Support USI
We Don’t Just Need Your Money. We Need You.
Your support means more than money. We need your voice, your skills, and your presence.
BECOME A NANAK MEDIA FELLOW
Transform your smartphone into a tool for journalism.
The Nanak Media Fellowship is the core of USI’s media-network model.
DONATE VIA UPI
 | Please use only the verified payment information published on this website. Before making a contribution through a QR code, check that you are on the official USI website, usofindia.com, which redirects to https://unitedstatesofindia.livezenlife.com/unitedstatesofindia/.
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Join us in creating a media network where everyday people capture their communities, share their stories, and help shape the story of India.
United States of India (USI) is a bold experiment in people-powered media: thousands of citizens, countless stories, many languages, and technology that connects us all.
We are not here to copy the costly, top-down model of traditional media.
We are building something entirely different:
A public-interest media institution fueled by people, Guru Nanak’s wisdom, active participation, and journalism born from within its own network.
That requires money.
But money is just one piece of what we need.
We also need journalists, translators, editors, technologists, volunteers, equipment, expertise, local insight, audiences, and people ready to get involved.
Decide how you want to contribute.
DONATE • VOLUNTEER • BECOME A NANAK MEDIA FELLOW • PROVIDE EQUIPMENT • PARTNER • SHARE THE WORK
WHY YOUR SUPPORT MATTERS
USI begins with a simple proposition:
People should be able to document their own lives and communities rather than relying entirely on distant institutions to decide what is worth recording.
This is not simply a question of media ownership.
It is a question of epistemic freedom — who gets to produce knowledge, whose experience enters the public record, which languages are heard, which communities are visible, and who gets to explain what is happening to them.
A media organization can be financially independent and still reproduce a narrow view of society.
USI therefore seeks to build a network in which people closest to an issue can participate in documenting it, while maintaining common standards of verification, fairness, evidence, and editorial responsibility.
Our model is based on a distinction that is fundamental to USI:
Emic perspective. Independent verification.
The person or community experiencing an event should not be erased from the story.
But neither should testimony automatically be treated as established fact.
USI wants to listen seriously to people’s experiences and verify what can be verified.
That requires people and infrastructure.
Your support helps build both.
SIX WAYS TO HELP
You do not need wealth to make a difference.
You may have money.
You may have time.
You may have professional expertise.
You may have an unused smartphone.
You may speak a language that others do not.
You may know how to edit video, verify information, build websites, protect digital security, make documentaries, translate, design graphics, or simply help a good story reach an audience.
Every one of these is a way to participate.
01 — DONATE
Financial contributions help build the infrastructure that makes people-powered journalism possible.
Depending on available resources and applicable legal arrangements, support may help fund:
- Website hosting and digital infrastructure
- Translation and transcription
- Video and media production
- Digital-security tools
- VPN access
- Reporting equipment
- Internet/data support
- Training
- Legal support
- Accessibility and multilingual publication
- Emergency support for Fellows facing documented professional or legal difficulties
- Development of tools for decentralized communication
Money supports infrastructure. It does not purchase journalism.
Support does not entitle a donor to determine what USI publishes, suppress criticism, influence an investigation, obtain favorable coverage, or veto an editorial decision.
DONATE VIA UPI
Please use only the verified payment information published on this website.
Before making a contribution through a QR code, check that you are on the official USI website, usofindia.com, which redirects to https://unitedstatesofindia.livezenlife.com/unitedstatesofindia/.
02 — VOLUNTEER
Share your skills, not just your funds.
USI is being built by people who believe that public-interest media is not somebody else’s responsibility.
If you can contribute time or professional expertise, we want to hear from you. Send us an email: usi@livezenlife.com (presently, we are having web hosting provided by the founder under the domain name of livezenlife.com
Language and editorial skills
- Translation
- Editing
- Proofreading
- Subtitling
- Transcription
- Localization
- AI-translation review
- Voiceover
- Dubbing
Media skills
- Video editing
- Documentary production
- Photography
- Journalism
- Fact-checking
- Podcast production
- Livestreaming
- Social-media management
- SEO
- Graphic design
- Animation
Technology and infrastructure
- WordPress/web development
- Mobile-app development
- Cybersecurity
- Digital safety
- Cloud infrastructure
- Data management
- AI-assisted media production
- Communication technology
Legal and institutional support
USI is also developing a network of legal professionals who can help Fellows understand their rights and respond appropriately to legal or institutional challenges.
