The Dasvandh Network (DVN) is an online platform that aims to inspire a new level of giving to Panthic and related charitable projects across North America by providing awareness, transparency, and accessibility to these efforts.

Dasvandh means a "tenth part" and refers to the practice among Sikhs of contributing 10% of their earnings toward the common good of the community in the name of their Guru.

DVN tries its best to be in line with Gurmat (Teachings of the Sikh Gurus and Guru Granth Sahib). Our other core values include trust and transparency.

Please visit our About Us page to learn more about Our Team. DVN looks to operate with 4 main committees: The Approval & Relationships Committee; Finance/Audit Committee; Technology & Operations Committee; Outreach & Marketing Committee. If you would like to volunteer or be a part of one of these committees, please contact us at info@dvnetwork.org.

Currently, only U.S. and Canadian residents can donate through DVN and only U.S. based organizations/projects can be listed on DVN. (Note: U.S. based nonprofits can sometimes fiscally sponsor non-U.S. based organizations. More information on Fiscal Sponsorship can be found in the organizations/projects section of the FAQ or in our resources section). Please see our Terms of Use for more information on who can use DVN.

DVN looks to create new donors within the community (grow the existing donor base) and also inspire others to give more. In order to achieve this goal, we aim to increase awareness of existing efforts and help provide the resources for new projects to develop. We also see ourselves as an efficient way to raise funds (See more here: DVN Efficiency). Ultimately, we are looking to help raise funds for activists so that they can focus on program development instead of fundraising.

DVN has no intention of taking away resources from existing organizations/projects. If a donor comes to know about an existing organization/project through our site and then gives directly to that organization/project (without using our platform), we see that as a “win” and that our site is serving its purpose. In other words, DVN looks to bring new donors to the community and hopefully raise the amount of giving by existing donors. In the short-term, we plan to utilize social marketing, reach out to those not already active in the community, increase awareness of activist efforts, and provide a platform for new initiatives. In the long-term, DVN hopes to encourage young Sikhs (in high school and college) to grow up with the spirit of Dasvandh so that they start giving as soon as possible. If everyone in the community were to give even a small amount, the compounding impact on the community will be significant. DVN believes that by rekindling the Guru’s message of Dasvandh, Sikhs in our community will once again feel a sense of duty to contribute to society (both monetarily and through volunteer work).

There is often a lack of awareness of Sikh initiatives and a willingness to donate to these efforts. We hope to 1) centralize the great work that activists are doing so people are aware of these efforts within the community and 2) develop a sense of trust so that donors know their funds are being used efficiently and appropriately. There will be an approval process before any organization/project is listed on DVN. DVN will also do its best to ensure these groups are transparent with their use of funds.

DVN is mainly funded through a small pool of passionate donors who are dedicated to an online platform that can reignite giving in the Sikh community. We call these donors our “strategic donors”. Please note we will never actively raise funds for DVN in the community or while promoting the platform. However, general donors can contribute to DVN if they voluntarily choose to do so by adding a small tip to a donation given to other organizations/projects.

As part of our goal of full transparency, DVN will maintain a list of any official relationships with existing organization/project teams below:

• Sikh Youth Alliance of North America (SYANA): Multiple Board members and DVN team members are heavily involved in organizing many SYANA events, including camps, retreats, speech symposiums, and various project initiatives through SIkhWorks and SinghMedia. DVN President Inderpal Singh is also related to the founder of SYANA.
• SALDEF: DVN President Inderpal Singh has previously advised SALDEF on an informal basis. SALDEF also originally served as DVN's fiscal sponsor until DVN achieved independent 501(c)(3) status in 2010.

It is important to note that because many of those active within the Sikh Community know one another, a number of friendships exist between organizations themselves (including DVN). However, in an effort to provide full transparency, anything that extends beyond this friendship will be listed above. In addition, an independent DVN Approval Committee has been formed to objectively evaluate projects using a pre-defined weighting system. The DVN Board has no influence over specific approval decisions; the Board is only involved in setting the strategy for the approval system.

You can sign up by clicking on the “Join” button at the top of this page.

Yes. You will need to create an account to donate through the DVN. Your account will allow you to manage your contributions (e.g. print donation receipts) and stay up to date on the organizations/projects to which you donate.

Currently, DVN users must be based in the United States or Canada.

Please go here: Forgot Password

Please visit your Donor Profile and edit your email settings. You can choose not to receive updates from DVN or organizations/projects that you've donated to as well as opt out of receiving donation receipts. However, you cannot opt out of certain emails regarding important billing formation: when your credit card is about to expire; your recurring payment fails to process; or your recurring payment is cancelled because an organization/project reaches its funding goal or becomes inactive.

Please visit your Donor Profile. There are various items that can be edited at any point.

