Aastha Horizons
There's no amount too small. Multiple small amounts can be combined together, and the fund can grow!
When a community gives together, impact multiples.
Established by a group of local Asian-Indian professionals, Aastha Horizons Fund is a giving circle empowering individuals and families to pool resources and intentionally contribute back to Lancaster County.
“What started as an idea is growing and beginning to create some great impact in the community,” said Deepa Balepur, one of the giving circle’s founding members. 
When forming this philanthropic and community-driven group, choosing the giving circle model was an obvious choice. Instead of many well-intentioned individuals working separately to achieve a positive outcome, the Aastha Horizons Fund giving circle allows neighbors to come together and work toward lasting, collective impact.
“There’s no amount too small,” said Reema Parikh, one of the board members of Aastha Horizons. “Multiple small amounts can be combined together, and the fund can grow.”
The giving circle’s name is a mantra, created by one of the group’s founding members, Dr. Manjeet Kaur: Aastha, meaning hope and faith, and Horizons signifying a new dawn for people in need.
“You don’t need to look far away for need,” said Rao Sankarmanchi, a co-founding member. “There’s so much need locally that we can actually help people in our backyard.”
Aastha Horizons offers financial grants, in-kind donations, and rallies volunteers for organizations that align with their three core focus areas: Wellness and health, early childhood education, and food insecurity and homelessness.
Local community benefit organizations are invited to submit applications detailing how additional funding could expand or support existing programming. The giving circle then decides how to distribute grant dollars that best align with their focus areas.
“We’re looking for places where even small amounts make a difference in what they’re trying to do,” Rao said. “That’s been the philosophy from the get-go.”
Since 2022, Aastha Horizons has awarded over 13 grants to community benefit organizations based in Lancaster County. Among them, the giving circle supported educational programming at Milagro House, offered parents of children with special needs respite nights through Schreiber Center for Pediatric Development, and sponsored 24 need-based scholarships to Lancaster Science Factory STEM education camps.
“During COVID we really saw what happens when there is a sudden need within our society,” said Nishit Trivedi, one of the circle’s founding members. “We are trying to create a pool of assets formed by a giving circle. Hopefully, the returns from that can allow us to continue to support four to five grants annually.”
In 2025, Aastha Horizons awarded a grant to Power Packs as the organization works to meet the needs of food-insecure neighbors in Lancaster County. In addition to the grant, nearly 30 Giving Circle members and their families volunteered their time packing boxes of food. 
“We have expanded the circle and we have expanded our offering through not just monetary and grants giving, but also through the volunteering that has become a big part of it,” said Rakesh Popli, a founding member of the group. “We encourage parents to come and bring their children with them.”
Aastha Horizons was designed with collective impact in mind, now and for future generations. Their fund stems from the initial contribution of local philanthropists, and all are welcome to join their efforts. Through the power of endowment, it has been invested for sustainable growth, making a percentage available for use each year to support local organizations with grants.
“Can you imagine the impact if, instead of five, we have 5,000 giving circles supporting the 500,000 residents of Lancaster County?” Deepa encouraged, “Now, we’re really beginning to talk serious impact.”
Learn more about giving through the Community Foundation here.