If you have a professional skill that can make independent, people-powered journalism stronger or safer, your expertise may be more valuable than a donation.
VOLUNTEER WITH US and send us an email: usi@livezenlife.com
03 — BECOME A NANAK MEDIA FELLOW
Transform your smartphone into a tool for journalism.
The Nanak Media Fellowship is the core of USI’s media-network model.
A Nanak Media Fellow (NMF) is trained to use a smartphone for responsible citizen journalism, including:
- Field reporting
- Interviewing
- Smartphone video
- Livestreaming
- Documentation
- Verification
- Digital research
- Basic fact-checking
- Ethical reporting
- Digital safety
- Multilingual communication
- Publishing and audience development
The objective is not to create passive consumers of news.
It is to create people who can observe, document, verify, explain, and publish.
USI particularly wants to expand opportunities for people and communities that have historically had less access to institutional media infrastructure.
Fellowship access
Fellowship is free. No person should be excluded solely because they cannot afford the contribution. However, a small contribution shall be appreciated.
Where financial assistance is required for NMFs, USI intends to develop a transparent support mechanism as resources permit.
APPLY TO BECOME A NANAK MEDIA FELLOW Via Google Form
04 — PROVIDE EQUIPMENT
A smartphone can be your newsroom.
One of USI’s principles is that journalism infrastructure should not be restricted to people who already possess institutional resources.
Where resources permit, USI intends to provide or subsidize equipment for Fellows who need it.
Potential support includes:
- Smartphones
- Microphones
- Tripods
- Lighting
- Power banks
- Reporting bags
- Computers
- Internet/data support
- Other essential reporting equipment
Priority may be given to Fellows who face greater barriers to institutional media access, including those in:
- Remote and rural districts
- Tribal and Adivasi communities
- Dalit communities
- Northeast India
- Economically disadvantaged circumstances
Equipment support will depend on available resources and transparent eligibility criteria.
HAVE EQUIPMENT TO CONTRIBUTE?
We will announce the equipment collection arrangements as the Delhi chapter becomes operational. Presently, it is not possible.
DISCUSS EQUIPMENT SUPPORT. email us here: usi@livezenlife.com
05 — BECOME A PROFESSIONAL PARTNER
USI welcomes institutional and professional partnerships that strengthen public-interest journalism.
Partners may contribute:
- Technology
- Software
- Cybersecurity
- Training
- Translation infrastructure
- Media production
- Equipment
- Professional services
- Research support
- Financial resources
But there is one non-negotiable principle:
Partnership does not buy editorial influence.
A technology company cannot buy favorable coverage.
A donor cannot suppress an investigation.
An advertiser cannot determine an editorial conclusion.
A professional partner cannot demand publication or non-publication of material in exchange for support.
Support strengthens the institution. It does not control the journalism.
DISCUSS A PARTNERSHIP. Email us here: usi@livezenlife.com
06 — SHARE THE WORK
Audience is part of the foundation too.
A story that nobody sees cannot enter public conversation.
If you cannot donate money or professional expertise, you can still help build USI by:
- Watching
- Reading
- Sharing
- Translating
- Discussing
- Recommending
- Subscribing
- Connecting stories with people who need to see them
We want a network in which useful journalism travels because people find it valuable — not because an institution has an enormous advertising budget.
Help powerful stories find their way.
DON’T JUST FUND USI.
HELP US BUILD A SYSTEM THAT FUNDS ITSELF.
USI does not want to be permanently dependent on donations.
Our long-term objective is to develop a media network in which Nanak Media Fellows can generate sustainable income from their own journalism and related media work.
The basic model is:
SUPPORT
↓
TRAIN PEOPLE
↓
BUILD LOCAL JOURNALISM
↓
BUILD AUDIENCES
↓
GENERATE REVENUE
↓
PAY THE PEOPLE CREATING THE JOURNALISM
↓
REINVEST IN THE NETWORK
Our goal is a network that grows its own resources and sustains itself into the future.
