the enthusiastic volunteers who opt to help us in the most important of kind – their time – the methodology remains heavily non-standardized. In most cases it is generally found that the regularity of visits are not adhered to, and owing to such lack in continuity, beneficiaries are prone to disregarding lessons pertaining to syllabi. At KHUSHII thus, we request our volunteers to conduct courses aligned to life-lessons – gender awareness, cleanliness, physical exercise, exposure to internet, arts and craft, storytelling and tricks of fast learning etc.
The other major challenge remains in the volunteers’ preference of location which is often limited only to their immediate vicinity. We understand the practical problem attached to such a kind of ask, and try to maximize our outreach to urban slums, however, we cannot always restrain ourselves if the need of a social responsibility lies elsewhere. We find these factors bringing about a non-availability of standardized techniques of measuring cost, time etc., thereby giving rise to a disparity in the input and output of volunteering.
It is time we witness a change in the attitude of giving – thoughtfully, selflessly and lovingly. The simplest deeds can bring about the greatest of change. We hope to motivate individuals to rise above the challenges and contribute to KHUSHII’s cause in making a difference to society!