Support Programme Objectives
In April-May 2006 Di Gallagher spent three weeks living and working at the orphanage and gathering information to take back to the FMVSO Trustees and to FMVSO supporters. Di returned to Manjushree in October 2007
In March 2009, Di Gallagher and fellow FMVSO trustee Grainne Purkis stayed at Manjushree for 3 weeks. They had the opportunity, together with supporters from US and Australia, to discuss funding priorities with Lama Thupten Phuntsok,
FMVSO are seeking to support Manjushree in the following ways:
1. GENERAL
Providing a consistent level of support for the children's day to day needs – food, clothing, books, teachers’ salaries, education and recreation materials.
A dollar a day (around £18 per month) provides for the needs of one child.
2. EDUCATION
FMVSO have pledged a quarterly transfer to go into a specific account at Manjushree for funding further education (academic and vocational). Thanks to PETROWELL, an Aberdeen based company, who are making a substantial monthly donation for bursaries, we should be able to cover the costs of further education for at least the next few years.
There are now five Manjushree students at University in Delhi:
- Mani has completed his final year reading economics and is now doing further studies in computing and accountancy
- Tsultim is in her third year of a BA degree
- Nima has just completed his first year at Shri Ram College of Commerce in Delhi
- A further Manjushree student, Lhamu, is studying tailoring in Bangalore
- Pasang and Tsering started their university degree courses in summer 2009
There are four senior boys in class XII who will be applying for university or college in 2010. In 2011 there will be four more students completing secondary education.
3. CONTINGENCY
At the January 2009 FMVSO trustees meeting the following reserves policy was agreed:
After each quarterly transfer to Manjushree, any excess funds remaining in the charity current account should be transferred into the charity savings account. The savings account will provide a buffer zone reserve fund to allow continuation of support at the current level even if our income decreases. The savings account also provides a means of accumulating a reserve fund, with interest, in case of urgent need at Manjushree.
The Charity Commission are in favour of charities having a reserve fund. Our policy is to even out peaks and troughs in funding to ensure a dependable flow of funds to MVSO.
Over the last four years FMVSO have maintained a consistent level of support through quarterly transfers. Through the generosity of a growing number of donors, we are optimistic that we will be able to continue to support at the current level
Contributing through a charity such as FMVSO has tax advantages for donors living in the UK (see Inland Revenue website). It also enables a more strategic approach to longterm support of the orphanage.
