Volunteer & membership

Volunteering

What we actually need help with.

We are honest about this: the useful volunteer is the one who lives near enough to turn up more than once. Most of what we need is unglamorous and local.

• Gau seva rounds — carrying fodder and water, and spotting animals that need treatment.
• Verification visits — going to a household that has asked for help and reporting back honestly.
• Plantation and watering — particularly through the first two summers after a drive.
• Event help — arrangements at festivals, jayantis and national day programmes.
• Record keeping — entering receipts, keeping the register, filing bills.
• Professional help — veterinary, medical, legal, accounting or teaching time, given free.

If you are not from the area but want to help, the most valuable thing you can give is a standing monthly donation and an introduction to a company that funds rural work.

Life membership

₹500, once.

Under our bye-laws, life membership costs ₹500 with no annual contribution, and the Sanstha may have up to 551 life members. A life member must be at least 21 years old, must not be an undischarged insolvent or of unsound mind, and must not have been convicted of an offence involving moral turpitude carrying a year or more of imprisonment.

Membership is not a formality. A life member votes in the election of the governing body, may inspect the account books, minute books and register of members on seven days’ notice, and receives an identity card signed by the president and the general secretary. Admission is decided by the governing body, whose decision is final.