Our main focus at Bellstrike is helping charities and non-profits convey their passions and increase their outreach. Oregon’s The Kumari Project shines as an example of one woman’s passion to better the world, beginning with her own personal origins. 

Adopted as an infant from an orphanage in Nepal, Arun Storrs of Eugene, Oreg., never lost touch with her cultural roots. Growing up, the 25-year old Yale graduate frequently visited her native country, encouraged by her mother, who wanted to ensure she had a thorough understanding of her cultural heritage. 

In college, Storrs won a fellowship that enabled her to work with Tibetan refugees in Nepal. In her free time, she was able to visit the orphanage from which she was adopted. Eventually, she began leading student volunteer trips to the orphanage.

On her work with the Bal Mandir orphanage, or Children’s Temple, Storrs says, “I just realized how much need there was in the community. During the monsoon season, there would often be 23 babies and four caretakers in just one room.” 

“Basically, there weren’t enough caretakers,” she says. “The children had bruises from sitting in their cribs and bad diaper rash from wearing cloth diapers. Because of the monsoons, the orphanage couldn’t even adequately wash and dry diapers.”

Upon graduation, Storrs decided to influence “a larger, more systemic change in the country,” and incorporated The Kumari Project in 2010. Believing that education is key, she serves as the executive director and is fundraising to address education-related needs, such as paying for tuition, creating internships for young women, and bolstering extracurricular opportunities. 

Buoyed by donations and also proceeds from an eco-fashion, sustainable clothing line, the group is well on its way to achieving its goals. In the future, she hopes to focus on fighting the sex-traffic trade, into which many young Nepalese girls are drawn. 

Soon after Kumari’s inception, Storrs found that the lack of a website was hindering the organization’s  launch and promotion. Without any knowledge of web programming, she was led by a designer friend to Bellstrike. 

On the Bellstrike platform, Storrs says, “It’s a beautiful, clearly-designed system. And the fact that they keep adding features such as Google Analytics is really helpful. Bellstrike is very attuned to their community, and they’re really responsive to our unique needs.”

“The best features are the tutorials — they’re really clear and well-written,” she continues. “The blog is an excellent tool for non-profits and truly goes above and beyond. Plus, the $5,000 grant contest is a great way to further support the organizations they serve.” 

Using Bellstrike’s unique features, such as social media tie-ins, has really driven fundraising, Storrs has found. She remarks that by utilizing these tools, she can easily drive traffic to the donate page. 

“Using WePay is great. Visitors stay on the Kumari page instead of being driven elsewhere, and all of our Facebook, Twitter and other web tools link to the site and include the donate button. Choosing Bellstrike truly made things incredibly easy.” 

At Bellstrike, we love helping people like Arun reach their goals with their nonprofits. To become involved with The Kumari Project, visit http://www.thekumariproject.org.