Programs and results
What we aim to solve
India is considered a rising global superpower, yet 40% of India’s 1.25-billion-person population lives under the World Bank defined international poverty line of $2 per person, per day. This population is undernourished, undereducated and underemployed, therefore unable to meet its productive potential. Due to these factors of systemic poverty, India's deeply entrenched caste barriers thrive. Life for “low-caste” villagers is a vicious cycle of repression, kept in motion by illiteracy and lack of education. Approximately 95% of the children who fit this criterion of falling below the poverty line also belong to Dalit, formerly termed “untouchable,” communities. In Indian society, few believe that Dalit children deserve a high-quality education. Even fewer believe they can succeed.
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
Shanti Bhavan Residential School
The Shanti Bhavan Children's Project operates a residential boarding school for children pre-K to 12th grade. Shanti Bhavan is accredited by the Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE), one of India’s most robust academic curriculums, and administers the ICSE and ISC exams during students' 10th and 12th grades.
Where we work
Awards
first school to use solar power on a large scale 1996
G-8 Summit Exhibit
External reviews

Photos
Goals & Strategy
Learn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.
Charting impact
Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.
What is the organization aiming to accomplish?
The mission of Shanti Bhavan is unique and ambitious – to help children of deprived backgrounds become leaders through excellence in education and holistic personal development. Shanti Bhavan represents a radical change from the current, short-term basic literacy model of most non-profit educational institutions. Shanti Bhavan is committed to long-term access to high-quality education, with an emphasis on holistic personal development. We seek to provide our students with an education at pace with the rapidly evolving needs of the work place that gives them the skills to succeed both professionally and personally. Shanti Bhavan is driven by the belief that all children, regardless of their socio-economic backgrounds, have the capacity to excel in academics and attain great professional careers if endowed with the opportunity to succeed from an early age.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
Shanti Bhavan is a residential school where our children live and learn for approximately 9 months out of the year. Many of our students come from homes that do not have the adequate resources to provide for a child, such as clean water, clothing, food, or shelter. Furthermore, complicated family dynamics can sometimes make it dangerous for children to stay at home. By having our children live on campus during their education we are able to eliminate these detrimental factors and minimize distractions to ensure that our children are focused and prepared to do their best academically. At Shanti Bhavan, we believe that only once these basic needs are met can students be expected to succeed.
Additionally, Shanti Bhavan’s volunteer program adds a unique element to the typical model of a residential school. Volunteers supplement the full-time teaching staff for pre-school to twelfth grade. By attracting diverse volunteers from around the world, our students become exposed to different cultures and lifestyles, giving them a more robust worldview and a global perspective on international issues.
The school is accredited by the Council for the Indian School Certificate Examination (CISCE) in New Delhi. Core subjects include English Grammar and Literature, Mathematics, History and Civics, and Indian Languages (Hindi and Tamil specifically). This is the most rigorous national curriculum in India.
Finally, Shanti Bhavan offers a wide variety of extracurricular and skills development activities from dance, choir, and musical instrument lessons to soccer, basketball, public speaking, and debate. By allowing our students to explore individual passions outside of their academic studies, our students become well-rounded, are able to express themselves creatively, and learn valuable skills that will help them adapt to an ever-changing world.
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
Shanti Bhavan’s model is a holistic approach which involves providing children with food, shelter, clothing, medical care, and community, as well as a top-tier education. Our students live in comfortable dormitories complete with individual beds, washrooms, dressers, closets, and study spaces. They are fed 3 nutritious meals per day in addition to a midday snack and chai. Furthermore, our students are cared for by a dedicated team of caretakers who supervise their dorms and help them with everyday tasks such as maintaining a consistent daily schedule and tending to household chores such as washing and folding clothes as well as teaching the students how to clean their personal spaces. Shanti Bhavan also employs trained teachers from India to teach ISC/ICSE curriculum classes. In addition, qualified volunteers from around the world teach other subjects, which provides the children with a robust worldview and an opportunity to learn about other cultures. Lastly, Shanti Bhavan has a medical clinic on campus to assist children with minor cuts and bruises, as well as plans in place to deal with more significant illness or injury. All of our children receive the necessary vaccines when they arrive at school and attend yearly doctor and dental checkups.
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
Shanti Bhavan’s long-term approach to poverty alleviation and education is based on the belief that any child can succeed, given the right opportunities. Shanti Bhavan graduates have a 100% university acceptance rate and work for Fortune 500 companies such as Amazon, Deloitte, EY, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan Chase, and Mercedes-Benz, and give 50-80% of their salaries back to their families - creating a powerful ripple effect in their communities and society as a whole. In addition, five Shanti Bhavan graduates have already completed their Master’s degrees in programs including Business Administration, International Studies, Applied Genetics, Psychology, and Public Policy.
98% of our children graduate from college. 97% of Shanti Bhavan alumni are now working full-time at firms. All of our working graduates are the primary or sole income-earner for their families.
