Fundraising for India: Putting Your Money Where Your Values Are

As the terrible COVID crisis in India unfolds, we know that many of you are figuring out how you can offer support. Lots of fundraisers have been circulating for large and small organizations abroad, making it difficult to know where to give money, and what to tell friends and family who want to support aid efforts.

 
Mutual Aid India.jpeg
 

At SAYHU we want to make sure that any and all resources we send go to places that are aligned with our core values around social justice. This means being careful not to accidentally fund groups that have ties to Hindutva/Hindu supremacist organizations in India, and instead directing resources to groups that focus on the most marginalized communities in the region. 

This is hard information to gather from so far away, but SAYHU has compiled a preliminary list of resources we think might help you make informed choices about who to fund, and where to tell others to put their support. 

Check out these resources from our friends at Equality Labs. They have been tracking which organizations in the US have connections to Hindu extremist groups in India:

We can also recommend contributing to mutual aid efforts directed towards Dalit-Bahujan and Adivasi communities who won't have access to mainstream aid. Here are some suggestions:

  • Mutual Aid India - A curated list of mutual aid efforts focusing on communities that are the least likely to get access to mainstream aid. 

  • People Power for India - Another list of mutual aid opportunities 

  • Save Indian Trans Lives (SITAL) -  SITAL is a pan India Trans Hijra Intersex Third Gender Nonbinary relief effort to support and save Trans lives during the pandemic.

Other ways to help:

  • For those who are doctors or medical professionals outside India, you can connect up with Doctors in the Diaspora, an organization that is “connecting folks in the diaspora with homebound patients in India. They are assisting doctors working in quarantine centers and makeshift hospitals, or providing training to medical personnel in India who are treating COVID patients.”


SAYHU is not formally connected with any of these efforts and we encourage you to do your own research—and let us know what you find (and share with us at info@sayhu.org)! We hope that this resource list is a useful starting point as we continue to share information with our SAYHU community about how to support during this humanitarian crisis. Be sure to connect with us on Facebook for other updates.

Assembled by SAYHU community members Eesha Pandit, Rachel Afi Quinn, Atreyi Dasgupta, and Uliya Yashtala.

Evan ONeil