What Dharma does
Dharma International is a Norwegian nonprofit. We fundraise in Europe and channel resources to vetted local partner organisations that support women in developing countries.
We don't run programmes ourselves. We find partners who are already doing the work, and we fund what they need to keep doing it. Training materials, equipment, programme costs - it depends on the project. What stays constant is the structure: funding tied to milestones, documented spending, real outcomes.
Why this model
Most small nonprofits try to do everything. We decided early that we'd be honest about what we're good at and what we're not.
We're good at fundraising, compliance, and accountability. We're not good at running tailoring courses in Kolkata. AIM Foundation is. So we fund them and they train women. Each side does what it does best.
This isn't modesty. It's efficiency. A euro goes further when it's spent by someone who knows exactly what to buy, where to buy it, and what it costs locally. Our job is to get that euro there and make sure it's tracked.
How the money flows
When you donate, your contribution goes into Dharma's Norwegian bank account. From there, we transfer funds directly to our partner organisation in structured installments.
Each installment is only released after the previous one is documented. Purchases above a threshold require itemised receipts. We publish updates showing what was bought and how training is progressing.
Nobody at Dharma takes a salary, a fee, or expenses. We're volunteers. Every euro donated goes to programme costs or unavoidable transaction fees. For the full breakdown, see our transparency page.
How we choose partners
We look for organisations that were doing the work before we showed up. That's the baseline. Beyond that, we need legal compliance for receiving foreign funds, financial transparency, and patience.
That last one matters more than people think. A lot of cross-border partnerships fail because one side treats the other as a transaction. We wanted a partner who would tell us when we were wrong, not just when we were useful.
Our first partner is AIM Foundation in Kolkata. They run community development and vocational training programmes. They'd been doing it for years before we entered the picture. Lisa, our Project Coordinator, found them and drove the partnership process - the emails, the negotiations, the "can you clarify paragraph 3" messages that are tedious but essential.
The team
We're a small team of volunteers across Norway, Ireland, and India.
Ronny Wisløff Andersen - Founder & President. Works full-time at AIDER. Runs Dharma in the margins, roughly six to eight hours a week.
Bernt-Kristian Nerland - Treasurer. Makes sure we're not accidentally breaking financial regulations while trying to do good.
Lisa Hücking - Project & Partnership Coordinator. Manages the relationship with AIM and handles the operational side that turns ideas into reality.
Nobody here does this because they have to. They do it because they chose to, and they keep choosing to.
Where we are now
Our first project is live: 20 women in Boral, Kolkata, learning tailoring through AIM Foundation's SuiDhaga programme. Five months of training, funded entirely by donations.
It's a small start. That's intentional. We'd rather prove something works than promise something we can't deliver.
Where we're going
More courses. More women supported. Eventually more partners, more types of projects, and more countries.
But always at a pace we can sustain. Always led by what works on the ground. And always with the same question: did this actually change someone's ability to earn?
If you want to be part of that: [Support our work]
If you want to know how we got here: [Read the founder's story]