Pushpa Fund / 2024 – 2025
YEAR
ONE.
250 people. Six projects. 3,086 lives changed.
The diaspora just proved something.
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Pushpa Fund / 2024 – 2025
250 people. Six projects. 3,086 lives changed.
The diaspora just proved something.
Mahian had the idea in 2020. Wrote it down. Parked it. There was no blueprint for what he was imagining, a real vehicle for diaspora communities to invest in economic change back home and actually see what happens.
Then he met Farah and Zaynab. And Pushpa stopped being a note in a notebook.
The cynics said diaspora communities don't give. That we're disconnected and that we've moved on. We said watch.
"We kept seeing people wanting to do something meaningful for Bangladesh. Not just send money home, not just donate to a charity they'd never hear from again. They wanted to back something real. So we built the thing we wished existed."
Mahian, Farah & Zaynab, Co-founders, Pushpa
August 2024. Students on the streets of Dhaka. Getting shot. Getting beaten. Trying to bring down a government.
We hadn't even properly launched. But the community showed up anyway, raised emergency funds in days, and paid for surgeries for the students who got hurt.
That wasn't the plan. That was just who we are. Then we got to work.
250 people putting money in every single month. 65% in the UK, 25% in the US, members across 10 countries. 85% under 35. 64% women. These aren't retired philanthropists. These are people with their own bills, their own pressures, their own lives who still decided to give a sh*t about where they came from. That's not a donor base. That's a movement.
Where we're from
Age breakdown
Community growth
Monthly recurring contributions
From £65/month in November 2024 to £2,341/month today. 36x growth in 16 months. The model works.
How people found us
Gaibandha · Give Bangladesh Foundation
We put £1,400 into 13 farming families in Gaibandha. The project projected 20% income growth. They came back with 23%. That's what happens when you back people who were already doing the work.
"This will be the first time I get to buy my children new clothes for Eid."
Chan Mia
Satkhira · Agrogoti Sangstha
£1,800 into 10 families in Satkhira. What came back was 10 new businesses, corner shops, cattle, goats, sewing, and 10 children who stayed in school because their families could finally afford to keep them there.
"I've doubled the investment Pushpa gave, from 4 goats to 8. It's now allowed my son to nearly complete school."
Salma
Naogaon · Badabon Sangho
63 women trained in bamboo handicrafts. A commercial store now open in Lal Matia, Dhaka. This is economic infrastructure, not charity.
"This training will support us in building our businesses and achieving economic independence. It brings us dignity within our families."
The women of Project Bamboo
Sreemangal · Give Bangladesh Foundation
1,100 tea garden workers. Menstrual health isn't a nice-to-have, it's an economic issue. Women missing work, missing income, missing out. 555 reusable pads distributed. 37 sessions held. 9 community leaders trained. 555 women now earning 8% more.
"Now I can move freely. Earlier, every movement came with worry. Now I feel completely at ease."
Priyanka Mitra
Sirajganj · Ignite Global Foundation
15 families. 45 beehives. 104kg harvested from the first two extractions. For Sha Alom, who lost a leg in an accident and can't do heavy labour, beekeeping doesn't ask anything from his body that he can't give. His family eats. His daughter stays in school.
"After the accident, I thought my ability to provide for my family was gone. The bees gave it back."
Md. Sha Alom
Bangladesh · August 2024
August 2024. Students on the streets of Dhaka. Our community raised emergency funds within days and paid for surgeries for those injured in the revolution. We hadn't even properly launched. But this is who we are.
"Being able to contribute as much as the men in my family. It's more than financial. It's dignity."
Shanti Begum
Every penny tracked. Publicly. Always. That's not a promise. That's just how we're built. Throughout Year One, member contributions went 100% to projects. Operational costs were covered separately by our partners and supporters, so every pound you put in went directly to the ground. You can see exactly where it went.