Blog

“Running a Half Marathon in my home city of Mumbai will be an incredible experience. I’m proud to be part of the Atma International Runners Team: raising pledges to support Atma’s work in education is what will make running this race worthwhile.”

Bhavesh Parmar, Atma Marathon Team Member.

Fundraising events like Marathon runs are held in cities across the globe, providing fantastic opportunities for NGOs to raise awareness and funds for their projects. What makes such events special is that they are limited time platforms that receive a lot of hype and media attention that help to ensure buy-in from the wider community.

NGOs can leverage these ready-made fundraising platforms in several different ways. When an individual is about to run a marathon or participate in a yogathon or a blood drive on behalf of an NGO, they can use the excitement around the event to request support from their community through pledge raising.

Pledge raising is defined as requesting amounts of money from friends, family and others to support a chosen cause at a specific upcoming event. Pledge raising works hand in hand with big events because it helps NGOs to harness the energy of the event to get people on board and committed with to their causes. NGOs can encourage pledge raising by creating resource materials for individual fundraisers: by creating and distributing a pledge kit with sample emails and pledge sheets, NGOs can make it easy for supporters to reach out to family and friends to request contributions.

In January, Atma will participate in the Mumbai Marathon for the 4^th year in a row. This year, 3 corporate companies and 236 individuals will run on behalf of Atma. Many of them will be pledge raising to make an even bigger impact on Quality Education in Mumbai and to share Atma’s work with their networks across the globe.

Bhavesh Parmar from the US is one of five International Runners who will be completing the Half Marathon with Atma. He has committed to raising $1000 USD towards Atma’s work in education prior to running the Marathon in January. We’re glad to have the pledge raising support of Bhavesh and our runners to make the 2012 Mumbai Marathon Atma’s most successful fundraiser to date. Updates to follow after the event!

On Sunday August 7th 2011, Atma was featured in the Midday News as a leader amongst the hundreds of NGOs that participate in the Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon every year. The Mumbai Marathon provides a fantastic platform for fundraising and cooperation between NGOs across India. Read the complete article, or write to Bronwyn or Lisa at  marathon@atma.org.in to sign up for Mumbai’s largest community event!

An open letter from Summer Starr, Atma Partnerships Director

In 2004, I graduated from the University of Washington. Armed with a BA in International Development, I flew to Kenya to “change the world”. What I discovered was that neither I nor the organisation I went to work with were prepared to utilize my skills in the most effective manner.  As a young person with minimal work experience, I lacked the perspective and skills the organisation truly needed, and the organisation was not prepared to use the skills I did have.

In not being able to make the impact I wanted, I felt disillusioned. This experience pushed me to “step up my game”. I realized that passion was not enough: I needed to gain experience so that I could maximize my impact and contribute in a meaningful way. In addition, I needed to look for volunteer opportunities with clearly defined roles that fit my talents and expertise.

(more…)

In 2010 Emily Quinan came to India for the first time from Canada on an AIESEC internship to teach as a volunteer at a school for children with special needs in Kerala. Through this experience, Emily glimpsed the challenges faced by the NGO sector in India. She also realized that although teaching for a short period was a rewarding experience, her time in Kerala didn’t have a long term impact on the NGO or the community.

So, when Emily graduated with a BA in psychology from McGill University, she began looking for a way to engage in capacity building that would have a more lasting impact. “I was drawn to what Atma does because I realised that there are so many NGOs in India that aren’t running to the best of their ability,” said Emily Quinan of her initial attraction to working with Atma.  Emily saw the potential of NGOs to facilitate change, but also observed that organisations often need someone to devote their time and expertise to take projects ahead. Emily was also looking for an opportunity to gain professional experience and use her expertise in the field of education. Before coming to India, Emily had done significant research in the fields of special education, effective motivation and praise, and teaching methods for children with special needs. Based on her research in the Interpersonal Relationships lab and Language and Memory lab at McGill,her background working with children with learning difficulties and her interest in curriculum design, Emily was paired with Atma Partner CHILDReach to develop an English Curriculum for children with learning difficulties.

(more…)

Virginia Tarozzi came to Atma after spending 5 months travelling in Latin America, the US and South East Asia. She was looking for a change from the life of a traveller and wanted to re-engage in the working world by contributing to a social cause. However, she was not expecting the kind of professional development experience she received from Atma. She had hoped at best to teach children and feel good about a short-term impact. However, she found herself engaged in work that stimulated her creatively and challenged her professionally. With a Master’s degree in Fundraising and many years of work experience including fundraising at Oxfam Ireland, Virginia found a good fit for her background in a marketing role with Atma partner, The Foundation for Mother and Child Health (FMCH).

(more…)

Photograph by Annemarijn Boersma

Atma Graduated Partner CHIP works in BMC schools in Mumbai to improve the whole experience of each student, focusing on classroom infrastructure and educational offerings. CHIP is currently expanding its team: they are looking for dynamic, motivated professionals to work in the areas of accounting, office administration and resource management. Write to CHIP at chip.mumbai@gmail.com for full job descriptions.

“One of my high school teachers once said to me, ‘If you’re not doing something about it, you don’t get to complain about it.’ The most important thing I have learned over the past 4 years is that talk is meaningless. It’s not enough to complain about the problems we see in the world today, the only way to make change is to stop complaining and start doing. Action does not just speak louder than words, it is the only thing that will create change.”

Atma began with an idea. Mumbai has thousands of NGOs that are founded by passionate social entrepreneurs who have an incredible vision. However, most NGOs struggle with a lack of resources which prevents them from truly achieving their goals and effectively reaching underprivileged children and young adults in Mumbai.

(more…)

Atma volunteers come from all over the world to undertake specific projects with measureable, concrete outcomes for Atma and our partner NGOs. The profile of an Atma volunteer is a proactive, independent professional who is an excellent communicator. The Atma volunteership is an opportunity to use professional skills in the development sector, which shapes the lives of thousands of children by laying a solid foundation in quality education.

Volunteering with Atma is a way to learn and engage with the NGO sector on the ground in Mumbai and offer concrete skills towards a specific project and goal. This results in a significant personal and professional development experience. Atma reached out to a few of our former volunteers to see how their professional development experience with Atma has changed their life paths.

(more…)

Divya arrived in Mumbai in June 2010 to begin her Atma volunteership. Almost one year later, she looks back on her professional experience in the Mumbai social sector.

As a recent undergrad of Indian origin about to immerse myself in the Canadian corporate world, I was looking to contribute to the non-profit sector in India in a meaningful way.  I knew volunteering would provide perspective on international development issues, be personally fulfilling, and allow me to reconnect with my roots. While researching development sector opportunities, I was impressed by Atma’s professional website, well structured volunteer program, and defined volunteer roles. Atma’s extensive experience weaving volunteers from all over the world into the fabric of Mumbai assured me the transition would be smooth. Atma’s position as a ‘capacity builder’ also seemed like the ideal place to bridge my corporate experience with the non-profit sector.

I had worked in a variety of corporate internships and had volunteered in an ad hoc manner during my university career. However, I had very little experience as a full-time volunteer. My first and most important goal was to make an impact by using my skills in a meaningful way. Secondly, I was hoping for a better understanding of what life in India is like and what working in the non-profit sector is like. In short, I wanted to give of my skills to a cause I believed in, and take away a personal and professional development experience. (more…)

Photo by Kainaz Amaria

These children are students at a progressive kindergarten called Muskan, run by Atma Partner Reality Gives in Dharavi. The Muskan School curriculum is based on the Muktangan method, focusing on child-centered programs and a very low student to teacher ratio to ensure the highest quality education for their beneficiaries.