Financial security · Rural Telangana
When money becomes fear, no family should face it alone.
Debt is rarely just a number. It becomes phone calls, paperwork, shame and silence at home.
Help a family face financial pressure with guidance instead of fear.
The problem
The pressure is not only financial.
A household under financial stress is dealing with far more than a shortfall. There is harassment. There are documents nobody can read. There is a second loan taken to service the first. And there is almost never one reliable person to ask what the right next step is. Fear, not arithmetic, is what makes the situation worse.
- 01Harassment and pressure from informal lenders.
- 02Paperwork nobody in the house can decode.
- 03Borrowing again to service what is already owed.
- 04No trusted, unpaid source of guidance.
- 05A family that stops discussing it out loud.
Why it matters
Financial fear reorganises a household around survival. Children are pulled out of school as a cost-cutting measure. Health is postponed. Assets are sold at the worst possible price. Almost none of that is inevitable — much of it happens because nobody sat down with the family early enough to map the situation calmly and explain the options.
Who this is for
- Households servicing informal, high-interest debt
- Families facing pressure or harassment from lenders
- Women managing the household budget without financial information
- Households hit by a medical or agricultural shock
What Ujjwala does
How the work actually runs.
Understand
We sit with the family and map what is actually owed, to whom, on what terms, and what is coming due. Most families have never seen their own position written down in one place.
Strengthen
We work primarily with the women of the household on financial capability — record-keeping, savings discipline, entitlements they already qualify for, and how to evaluate a borrowing offer before accepting it.
Access support
Where appropriate we connect the family with suitable financial or legal guidance and help them prepare the paperwork so they arrive informed rather than intimidated.
What makes this different
- We do not lend money, refinance debt or settle it on a family's behalf.
- The financial capability work is built around the women of the household.
- Guidance is free, unpaid and carries no product to sell.
- The family keeps every decision — we make sure it is an informed one.
Why now
The work is ready. Funding decides how far it goes.
What is ready
The village relationships and the session material exist; households have already asked for help.
What funding unlocks
Funding determines how many villages this can run in, and how long we can stay with each family.
What delay costs
Financial pressure does not pause. A family without guidance takes the fastest available loan, and the cost of that decision compounds quietly for years.
What your support does
What your support can help make possible.
Contributions to this campaign are pooled and applied to the work below. We use “can contribute toward” deliberately: we do not publish a per-person cost we have not verified.
- ₹500
- Can contribute toward a household financial mapping session.
- ₹1,000
- Can contribute toward financial capability work with women in a village.
- ₹2,500
- Can contribute toward guidance and paperwork support for a family under pressure.
- ₹5,000
- Can contribute toward sustained support for a household through a difficult period.
- ₹10,000
- Can contribute toward a village-level financial capability round.
Funding covers
- Household financial mapping
- Women's financial capability sessions
- Help with documents and applications
- Connections to appropriate financial or legal guidance
- Follow-up until the situation stabilises
Funding progress
- Funding goal
- ₹12,00,000
- Raised
- ₹0
- Still needed
- ₹12,00,000
- Funded
- 0%
Goal set by the trustees for the current round of village work. Raised reflects confirmed payments only.
Help close the gapBefore you fund us
Check us before you fund us.
Income-tax registered u/s 332(8) · Donation approval u/s 354(4) · CSR-1 CSR00116765 · NITI Aayog Darpan
Program brief
Get the Financial Sanctuary brief
How households are identified, what the three pillars cover, and the boundaries of what we do and do not do.
Request the briefQuestions donors ask
Before you give, ask us anything.
Do you pay off a family's debt?
No. We do not repay, refinance or settle debt, and we do not give cash to households. What we provide is a clear picture of the situation, financial capability, help with paperwork and a connection to appropriate guidance.
Is this legal aid? Do you promise a legal outcome?
No. We are not a law firm and we make no promise about any legal outcome. Where a family needs legal guidance we help them reach appropriate support and prepare for that conversation.
Why is the financial capability work focused on women?
Because in most of the households we work with, the woman already manages the day-to-day money without ever being given financial information. Strengthening that position changes how the household absorbs a shock.
What does 'sanctuary' mean here?
It means a place to bring a financial problem without being judged, sold something, or charged for the conversation. Nothing more dramatic than that — and for many families nothing like it currently exists.
Is the family's information kept private?
Yes. Household financial details are treated as confidential and are never published, shared with donors, or used in fundraising material without written consent.
How are beneficiaries selected?
Selection is done on the ground, household by household, by the trustees and field volunteers who already work in these villages. Need, willingness to participate and the ability to sustain the next step after our support ends are all considered. There is no fee, no broker and no political or community reference required.
How are the funds used?
Contributions to a campaign are pooled and applied to that campaign's work — materials, training, field delivery and the coordination it takes to reach a village. Every rupee is recorded in our expenditure register, and our registration certificates and financial records are shared on request.
What happens if the funding target is not met?
We deliver at the scale the funding allows. A partially funded campaign is not abandoned — it runs with fewer households in this round and continues into the next. We do not hold money idle, and we do not move it to a different cause without telling you.
Can I choose which campaign my donation supports?
Yes. Giving from this page attributes your donation to this campaign in our ledger. If you would rather we apply it where the need is greatest, use the General Fund on the donate page.
Can I give monthly instead?
Yes. Predictable monthly support is the most useful kind of funding we receive because it lets us commit to a household before the money has fully arrived. You can set that up on the Give Monthly page.
Will I receive updates on this work?
Yes. Donors receive program updates as the work moves — what was delivered, where, and what we learned. We do not pass your details to anyone else and you can stop the updates at any time.
How can I verify Ujjwala Foundation?
We would prefer that you did. Ujjwala Foundation is a registered society in Telangana with tax registrations under the applicable provisions of the Income-tax Act and a CSR-1 filing. Certificates, PAN, registration numbers and governance details are published on our Trust page.
Will I get a donation acknowledgement?
Yes. Once the payment gateway confirms your payment, an acknowledgement with your reference number is generated and emailed to you automatically.
Still unsure? Write to hello@ujjwalafoundation.org or call +91 73968 35639.
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