Real Work. Real Change
The Hazrat Shahanshah Sufi Sarkar Charitable Trust was founded to give back to society by addressing the needs of the underprivileged. Inspired by the teachings of Hazrat Shahanshah Sufi Sarkar, the trust combines spiritual wisdom with tangible actions to foster equality, compassion, and social responsibility. It emerged during a time of socio-economic change in India, aiming to bridge disparities and uplift communities. The trust focuses on initiatives like education, healthcare, and poverty alleviation, guided by the principles of love, unity, and service to humanity.
OUR VISION
To create a harmonious society where spiritual wisdom guides sustainable development, empowering individuals to lead meaningful lives while serving humanity.
OUR MISSION
We strive to transform lives through the perfect blend of spiritual enlightenment and social service, focusing on education, healthcare, women's empowerment, and environmental conservation.
PHILOSOPHY oF CHANGE
THE LIFECYCLE APPROACH
At the Hazrat Shahanshah Sufi Sarkar Charitable Trust, we believe that education is both the means and the end to a better life. It is the means because it empowers individuals to earn a livelihood, and the end because it broadens awareness on critical issues—ranging from healthcare to social behavior and understanding one’s rights. Education enables individuals to evolve as responsible and compassionate citizens. It is the most powerful tool to help children build a strong foundation, breaking free from the cycle of ignorance, poverty, and disease.
But while working on the ground, we realised that child education cannot be done in isolation, without ensuring the welfare of the whole family. Health is also a part of education. A child will not go to school if he is sick. If a child’s parents are afflicted with health problems, he might drop-out of school and start earning instead. Unless the mother is healthy and empowered, the child cannot be either. It is all interlinked. Our other programmes evolved as a logical progression to our education programme – be it livelihood, health or women empowerment. Today, children and education continue to remain at the centre of all we do, but through the lifecycle approach we also address the needs of the children’s families and communities.
HOW WE WORK
Social Venture Philanthropy
Social Venture Philanthropy (SVP) is an innovative model based on the business concept of venture capital. Under SVP, Smile Foundation identifies and implements its development projects through credible community based organizations. We also handhold and build capacities of these organizations, focusing on achieving scalability and sustainability, creating a culture of leadership and excellence and inculcating a deep sense of accountability among them.
Outreach
Under Outreach model, Smile Foundation implements the development interventions directly as it requires intensive and professional engagement for a wider and sustained outcome. While working in remote rural areas, we realized that an intensive on-ground intervention is needed, which might be beyond the capacity of community based organizations and hence, we directly implement such projects, liaising with local community stakeholders for better social return on investment.
At the Hazrat Shahanshah Sufi Sarkar Charitable Trust, our primary focus is to work on the ground to bring positive change in the lives of underprivileged individuals and families. Simultaneously, we strive to sustain this change by sensitizing and engaging the privileged sections of society to embrace their social responsibility. Moving beyond community boundaries and aiming for sustainable development on a broader scale, the trust has adopted a collaborative approach, making civil society an active partner in all its welfare initiatives. This principle of collective action ensures lasting impact and inclusive growth.