Donations of school supplies to Immaculate English School, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

Aug.2017 - Mar.2018

In the fall of my high-school sophomore year 2017, I worked on raising donation for a small school in Tanzania (Immaculate Heart of Mary English Medium School in Dar-es-salaam), setting up website and international fund transfer. I raised $1015.

After interacting with Rotary Club of Tanzania, we picked this school among many. Starting in mid-2017, I decided to undertake this donation drive and began with setting up a YouCaring donations page, much like GoFundMe. I picked YouCaring over GoFundMe because of their low fee structure (3% vs 8%). I set a goal of $1000 USD, and built my own website (www.donationsworldwide.net). Apart from doing fund drive through emails and social media for people to donate on my sited, I also decided to make door-to-door campaign. I approached large companies in my community, including a major food retailer in Bay area. Raising funds from bigger companies was not as successful as I had hoped due to the process involved and bureacracy.

I decided to approach smaller companies and mom-and-pop stores. First, I headed over to downtown Danville to explore this possibility and it turned out to be more successful with me quickly raising ~$150. This was a great experience for me to talk to business owner/ managers and communicate my passion and helping poor school kids. Couple of owners encouraged me with very positive feedback in helping make a world little bit more better place. Furthermore, through my parents/friends/family contacts I raised more than ~$650. I donated $200 out of my own allowance.

I successfully raised $1015 with this campaign and donated the proceedings minus transfer fee to the school through Mrs. Bhatt, Director of Rotary Club, Tanzania. The adminstration staff of the school bought the necessary school supplies and uniforms for the underprivileged students.

In April, 2018 I facetimed the students at the school through Mrs. Bhatt, which was a great experience. I got to talk with the students and the teachers, and watched the distribution of donated items. It was a unique experience and memorable moment. I was amazed and spell bound when the students sang the Tanzanian national anthem and a school prayer in honor of the donation. I will treasure this moment forever.

Hello Amogh,

Thank you for the good work you are doing with the community in need of educating children. Your charitable donations were very helpful in buying uniforms for the students and also to buy the necessary school supplies. The smiles on the face of the children speak a million words.

~Glory Pathinathan

Principal, Immaculate English Primary School, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

Dear Amogh,

Greetings! I am very impressed with you who not only had a desire but followed through it to raise funds for the much-needed young children to buy school uniforms. This is indeed very noble and shows great character. Congratulations on Raising the money so quickly!

~ Sharmila Bhatt

Director, Rotary Club Tanzania