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When Megha Desai and her family started the Desai Foundation in Gujarat, India, in 1997, they aimed to help marginalized communities.
Today, the foundation is a "philanthropist giant" with programs in nine states, helping more than 500 women and girls per year, Desai tells Fast Company.
But it wasn't always that way. "During those first 15 years, we really wanted to focus on the programs and get them right," she says.
"So we kept our heads down, kept experimenting, and working with the communities we serve to get the program to a place where they would really show results.
Once we realized we had 15 solid programs (we now actually have 30 programs), we sorted out which ones were designed to scale, and which ones were not."
The transition from a family foundation to a public one was "the smartest thing we could have done," she says. "We also knew that we didn't have all the answers. As a public organization, we can work with fantastic NGOs, corporates, and people that bring their experience and knowledge to the table. I think we were a bit naive on this transition being easy."
Selected Grant News Headlines
A customized collection of grant news from foundations and the federal government from around the Web.
One in 25 children in the Netherlands suffers from amblyopia, or lazy eye, which causes them to see something different in one eye than in the other, Phys.org reports. Fortunately, there's a...more
Want your child's early care and education (ECE) program to stay on the up-and-up? Try using a digital wallet instead of a paper check, according to the Early Care and Education Association. The...more
"We're going to get them, we're going to get them, we're going to protect them, we're going to help them, and we're going to be there for them when they need us." That's the promise of an...more
If you're one of the approximately 1.7 billion children under the age of 18 in the US who use some kind of oral care product, you may want to steer clear of plastic bags. That's because,...more
If you've got a bunch of digital cameras in your house, you may want to consider getting a digital frame. A company called myFirst has just unveiled two new frames, the myFirst Frame Doodle 9 and...more
Kids in Wilmington, North Carolina, can celebrate the state's annual science festival with a decidedly 21st-century twist. The Children's Museum of Wilmington is hosting an event on Saturday...more
The Grosfeld Center for Special Education and Support Services, a division of Yeshiva Beth Yehudah in Detroit, works with kids with a wide range of disabilities, from Down Syndrome to autism. But...more
"We are experiencing a paradigm shift in medicin," says Hans Winberg, secretary general of the Leading Healthcare Foundation in Sweden. "We see however only a few signs of this in our current...more
"The mental health crisis is too big for anyone to tackle alone." That's the message from the CEO of Sesame Workshop after Morgan Stanley on Tuesday announced a $20 million donation to its...more
"The entrepreneurial spirit of women has ignited innovation, fostered economic growth and paved the way for future generations," Sen. Jeanne Shaheen writes in a op-ed in the New Hampshire Union...more
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Spotlight
This Social Innovation Helps Prevent Bed Sores in Wheelchair Users
Co-founders William Mann and David Mravyan devised the Sensimat during a mandatory project for their MBA at the Richard Ivey School of Business in Canada. Sensimat is a device that helps manage and assess pressure among wheelchair users.