This is a long-term objective, not a promise of guaranteed income.
Individual Fellow earnings will depend on factors including audience size, platform policies, advertising and affiliate opportunities, quality and relevance of content, and the Fellow’s own work.
USI’s role is to help create the infrastructure and network through which those opportunities can develop.
HOW THE MODEL CAN WORK
- Fellows build their own audiences.
- Nanak Media Fellows can maintain their own social media and publishing accounts.
- They develop their own relationship with their audiences and their own journalism practice.
- Fellows can distribute through USI.
- USI can provide an additional distribution channel for eligible Fellow-produced journalism.
- Copyright ownership and licensing should remain clearly defined in the USI Content Rights Policy and individual Fellowship terms.
- The objective is distribution, not dispossession.
- Revenue can follow journalism.
- Where legally and practically available, revenue may come from:
- • Platform monetization
- • Affiliate arrangements
- • Local advertising
- • Media services
- • Digital products
- • Other lawful revenue streams
- Revenue arrangements will be disclosed as the model develops.
- Advertising does not control editorial decisions.
- Advertising and editorial content must remain institutionally distinct.
- An advertiser may purchase an advertising placement.
- It does not purchase the right to determine what USI or a Fellow reports.
- Fellows help one another discover useful work.
- USI wants a genuine network rather than a collection of isolated channels.
- Fellows should be encouraged to discover, share, and amplify relevant work from other Fellows when it is genuinely useful to their audiences.
- The goal is networked distribution, not artificial engagement.
- Standards remain common
- Every Fellow participating in the USI network is expected to follow the applicable editorial, ethical, safety, and content standards.
- Where standards are breached, USI will use a documented review process.
WHAT YOUR MONEY DOES NOT BUY
Financial support is important.
Editorial control is not for sale.
A contribution does not buy:
- Favorable coverage
- Suppression of criticism
- Control over an investigation
- Approval of an editorial conclusion
- Political endorsement
- Preferential access to publication
- The right to remove inconvenient reporting
- The right to determine which communities receive coverage
USI may disagree with a supporter.
USI may publish reporting that a supporter dislikes.
USI may investigate institutions that have previously provided support.
That independence is the purpose of diversified funding.
SAFETY AND EQUIPMENT
Give the people doing the reporting the tools to do it safely.
Citizen journalism can involve genuine risks.
USI therefore intends to develop a safety and equipment system that may include:
- Digital-security training
- Secure communication practices
- Data backups
- Privacy education
- VPN access
- Emergency protocols
- Legal information
- Appropriate equipment
- Internet/data support
- Professional legal assistance where available
USI is particularly interested in developing support for Fellows with limited institutional protection who may face greater barriers to reporting.
The safety principle is simple:
No story is worth deliberately putting a person in unnecessary danger.
Safety support must be used responsibly and lawfully.
TRANSPARENCY
You should know where the money goes.
Trust cannot be created simply by asking people to trust us.
It has to be demonstrated.
As USI develops, we intend to publish a clear record of:
- Funds received
- Major sources of funding
- Major expenditures
- Restricted or designated funds
- Equipment purchased
- Institutional expenses
- Support provided to Fellows
- Revenue generated through USI activities
Where appropriate, financial reporting will distinguish between:
USI institutional funds • Fellow earnings • restricted funds • partnership support
This matters because a public-interest institution must answer not just to its funders, but to the people whose stories it brings to light.
USI’S INTERIM FUNDING ARRANGEMENT
USI is currently being developed as an institution and is working toward a formal nonprofit structure.
Until that institutional structure is legally established, financial arrangements must be understood as interim, not equivalent to donations to a registered nonprofit.
During this period, contributions are received through the designated payment mechanism published on the official USI website, usofindia.com, presently that is redirected to https://unitedstatesofindia.livezenlife.com/unitedstatesofindia
A public record of receipts and expenditures should be maintained during the transition.
IMPORTANT
Do not assume that a contribution is tax-deductible unless USI explicitly confirms that it qualifies under applicable Indian law as a nonprofit organization.
Tax treatment, receipts, refunds, and other legal matters will be governed by the actual legal status and applicable regulations at the time of contribution.
