More about Volunteers for Rural India
VRI has received grants from the following organisations for its work in rural India:
- VRI has been established for over 30 years. It was formed in May 1981 as IVCS (Indian Volunteers for Community Service) to encourage young people from the West to experience rural India. The following year it was registered as a charity with the Charities Commission of the UK (registered charity no. 285872).
- VRI raises funds to support small self-help projects in India, with the intention of contributing towards sustainable human development. In particular, VRI supports a rural development project in the village of Amarpurkashi in Uttar Pradesh, northern India.
- VRI is run voluntarily by people of all ages and backgrounds, many of whom have spent time at a rural development project in India.
- VRI is non-political and non-religious.
- VRI runs a scheme enabling members to experience rural India. Visitors first spend three weeks at a project in the village of Amarpurkashi where they can learn about development projects, before deciding whether to go on to other projects elsewhere in India.
- VRI is an entirely voluntary organisation with very few overheads so you can be sure all your money reaches the projects that you donate to.
- VRI organises seminars and conferences in both India and England on issues of human development, poverty, discrimination and the disadvantages suffered by the poor.
- VRI holds regular committee meetings which enable members to have a real influence in the way the charity is run and the funds raised and distributed.
- The charity's governing document (describing the VRI charitable objects, and how the charity is run), is the VRI Constitution