Asha for Education is a non-profit organization dedicated to the support of basic education in India. Asha, which means hope in many Indian dialects, was founded at the University of California, Berkeley in 1991 and has since grown to over 50 chapters scattered throughout the United States, Europe, East Asia and India. Each of these chapters raises funds to support various education-related projects in India.
Since its inception, Asha has partnered with more than 800+ NGOs from across 24 states in India and has disbursed in excess of $32 million. In 2014 alone, Asha has disbursed $2.85 million and has supported the education of 250,000+ kids in India directly and many hundreds of thousands more indirectly.
Asha UIUC works to promote the education of underprivileged children in India by providing financial assistance and support to the NGOs focused on these projects. Volunteers of Asha work closely with the project partners in India, while locally organizing fundraisers and community awareness events. Asha’s Holi, a popular event in Urbana Champaign, is Asha UIUC’s primary fundraiser, which directly helps support several education projects in India and is now the biggest Holi in the Midwest. Holi started in 2010, as a small 300-400 person event on UIUC Campus, which has grown to a 2000+ people event today with continued efforts of its volunteers and the support of University of Illinois, Urbana Champaign.