“SPAITF is seeing a steady flow of applications ....
out of 25 applicants 18 students were sponsored ....
A total sum of £3,875 was granted...”
drought of young people not taking part in their local Student applications
community. As a community we need to find a solution SPAITF committee are now seeing a steady flow of
to this problem soon; to sustain, grow and support our applications and during the year a total of 25 students
community into the future. applied for grants and 18 students were sponsored during
the year, whilst 7 did not meet the funding criteria. A total
SPAITF has been lucky, yes lucky to have Nairobi funds to
support many deserving applications, but the bank interest
generated by Nairobi funds over the years is depleting
sum of £3,875 was dispensed as follows:
• £1,625 from NTF for repeat applications
quickly and SPAITF need to find ways to raise funding to • £2,000 from NTF for new applications
continue to provide almost £4,000 per year in education • £ 250 from general education funds
grants to students in India. This is becoming a more
pressing SPAITF business issue as we look to find how
SPAITF can also support students in England.
Nepal Earthquake
This project has been delayed due to the Nepalese
government administration process. We have been
Joint agreement between SPA (UK) and SPEF of Canada: informed this year that the Nepal government has now
We are delighted that both SPA (UK) and SPEF Canada resolved the issue of foreign funds coming into the country.
have reached an agreement and signed a Memorandum of SPA (UK) has raised a total of £15,954 and the SPA (UK)
Understanding. The purpose behind this agreement is to Pratinidhi have agreed to top up the funds to a maximum
prevent duplication of applications from India to ensure that donation of £20,000. The committee discussed the
limited funds of both the charities are used to its maximum delay and agreed that whilst we would like to sponsor one
potential. As part of this agreement SPA (UK) also had major programme in the earthquake affected areas, the
to take into consideration (a) UK charity commission committee would also consider several small projects. We
regulations and (b) the UK data protection regulations to are waiting further details.
ensure that SPAITF operate within the UK laws.
Nairobi funds
The Nairobi trustees made a formal approach to SPA
(UK) executive for the remainder of the Nairobi funds
to be transferred to SPA (UK) and requested SPA (UK)
Charities for the year
SPA (UK) agreed to sponsor two charities this year:
• Muni Seva Trust
• Kasturba Trust
to consider how the funds once transferred should be On-line applications:
managed and or distributed. After confirmation from SPA On-line applications are working, but the IT system
(UK) executive the Nairobi trustees applied for the funds to needs “tweaking” and the Secretary is working with our
be transferred to SPA (UK), but as our luck would have it Mr webmaster to resolve the outstanding matters. During the
Modi decided to impose restrictions on India funds going coming year we will work closely with our webmaster to
out of the country and therefore it has not been possible to make sure that we redesign the on-line format and carry
transfer the funds for the moment. out necessary tests with a plan to go live in January 2018.
vol. 42 | Prajapati Sandesh 2017
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