Additionally, Shanti Bhavan is featured on Netflix’s documentary series Daughters of Destiny, which won the “Television with a Conscious” award at the 2018 Television Academy Honors.
Each year we have to turn away hundreds of students simply because we do not have the resources or facilities to accommodate them. Our goal is to fundraise to build a second Shanti Bhavan in the next few years to serve more children in need and spread our mission of ending cycles of generational poverty through education. The new campus will be located between 1.5-3 hours driving distance from Bangalore, and will serve children in the Tamil Nadu/Karnataka area. At Shanti Bhavan, we believe that our model is replicable and scalable, and we are excited to be working on expanding our reach to be better able to serve the communities around us.
How we listen
Seeking feedback from people served makes programs more responsive and effective. Here’s how this organization is listening.
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Who are the people you serve with your mission?
We serve children from families that make less than $2 USD per day by providing high quality education from pre-kindergarten through 12th grade, then offer full scholarships and support for college to help break the cycle of poverty. Throughout these 17 years of intervention, Shanti Bhavan completely supports our students, providing food, housing, clothing, medical care, and community. Through our community outreach program, we also assist over 5,000 men, women, and children from communities neighboring our campus. Distributed items include food, spices, cooking vessels, utensils, soap, clothing, and mattresses.
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How is your organization using feedback from the people you serve?
To identify and remedy poor client service experiences, To identify bright spots and enhance positive service experiences, To make fundamental changes to our programs and/or operations, To inform the development of new programs/projects, To identify where we are less inclusive or equitable across demographic groups, To strengthen relationships with the people we serve, To understand people's needs and how we can help them achieve their goals
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What significant change resulted from feedback?
We now provide individualized services to meet current needs in the community, such as rations/sleeping quarters etc. We also created individual learning plans for students who need academic support or want to pursue independent projects. Shanti Bhavan has also introduced extracurriculars such as traditional dance, local choral pieces, and transitional craft practices to address feedback of being culturally responsive. Finally, we’ve expanded higher education and professional development programming to support alumni.
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Which of the following feedback practices does your organization routinely carry out?
We collect feedback from the people we serve at least annually, We take steps to get feedback from marginalized or under-represented people, We aim to collect feedback from as many people we serve as possible, We take steps to ensure people feel comfortable being honest with us, We look for patterns in feedback based on people’s interactions with us (e.g., site, frequency of service, etc.), We engage the people who provide feedback in looking for ways we can improve in response, We act on the feedback we receive, We tell the people who gave us feedback how we acted on their feedback
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What challenges does the organization face when collecting feedback?
We don’t have the right technology to collect and aggregate feedback efficiently
Financials
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Operations
The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
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- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
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Connect with nonprofit leaders
SubscribeBuild relationships with key people who manage and lead nonprofit organizations with GuideStar Pro. Try a low commitment monthly plan today.
- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.
Shanti Bhavan Childrens Project
Board of directorsas of 03/24/2023
Dr. Abraham George
The George Foundation
Term: 1997 - 2015
Abraham M. George
The George Foundation
N Vaghul
ICICI Bank
N Vittal
Chief Vigilance Commissioner of India
M. S. Mahadeviah
Spastics Society of India and KIMS Hospitals
Lekha Keister
Essex County College
Ajit George
Shanti Bhavan
William Schroth
eMedexOnline LLC
T. Z. Mani
Chief Commissioner for Income Tax
Organizational demographics
Who works and leads organizations that serve our diverse communities? Candid partnered with CHANGE Philanthropy on this demographic section.
Leadership
The organization's leader identifies as:
Race & ethnicity
Gender identity
Sexual orientation
Disability
No data
Equity strategies
Last updated: 02/24/2023GuideStar partnered with Equity in the Center - an organization that works to shift mindsets, practices, and systems to increase racial equity - to create this section. Learn more
- We review compensation data across the organization (and by staff levels) to identify disparities by race.
- We ask team members to identify racial disparities in their programs and / or portfolios.
- We analyze disaggregated data and root causes of race disparities that impact the organization's programs, portfolios, and the populations served.
- We disaggregate data to adjust programming goals to keep pace with changing needs of the communities we support.
- We employ non-traditional ways of gathering feedback on programs and trainings, which may include interviews, roundtables, and external reviews with/by community stakeholders.
- We have long-term strategic plans and measurable goals for creating a culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.
- We use a vetting process to identify vendors and partners that share our commitment to race equity.
- We have a promotion process that anticipates and mitigates implicit and explicit biases about people of color serving in leadership positions.
- We seek individuals from various race backgrounds for board and executive director/CEO positions within our organization.
- We have community representation at the board level, either on the board itself or through a community advisory board.
- We help senior leadership understand how to be inclusive leaders with learning approaches that emphasize reflection, iteration, and adaptability.
- We engage everyone, from the board to staff levels of the organization, in race equity work and ensure that individuals understand their roles in creating culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.