As USI develops its nonprofit structure, financial governance will be redesigned to emphasize institutional rather than personal control, with a long-term model of women-led and women-owned governance.
WHAT ARE WE BUILDING?
USI is not just asking you to keep a website running.
We are building many layers of infrastructure together.
- PEOPLE
- Nanak Media Fellows who can document their own communities.
- SKILLS
- Training in journalism, verification, media production, languages, technology, and digital safety.
- TECHNOLOGY
- Websites, mobile tools, communication systems, digital archives, multilingual publishing, and distributed infrastructure.
- DISTRIBUTION
- A network through which local journalism can reach wider audiences.
- REVENUE
- A diversified model is intended to reduce dependence on donors and patrons.
- INSTITUTION
- A transparent, accountable, independent public-interest organization capable of outliving any individual founder.
WHERE USI IS NOW
USI is an institution in formation.
We are developing:
- The USI media network
- The Nanak Media Fellowship
- Editorial standards
- Content-rights arrangements
- Safety protocols
- Volunteer networks
- Multilingual publishing capacity
- Revenue models
- Digital infrastructure
- Institutional governance
- A future nonprofit structure
Some of these systems already exist in preliminary form.
Others are still being developed.
We will distinguish clearly between what exists now, what is being piloted, and what is a future objective.
That distinction matters.
A public-interest institution should earn support through honesty, not by overstating its achievements.
THE LONG-TERM VISION
We envision a distributed network of citizen journalists who can operate across India’s many languages, regions, communities, and social realities.
Over time, this could grow into a large network of trained smartphone journalists — potentially thousands of people — connected through common standards while remaining rooted in their own communities.
The network should not become a centralized newsroom that speaks for everyone.
It should become an infrastructure through which people can speak, document, question, investigate, translate, verify, and communicate with one another.
Moving from centralization to participation.
From being spectators to becoming contributors.
From consuming information to producing knowledge.
From ongoing dependency to growing self-reliance.
OUR FUNDING PRINCIPLE
USI believes that the question is not simply:
“Who will give us money?”
The deeper question is:
“What kind of institution will our funding model create?”
If a media organization depends entirely on one donor, it may become accountable primarily to that donor.
If it depends entirely on advertisers, commercial considerations may become disproportionately important.
If it depends on political patrons, editorial independence can be compromised.
If it depends permanently on charity, the people doing the journalism may remain economically dependent.
USI therefore seeks a different path:
Diversified support → independent institution → empowered Fellows → audience development → earned revenue → greater self-reliance.
No funding model guarantees perfect independence.
But institutional independence becomes more achievable when no single source can control the organization.
THE PRINCIPLE BEHIND YOUR SUPPORT
We are not asking you to fund a finished institution.
We invite you to help build it.
An institution in which:
People are not merely audiences;
communities are not merely subjects;
Fellows are not merely content producers;
supporters are not merely donors;
and
Technology is not merely a platform for consumption.
Everyone can help form the foundation.
HELP BUILD IT
You can contribute in the way that suits you best.
HAVE MONEY?
Donate.
HAVE TIME?
Volunteer.
HAVE A SMARTPHONE AND A STORY?
Become a Nanak Media Fellow.
HAVE EQUIPMENT?
Help equip another journalist.
HAVE PROFESSIONAL EXPERTISE?
Become a partner.
HAVE AN AUDIENCE?
Helpful journalism travels.
HAVE A COMMUNITY?
Help connect it to the network.
THIS IS YOUR INVITATION
USI does not want to create a media organization that simply asks people to watch.
We want to build a network where everyone can take part.
The ultimate measure of success will not be the amount of money donated.
Success will mean people who once lacked media infrastructure can now document their communities, have their work verified and shared, and see the network grow to support its creators.
That is why we need you.
HELP BUILD A PEOPLE-POWERED MEDIA NETWORK.
THOUSANDS OF CITIZENS.
THOUSANDS OF STORIES.
MULTIPLE LANGUAGES.
DISTRIBUTED TECHNOLOGY.
DIVERSIFIED REVENUE.
People-powered. Evidence-based. Community-rooted. Institutionally independent.
Support the infrastructure.
Participate in the network.
Help build the institution.