The Banu Foundation is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization devoted to three goals: empowering, protecting, and educating at-risk children and women around the world.
Banu is a Persian origin word and girl's name used in cultures from the Middle East to South and Central Asia. As an honorific title, it means "lady." It has also come to mean "little sister." As a name, in Hindi, it means "the sun."
The letters of the word, BANU, encapsulate our vision for the foundation:
B - Believe.
We start with a statement of belief: we believe that all at-risk children and women should be given a chance to live a life of hope, dignity, and empowerment.
A - Act.
We act on that belief by working with organizations that dedicate their lives to helping at-risk children and women, and hope to help others as they act on similar beliefs.
N - Nourish.
We hope our support will nourish the organizations dedicated to supporting at-risk children and women, helping them grow and expand.
U - Understand.
We end with another belief: understanding the nature and scope of the challenges faced by at-risk children and women is vital, so we will devote some of our resources to policy advocacy and information dissemination, so we can all understand.
We understand that the needs of at-risk children and women are immense, and we are open to all initiatives that support our mission statement. However, our initial focus will be in the following areas: