It’s almost a quarter century since I became a practising architect and, although I have been doing pro bono design work over the years, it has always been for people or organizations that know me directly. This way I do no more than a couple of days worth of pro bono work in the entire year.

Starting this April, I have decided to put aside one hundred hours every year for pro bono work. It could be any non-profit although priority will be given to assignments that are connected in some way to the environment or to education.

In the USA, there is an organization called 1+ which asks design houses to donate 1% of their time to non-profit work. That works out to about 20 hours per person each year. They then put people in need designing done in touch with those who do it.

Unfortunately this organization has no chapters in India so it looks like I’m on my own here and will have to rely on my friends, and the readers of this website to get the message out.

Ground Rules

There are a few things to remember and it is best to put them down so there is no confusion later.

• The project and the organization undertaking it must genuinely be not-for-profit.
• It must be for a good cause.
• No single assignment will be allotted more than 40 hours.
• If any travel is involved, it has to be paid for.
• If any fancy presentations have to be made I will only provide the raw design. You do the rest.
• If you want detailed estimates of cost, please get in touch with a builder / contractor. At best, I will be able to give you rule-of-thumb costings.
• I will try and do the required work as quickly as possible but please understand that my paying clients have priority on my time.
• Ultimately, the decision on whether to take up an assignment or not, rests with me.

Please share this page with people you think might be interested. If you do, someone, somewhere will be able to use the information. If it just sits here, nobody benefits.