Summer 2024 Is a Wrap
August 11, 2024
Dear friends,
It has been a whirlwind of a summer, even by AFSO standards. In late June, we held "Songs of Love and War," a benefit concert featuring Cuatro Puntos and Arson Fahim, for a crowd of about 100 supporters in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. A week later, we turned in a grant proposal, with three partners—the Center for Afghanistan Studies at the University of Nebraska, the University of Central Asia, and the Open Society University Network—for State Department funding of our joint advising program for the next two years. The program is meant to begin in September 2024, so fingers crossed. In any case, we are delighted to have these new partnerships.
Meanwhile, outside AFSO, there was the thrilling sight of the first boat to ride down the Seine in Paris, filled with Afghan athletes and sporting the red, green, and black flag that is now banned by the Taliban. Not to mention Afghan breaker Manizha Talash, whose "Free Afghan Women" cape disqualified her but inspired us nonetheless.
By now you should have received a digital copy of our Annual Report, which is also on our Newsletter page. If you would like a print copy, please let us know. The Annual Report details AFSO's first year: the narrative of our growth, the numbers that manifest our success and our challenges, and the financial picture of the last year and moving forward. Deep thanks to everyone who contributed to the report, particularly Board secretary Judy Lewis, Board treasurer Donald Moon, and the generous Negar Dehgan who brought our story to life.
What we face now are a number of challenges:
- Our seed grant is set to expire at the end of September, unless we can raise the funds to meet it. Given the enormous amount of in-kind donations we receive from our volunteers, we have only $34,000 to go. We are happy to speak with anyone who has an interest in helping Afghan women. We know we are saving lives. You know this, too. Please spread the word.
- Having overhauled our registration system at the beginning of summer to accommodate 500 students, we must now overhaul our placement testing. The tests we have been using are proving inaccurate, especially as answers become widely known. We are set to invest in Dynamic Placement Testing, and the best way to begin is to test everyone currently enrolled in AFSO courses. That cost will be $2,000, which will rise as we turn to new applications. We don't expect to increase our student body any time soon, but we are looking to recruit the most promising candidates from all corners of Afghanistan. As with any new venture, there are bound to be bumps along the way.
- We are building our Board, to complement our core of dedicated academics with new members whose experience in nonprofit management, marketing, and media outreach will help us solidify our support. We want to begin by welcoming Kara Mullins, Vice President of Sale and Client Relations at Sympler whose bio is on our website.
- Finally, we are in discussions about affiliation with a partner university. As with all these new developments, there will be adjustments, but we all feel the relationship will free us to do the work we do best without compromising AFSO's independence and flexibility.
As always, we appreciate your thoughts on these or any other developments. It takes a global village, and you are part of ours.
Best,
Lucy
President of the Board
Afghan Female Student Outreach
