Love Activates Us. Compassion Motivates Us. Service Leads Us. Transformation Drives Us. Mission Unites Us.
WHO WE ARE
Love Activates Us. Compassion Motivates Us. Service Leads Us. Transformation Drives Us. Mission Unites Us.
Dignity Freedom Network works to remember the forgotten faces, those society ignores. We think every life is worth restoring, and every person worth fighting for.
The heart of what we do is protect vulnerable women, children, and families from exploitation, help them reclaim their dignity and purpose, and restore freedom and opportunity in lives. Transformation comes through whole care for the whole community.
HOW WE WORK
Our work is with people from all across India. We work in large cities and in rural villages, with young children and new moms, with broken women, and fractured families.
There are many forms of exploitation that seek to ruin the futures of those most vulnerable. We make a promise that their tomorrow will be better than today through education, healthcare, and skills training. We call this whole care for the whole community.
We work with great hope and fierce intentionality that every human is worth fighting for.
FAQ
Maximize your gift through non-cash giving like DAF, Stocks, IRAs, and Cryptocurrency.
We have a partnership with Freewill which makes it seamless and easy for you.
Donate the funds from the sale of your car! How fun! Have an old car that’s not worth much to you? It’s worth a great deal for the women and children of India. Please visit CARS: Built on Trust for more information.
https://careasy.org/nonprofit/dignity-freedom-network
You can manage your donor profile, payment methods, and donations through your Donor Portal.
If a project you contributed to becomes fully funded, we will apply your gift where India needs it most.
Promise is a monthly giving initiative that helps women, children, and entire families break the chains of poverty and injustice. Members of Promise provide whole care for the whole community. It’s not a one-to-one relationship like child sponsorship, but its impact is wide. Promise changes thousands of lives for the most vulnerable in India.
While child sponsorship helps one child, Promise helps all of India. Members of Promise:
- provide access to healthcare,
- ensure a top-not education for children who are not sponsored,
- prevent exploitation of vulnerable girls,
- rescue girls who have been exploited, and
- provide skills training so women can provide for their families.
When you join Promise, you make a monthly commitment to provide whole care for the whole community. We count on your donation to provide continuous impact in India. Of course, we understand that circumstances change. To make a change in your monthly Promise commitment, email us. We’re always here to help!
Your monthly Promise donation provides whole care for the whole community. You support all our initiatives in India: community development, education, healthcare, and skills training.
As a member of Promise, you’ll also receive monthly reports on how you’re impacting the lives of vulnerable children, women, and families in India.
Absolutely! Nothing will increase our work in India more than you getting your friends involved. You can host an event at your church, in your home, in your workplace, or even at your community fair. Your event can be 10 people or 100 people. We’ll give all the materials, promo pieces, and resources you’ll need to host a successful event. Email us for more information.
Yes we do! We’d love to share a list of potential speakers with you. Just email us and we’ll be in touch.
Our stories are always real. We changed names and photos to protect the identity and preserve the dignity of those we serve.
We will not sell, rent, or trade our donors’ names, postal addresses, email addresses or phone numbers with any other entity. Read our privacy policy for more information.
Many employers will match charitable gifts. Just contact your personnel department and follow their steps. This is an excellent way to double or even triple your impact.
At DFN, we are intentional with stewarding finances and other resources to best support the poor, marginalized, and outcasts of society across South Asia. We observe high standards of business and personal ethics when working alongside donors and partner organizations. We practice integrity in fulfilling our responsibilities and comply with all applicable laws and regulations. Please contact us for an audited 990.
In addition, we have certificates from the following:
ECFA — For security reasons, we are not listed on their site, but you can ask them about us and they will confirm our participation.
Here’s a link to our most recent impact report MOST RECENT IMPACT REPORT.
For a more detailed financial report, please e-mail us. We’ll be happy to send you one!.
Certainly. We have two kinds of trips, Visions Trips and Purpose Trips.
Purpose trips provide opportunities for growth and renewal to your life. With a small team of friends, you’ll experience the extraordinary country of India and the impact of your work. You will be up close and personal with women, children, and leaders of DFN initiatives. You will go home forever impacted by the people and place of India.
We can work with your group to arrange your very own trip. Typically, trips are 7-10 people for 10 days including travel, for around $2800. A minimum of five participants is required.
Or, you can join a trip scheduled by another purpose group. Email us for more information.
The purpose of a vision trip is to give leaders an overview of the scope of DFN’s work while experiencing India and her incredible people. You will see a great deal in a short period of time, including schools, human trafficking prevention work, healthcare, and economic development programs. This trip will inspire you to get involved! You will also discover opportunities to extend the impact of the work on the ground. Email us for more information.
All general donations go towards furthering the mission of bringing dignity and freedom to the most marginalized people in South Asia. We believe holistic community transformation is the best way to change lives forever.
We definitely do. If this is something that interests you, please contact us at info@dalitnetwork.com.
Absolutely! Pranitha is one of our recent graduates. She is now in a Doctor of Pharmacy program. Meet her here. If you want more stories visit our home page, blog, or drop us a line at info@sdalitnetwork.com.
Good Shepherd Schools’ main aim is to prepare students to enter “junior college” (grades 11-12) and then “university” (traditional Bachelor’s Degree higher education). Our research indicates that 90% of all Good Shepherd students take this path. Each school’s faculty and staff counsels students, guiding them in future careers according to their strengths, interests, and academic potential. Staff also researches opportunities in local colleges/universities and seeks both entrance and scholarships for the Dalit graduates.
For students who prefer a trade or technical profession (i.e., welding, automotive repair, sales, etc.), our schools help connect them with the appropriate information or experts to train them. Trade schools like ones in the US do not really exist in India. Most trades are “generational” and are learned through family connections and/or apprenticeships. According to our research, about 8% of graduates choose trade school/technical professions.
Many village schools are taught in languages native to the area, but attaining university-level education requires students to know English. If a Dalit student does not learn English, he or she has little hope of rising above present circumstances. Attending a Good Shepherd School ensures students will know English, the language of commerce in India.
Besides our unique holistic community transformation model, Good Shepherd Schools provide a private English-medium education accredited and monitored by the Indian government. This allows our students to be able to take their education “to the bank” and apply to a training/intermediate school after finishing the 10th standard (the equivalent of a U.S. high school education).
We work to transform marginalized communities through education and opportunity. The heart of what we do is to build schools called Good Shepherd Schools (GSSs) and to sponsor kids. Through the schools, we also offer healthcare and economic empowerment initiatives for families, especially women. We also support women’s centers, especially for those who have been exploited, and a girls’ shelter for those most vulnerable to human trafficking. In addition, we help support a 40-bed hospital (currently under construction) and several AIDS clinics. For more about what we do, read this blog entry or download our Fact Sheet.
Modern slavery persists in almost every country, including the United States. It’s a global problem! In India, where human trafficking is mainly internal, most of those who are trafficked or in bonded labour are from Dalit, tribal or other poor and marginalized communities. Learn how and why Dalit people face hardship.
There 250 million Dalits in India, and they comprise the largest, most at-risk people group in the country. For more about Dalits, check out this blog entry.
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