SPARROW has been in existence for more than twenty years now. It has gone through many interesting experiences in terms of housing itself and finding supporters. This has been made possible with the love and support of many friends and well-wishers. Some of them gave us donations and some others gave their work-time and energy. Those who stood by us right from the beginning in 1988 include academics, activists, artists, writers and kind relatives. They are the ones who expanded our sky.

Our constant support, in many different forms, of course, has come from two of our founder trustees Late Dr. Neera Desai and Dr. Maithreyi Krishna Raj. Dr. Veena Mazumdar and her team in the Centre for Women’s Development Studies encouraged us in our venture and Dr. Veena Mazumdar was always ready to participate in any project we suggested. Dr. Rohini Gawankar readily agreed to archive with us some of her rare interviews and has continued to draw our attention to many personalities and events. Dr.Vibhuti Patel readily agreed to archive with us some of her photographs of the women’s movement. Dr. Divya Pandey told us after her retirement that she will give us ten years of her life and she gave us those ten crucial years of our growth contributing time and energy and also generous donations apart from being a trustee and consultant. Dr. Roshan G. Shahani, as a trustee and consultant, not only helped us launch our publications but also authored a book for us. The most beautiful antique table and chairs, old photographs and an old 8mm projector that add elegance to SPARROW office have come from Roshan’s mother’s old house at Kemp’s Corner. Roshan and Govind Shahani have been important participants in SPARROW workshops apart from being donors. Dr. Usha Thakkar and Dr. Shoba Venkatesh Ghosh contribute as caring trustees and generous donors. Mihir Desai, our most recent trustee, although his text messages are monosyllabic, is generous with words of praise for our work and is also a generous donor like his mother.

Pushpa Bhave is someone known in the entire Maharashtra if not India, and can always be depended upon to put in a good word for us. Dr. Veena Poonacha, currently Director, Research Centre for Women’s Studies, and her colleague Usha Lalwani have been a part of SPARROW ever since its inception. Whether it was money to make a trip to collect photographs or support for a painting exhibition or a manuscript for publication by SPARROW, both of them were there to depend on. Two other friends who have stood by SPARROW during all its difficult phases have been Dr. Kamala Ganesh and Prabha Krishnan. NGOs also extended their support in many ways. Medha Kotwal, Alochana Centre for Documentation and Research on Women, was always enthusiastic about SPARROW’s activities. Sonal Shukla, Vaacha, has always been ready to give her time for an encouraging chat or a pat on the shoulder along with her colleague Kumud Shanbag. Chandita Mukherjee, Comet Media Foundation, contributed by being part of our Maya Rao workshop and documenting the workshop. Flavia Agnes and Madhushree Dutta, Majlis, were willing participants in our Global Feminisms project. Many like Mythili Sivaraman, Vasugi, Pappa Umanath, Subhashini Ali, Tara Reddy, Manju Gandhi, Aruna Roy and Medha Patkar, to name a few, have spoken about their experiences which have enriched our Oral History Collections. The Kamath family not only gave the cartoons of Maya Kamath to be archived with SPARROW but also donated generously to support the archiving of the cartoons and for organising an exhibition in Bangalore.

Artists, writers and journalists have played a very big role in making SPARROW what it is today. Artists who did SPARROW workshops like Kanaka Murthy, Neela Panch and Sushama Deshpande continued to support SPARROW activities in the later years also and even now always find time for SPARROW. Neela Bhagwat, the well-known singer, was very supportive even when we had no place to begin with. She made time to come to the Municipal office asking for space, she was there in the first painting exhibition to raise funds, to inaugurate the exhibition with a concert with Aruna Sayeeram, was the interviewer in the Damayanti Joshi workshop and filming and continues to support us. The painting exhibition in 1992 called A Nest for SPARROW was supported by artists like Achutan Kudallur, K M Adimoolam, Alex Mathew, Altaf, Anjana Mehra, Archana Shastri, Arpana Caur, Bharati kapadia, Bhaskaran R B, Deepak Shinde, Gogi Sarojpal, Jaidev Thakore, Jyoti Bhatt, Jyoti Pandya, Jyotsna Bhatt, Kavita Shah, Krishnamachari Bose, Lalita Lajmi, Madhvi Parekh, Manu Parekh, Nasreen Mohamedi, Navjot, Nita Thakore, Prabhakar Barwe, Prabhakar Kolte, Promilla Luthra, Pushpamala N, Rekha Rodwittiya, Rini Dhumal, Shakuntala Kulkarni, Sunil Gawde, Surendran Nair, Usha Biswas, Usha Gawde, Valsan Kolleri, Vasudha Thozur, Ved Nayyar and Yusuf Arakkal. Bharati Kapadia, who designed the exhibition has been SPARROW’s supporter ever since participating in workshops and illustrating books. Pheroza Godrej who helped SPARROW organise the exhibition has remained our patron in all these years. In the recent Art Raffle SPARROW organised on 8th March 2010, SPARROW has found many artist friends and supporters whose names are listed elsewhere.

Writers like Urmila Pawar, Jameela Nishat and Afeefa Banu have actively participated in SPARROW projects. Shashi Deshpande was part of our documentation of sculptor Kanaka Murthy and her works and she also agreed to be interviewed for our Literature Leap project. Many other writers from all over India were generous with their time to be part of the Literature Leap Project. They are featured in our five volumes two of which have already been published. Writers like Devdutt Pattanaik, Veena Seshadri, R Chudamani and Jyotirlata Girija made monetary donations in times of need and Rajam Krishnan and Anuthama contributed to SPARROW by generously offering their manuscripts and private papers. Kutti Revathi has been part of our film projects and oral history projects. Nirmala Lakshman of The Hindu, Jerry Pinto and Vikram Doctor are there to encourage us and to cheer us when the going gets tough which is very often!

Many relatives and close friends of the SPARROW team have stood by us in difficult times. C S Manohar, Rajeswari Thiagrajan, C R Ashok and Vidya Vasania were particularly supportive. Gayathri Reddy, a dancer and a close friend, has always spoken positively of our work and also extended support for our activities.

Given below is a list of donors who have supported us in the last few years. The list will be updated every year.