Armadillo is a longstanding sponsor of the Kantilal Vidya Mandir School, a co-educational institution in India attended by many of our artisans’ children. Since 2014, Armadillo has fully subsidised all overheads, including staff salaries, textbooks, teaching aids, school uniforms, furniture, equipment, utilities and maintenance.

In 2018, we commenced a scholarship program for the top three highest performing girls. The nine-year grant provides full funding to attend a local English-medium school, including school fees, bicycles for transportation, textbooks, uniforms and any other associated costs for the duration of their enrollment.

In Nepal, we support the Sunrise Children’s Association Inc., a grassroots charity established in 2005 to give children affected by poverty, abuse and neglect every opportunity possible to grow up safely with their own families and communities. Our commitment for the next three years spans initiatives to help home children, reintegrate separated children back with their families and fund a new education scholarship program.

We also support the Shree Mangal Dvip Boarding School in Nepal, which provides free education, housing and medical care for over 500 children from the most vulnerable and remote Himalayan mountain villages. It aims to preserve their culture, language and Buddhist way of life and equip them to help their own people when they grow up. Our commitment to Years 11 and 12 includes educational and social benefits such as hiring an academic counselor, providing training to teachers, and funding all overheads for students.

In the United States, we support the Los Angeles and New York chapters of Girls Inc., a national non-profit founded in 1864 with the goal to inspire girls to grow up strong, smart and bold. Serving girls between the age of 5 to 18+ across 350 cities, many navigating social and economic barriers, their programs teach healthy living so girls are able to make informed decisions, provide academic enrichment to cultivate a love of learning, and build life skills to assist with goal setting and increasing resilience.

In Australia, we partner with Stars Foundation, which was established in 2015 to help Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander girls nationwide attend school, complete Year 12 and transition to tertiary study or the workforce. The program provides a culturally safe and nurturing environment, based on academic as well as personal development, to give girls and young women the skills and confidence needed to successfully participate in school and transition into a positive and independent future.

Since 2014, Armadillo has been a member of Care & Fair, a not-for-profit organization that advocates in support of people working in the carpet production industries in India, Nepal and Pakistan. We also require all our suppliers to hold a current membership.

Members must adhere to a legally binding list of purchasing conditions, undertaking that no child labor, slavery or bonded labour is engaged in the making of rugs. They must also ensure that workers receive fair wages, good working conditions and basic medical care, and actively support workers’ children by contributing to health, education and school-building projects.

In addition to our annual membership, we fund Care + Fair projects in the rural knotting region of India. These projects focus on providing school infrastructure, resources and basic medical care to children experiencing poverty to help keep them in school.