On 8 July 2010, Volunteer Ahmedabad hosted a Dasra-Social Impact workshop at the Indicorps Office in Ahmedabad.  As an organization, Mumbai-based Dasra, “bridges the gap between funders seeking high impact and non-profit organizations in the field driving social change.” Dasra goes beyond the financial statements and provides management expertise and hands on assistance to grow social impact.

At the workshop, Dasra presented its unique Executive Education for Successful Social Entrepreneurs Program to representatives from twelve organizations in Ahmedabad and communities around Gujarat. The workshop introduced useful ideas on scaling up operations and reaching the largest audience with the most meaningful message. Organizations discussed ways to not just grow their organizations, but also to focus their efforts to become more effective at promoting change in their community.  Deval Sanghvi, co-founder of Dasra, stated: “This was a great opportunity to meet with practitioners to understand the barriers in scaling social innovations and demonstrate the value of the Dasra Social-Impact program.”

Volunteer Ahmedabad facilitated a spirited discussion on strengthening local volunteerism. Workshop participants talked about common challenges of hosting volunteers and ways that non-profit organizations, working together, can strengthen the volunteer ethic in India and ensure a high standard of volunteer. “The workshop provided a nice forum to share ideas and best practices and has inspired us to think harder about how Volunteer Ahmedabad can add value,” noted Indicorps staff member Vijay Ramchandani.

More information about Dasra can be found at dasra.org