Update on SHDF

Dear Friend,

Sat Sri Akal. I hope you and your family are well.

We are profoundly grateful to you for your invaluable support during the year. Your Seva has allowed SHDF to fulfill its mandate to provide scholarships to the neediest and most vulnerable but motivated students in Punjab and the neighboring areas.

As we step into 2025, I am very pleased to report that we now have a new prominent partner in Punjab that will allow us to continue to fulfill our mandate —the Sikh Education Society, Faridkot (SES), and its sister organization, the Sikh Education Society of Chandigarh. 

These two organizations are dedicated to fostering quality education and community advancement. They have an outstanding record going back almost a century.  Between them they run eighteen schools and colleges in Punjab and Chandigarh, including some of the most highly regarded institutions of higher education such as Dasmesh Dental College, Dasmesh Institute of Pharmacy, Dasmesh Institute of Nursing, Sri Guru Gobind Singh College for Women, Chandigarh, and Sikh National College, in Gurdaspur, and in Banga. 

Working with SES will not only allow us to continue to do our Seva in the coming year and for many years beyond, but also expand our activities to further provide help and support to the neediest students who are doing well academically and are highly motivated. 

While we will still continue to work with Nishkam in inviting applications for scholarships, SES will be our operational partner in Punjab.  

Before looking at  our plans for 2025, I want to briefly summarize our achievements this year which have only been possible with your invaluable contributions.

Achievements in 2024

• We have awarded 1624 scholarship (a significant increase from previous year). Since its inception SHDF has awarded over 13,000 scholarships. 
• We prioritized helping the most deserving youth-- 70% of our applicants had a family income of less than $2 a day. 
• As part of our ongoing support of scholarship recipients, we have organized multiple workshops, imparting training in soft-skills essential for obtaining well-paid jobs and for career growth.
• We have launched a new SHDF website. The updated platform features enhanced navigation and improved design.
• At the behest of a major donor, we instituted an essay competition on leadership lessons from the life of Sri Guru Gobind Singh ji, for current and former students. We received almost three hundred entries with some outstanding essays.  
• A one-on-one mentoring program, connecting students from the graduating class with experienced and accomplished professionals from their field has been set in motion; we have embarked on the development of the Alumni Network.
• Our pilot initiative for the merit-cum-need USA Scholarships, funded separately by committed donors, has continued.

In partnership with the Sikh Education Society our goals and plans for 2025 are as follows:

• Given the much greater scope and reach of SES, we expect to markedly increase the number of scholarships awarded per year-- up to 1,800 scholarships.
• In conjunction with volunteers at our ten existing centers—eight in Punjab, and one each in New Delhi and Haryana, and some additional staff – and SES staff, we will be maintaining closer contact with the scholarship recipients to help them meet any ongoing challenges.
• We plan to have the mentor-mentee platform fully operational during the course of the year providing guidance and advice to scholarship recipients. 
• We plan to broaden the scope of our soft-skills workshops with training in leadership, networking and resourcefulness. 
• We will continue working with dedicated volunteers to expand our donor base further in California, Chicago, New York and New Jersey, as we develop our program.
• We will initiate coaching assistance to SHDF Scholarship recipients who are high-performers and are motivated to take part in civil service and foreign service exams.
• We plan to enhance our digital presence and initiatives by harnessing advanced data and AI technologies. These efforts will allow us to serve an even larger number of students.
• In addition to Canada, we will further explore registration as a tax-exempt charitable organization to increase funding from the UK, Australia and Singapore.

Your generous support is critical for the scholarship program, making all  these activities possible. There are still many, many more young women and men with dreams of higher education but meager means who need your help. As you make your year-end charitable contributions, we urge you to please consider giving the gift that keeps on giving – the gift of education via SHDF scholarship 
 
Thank you so much for your invaluable Seva which is truly transformative and for generations to come.

May Waheguru Ji’s blessings be with you and your family throughout the new year.

With deep gratitude,
The SHDF Team