Where we stand

Since April, the government of India has cancelled all youth schools due to Covid-19, but it is now suggesting that limited openings may be permitted in the next few months. Our rent is paid until March of 2021 and with any luck we might be able to negotiate a few extra months due to the pandemic. The owner plans to use the building for his own purposes in the next 6-12 months, so our current set-up is a temporary one. Sravasti Abbey, a Buddhist monastery that I belong to, has offered to run a short article about the Unicorn Project in their upcoming monthly newsletter. The Abbey has an exceptionally large following and I am hopeful that this will generate desperately needed new donations.

I am collecting donations from friends, but soon this will come to a halt. I have received offers to donate but have realized that I will need a more formal structure to allow for deductible charitable donations. Facebook has not allowed me to run a fundraiser at this point. I have set up a GoFundMe account but have not used it yet. Currently the cost to run the project, including the school rental, teachers and our various projects is approximately $10,000 CDN. All donations go directly to our causes without any sort of remuneration to our directors and volunteers.

Our NGO in India is registered with the government and we are awaiting our FCRA approval. Currently in Canada I am not as far ahead. I would like The Unicorn Project to become an NGO, but there is much administrative work to do including setting up a website with e-commerce capacity for donations, and developing an infrastructure to run this organization properly. I have been reluctant to proceed further until now because of the cost and the challenge of finding the expertise and resources needed to expand the reach of this project. In the past, I preferred to see the donations go directly to India where they are really needed but now feel that I can be more effective by increasing the project’s outreach. This will require infrastructure not currently in place.

Mike Barrett