Yes. We take privacy and personal data security very seriously. Your credit card information will be solely processed by Braintree Payment Solutions, our processing partner. DVN only stores limited credit card information in order to process recurring donations. Please see our Privacy Policy for more information.

Currently, this feature is not available.

DVN doesn't charge for donations. Donations given by check are sent without ANY fees to the designated organization/project. However, for credit card transactions, there is a 3.5% payment processing fee that goes to cover fees paid to our payment processor, Braintree Payment Solutions.

Donors can pay online by credit card or by check. We encourage donations of $1,000 or more to be paid by check to avoid the paying payment processing fees and holdbacks described above.

Please go to the donation history section of your Donor Profile. Please note that check donation receipts will only be available after DVN receives, deposits, and clears your check.

Tax deductibility depends on whether the organization you're donating to has 501(c)(3) status with the IRS. The 501(c)(3) notation means that an organization is a nonprofit entity recognized by the U.S. government and that donations made to this organization are tax-exempt. Each organization/project’s profile page states whether they have this tax exempt status. It is important to consult a tax professional for guidance on any personal tax-related matters.

The reason we focus Dasvandh Network on projects is so that you can contribute to the initiatives that speak to you. If you are donating to a specific project listed on DVN, your donation will be designated for that project. Organizations with projects agree to use the funds for the designated project. However, DVN is not responsible for funds once they are released to an organization/project and cannot guarantee the funds are used as designated. If you donate to a designated organization (instead of a specific project), the organization can use the funds as they see fit in accordance with applicable laws.

While not required, DVN encourages organizations / projects to list their budgets on their profile pages. During the approval process, all organizations must submit either a budget or previous year financials in order to be approved. Applying projects must also submit a budget before being approved. If an organization is a 501(c)(3) (such as Dasvandh Network), its 990 tax returns are publicly available here.

Yes. In order for your donations to be processed with DVN, your donation must be at least $10. The maximum checkout amount is $20,000 (excluding tips to DVN).

Yes. Donors can set up recurring credit/debit card donations to occur monthly or every two months. If you'd like to update your existing recurring donations, please visit the Recurring Donations section in your Donor Profile to make changes. You can update your credit card information, recurring frequency, donation amount, or DVN tip amount. Currently, recurring e-check donations are not available.

At times, a one-time project may be slightly overfunded because of our recurring donation feature. For instance, a project listed for $1,000 may have already raised $950. A donor may have a recurring donation of $75 setup. In this case, the $75 recurring donation would put the project total raised amount at $1,025. The extra amount will just go to the project, which will help fund payment processing fees that the project had to previously incur.

Absolutely! Please go here to find out more: Corporate Matching

Our payment processor, Braintree Payment Solutions, deposits donations into our bank account at the time of the transaction. Depending on the timing of when payments are processed and when we receive checks from donors, we initiate an ACH (direct deposit) transaction to member organization/project bank accounts on a monthly basis. However, some projects may be required to hit milestones (e.g. achieve certain goals before funds are released to them).

All donations are final (no refund policy) in order to ensure the stability of funding to organizations and projects; they are relying on these funds, so once a commitment is made, we believe it should be honored. If you have a major concern after making a donation through DVN, please contact the organization/project that you donated to directly.

A chargeback occurs when a donor requests a refund (i.e. a chargeback) from his/her credit card or bank. This may occur when a donor is confused about the charge on their credit card, or for other reasons. DVN will do what it can to resolve the situation, and if necessary, reinstate these charges. If a chargeback occurs, DVN will have to reduce funds scheduled to be sent to an organization/project. If funds have already been released to an organization/project, then the organization/project will have to return these funds back to DVN. Our Terms of Use details more of our policies.

At times, our payment processor verifies credit card security codes. It does so by charging $1 to the card, but then shortly refunds the $1.

Organizations/projects must apply in order to be listed on DVN. DVN does not aim to be exclusive. However, in order to maintain our values of trust and transparency, there must be some screening in place in order to ensure credible organizations/projects are available for donors. DVN has established an Approval & Relationship Committee that vets each project that applies. The committee meets regularly and uses an objective scoring system to rate projects. Please view our Application Packet to see more details on the approval criteria and process.

There will be two major categories of initiatives featured: 1) Panthic efforts (e.g., parchaar/education, civil rights, humanitarian, legal defense, etc.). These efforts are those whose goal is to further the Sikh community. 2) Sikhi-aligned efforts (e.g., humanitarian efforts, human rights advocacy, etc.). These efforts are those taken by Sikhs to help humanity: for example, a group of Sikhs might create a local soup kitchen that feeds the homeless in their community, regardless of faith.

Evidence of anti-Gurmat (Guru’s teachings) activity by an organization/project team will be factored into the decision process. Other factors include the value of the organization/project; the robustness of the application; financial feasibility; credibility of the applicant team; and planned transparency.

The Approval & Relationship Committee has final authority over whether an organization/project is listed on DVN. The committee will openly communicate why an organization/project is denied in such instances to the applicants.

DVN was founded to motivate a surge in activism and spark a renewed sense of giving within the community. Thus, we tend to focus the site on project-led initiatives. At this time, Gurudwaras won't be able to directly list themselves on DVN to cover operational costs, but we encourage them to fiscally sponsor activist teams in the community. For instance, a local Sikh group may want to start a health clinic in their city. In order to receive tax deductible donations, this group may approach their local Gurdwara for fiscal sponsorship and apply to DVN. It is important to note that a project does NOT need to be tax deductible to be listed on DVN.

In the future, we hope to create local DVN portals such that our technology can be leveraged to raise funds for other nonprofits like Gurudwaras.

If your project doesn’t currently have charitable tax exempt status, there are three options: 1) Apply to list your project on DVN as a non-tax exempt project (donations made to your project will not be tax deductible). 2) Apply with the IRS to obtain tax exempt status. This process can take several months and typically requires the use of a lawyer. 3) Find an existing charitable organization with tax exempt status that is willing to fiscally sponsor you. While this third option seems attractive, there are many legal implications for a nonprofit in becoming a fiscal sponsor. For example, there must be a binding legal contract between the fiscal sponsor and new nonprofit and the fiscal sponsor is legally liable for all donations made. There will be projects listed on DVN that have a fiscal sponsor. In this case, both the fiscal sponsor (existing charitable organization) and new project must be vetted before being listed on DVN.

Please feel free to contact us if you would like some further guidance or have any questions on the above items.

Yes. If you have already completed a project, you can still post to help recover costs. For example, a children's book might be produced at a cost of $4,000 for 400 books ($10 / book). The book has been out for 1 year and has sold 200 copies for a total of $3,000 (at a price of $15). The activist is at a $1,000 loss and would thus be able to list the project on DVN for $1,000 to recover his/her costs. If the activist also eventually raises $1,000 outside of DVN, the "excess" funding earned listed on DVN (i.e. $1,000) would have to be used towards future panthic means. Similarly, activists posting future dated projects may end up raising "excess" funds.

By listing on DVN, activists certify that any "excess" funds raised on DVN will go towards future panthic initiatives.

The approval committee meets about every two weeks. Thus, depending on when an application is submitted, it can take up to two weeks. If more information/clarification is needed, it may take longer. We encourage applicants to include as much detail as possible (especially start up projects) so that the application can be approved in timely manner.

DVN defines an organization as an existing nonprofit legal entity that has or plans to undertake multiple projects over time. Such organizations can also list individual projects once the organization has been approved by DVN. An individual project may also be listed by an individual or small team that comes together for the particular purposes of a single nonprofit initiative.

Applications must be made online. Please go here: Application Page. An application guide can be found here: Application Documents

There are three application types: 1) For established organizations (legal entities that already exist), there is an application to list the organization itself on DVN; 2) For established organizations, there is an application to list projects of the organization (this form is available once the organization has been approved); and 3) For start-up or new projects, there is an application to list the project itself. Please note that the type 2 application listed above is much shorter than type 3 since an existing organization will already have been vetted and approved before listing projects.

After your organization / project is approved, you will receive an email with a link for an administration section. Please log in this section and 1) Update any information you need to (including uploading a logo); 2) Activate your profile page by changing the status to "Active"; 3) Fill out the bank form; and 4) Start posting projects (applies to organizations only).

Your user login credentials will allow you to login to an Administrative section, which will be emailed to you when your organization/project is approved. In this section, you can update your organization/project information, upload supporting materials (highly encouraged!), update your contact information, download donation reports, download your DVN disbursement summary, customize the default donation amounts on your profile page, and manage administrative users for your organization/project. We expect all organization/projects to keep their information up to date and keep donors informed of their progress.

Depending on the timing of when payments are processed and when we receive checks from donors, we initiate an ACH (direct deposit) transaction to member organizations/project bank accounts on a monthly basis. However, some projects may be required to hit milestones (e.g. achieve certain goals before funds are released to them).

Check donations are only included in your donation amount (e.g. the amount visible on your profile page) after checks are received, deposited, and cleared by DVN.

Yes. However, time considerations and prior commitments by project members will be factored into the application process. We do anticipate established organizations to have multiple projects listed.

In order to provide diversity and allow for ease of navigation, DVN currently caps the number of projects an organization can list at 3.

Yes, $100,000 is the maximum amount and $200 is the minimum amount.

No. DVN provides an opportunity for organization/projects to be matched with donors. This opportunity does not guarantee funding. However, DVN is committed to helping each listed organization/project succeed. Please feel free to contact us with any concerns or questions.

DVN hopes to provide professional guidance through the DVN Mentorship Network. This network aims to include established business, legal, and nonprofit leaders from varied backgrounds.