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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.
A 5-year-old Chinese boy is being called "China's Elon Musk" after he programmed a character to catch thieves, Quartz reports. According to China's People's Daily Online, Junyi Zhang created the...more
Howard Berman is the CEO and co-founder of Coya Therapeutics, a Houston biotech company focused on Alzheimer's and other neurodegenerative diseases. But when Berman's father was diagnosed with...more
The Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) nutrition program, which provides food for pregnant women, breastfeeding mothers, and children up to age 5, has been shown to provide "wide-ranging benefits,"...more
"As a woman founder with early cardiovascular risk, I am acutely aware of the urgent need to address women's healthcare, particularly in cardiovascular risk areas." That's the message fromELLE...more
"I'm here because child care is not only a social issue or a women's issue. It is also an economic issue," Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo said last week as she kicked off the National Child...more
A foundation in Nigeria is using board games and talking books to improve the education of children who attend government-owned schools. Teach the Child Initiative founder Pearl Utuk, who spoke...more
Bar Zomer recently gave birth to her first child, a daughter, and she's making headlines for another reason as well: She's the face of Israeli baby and children's fashion brand Minna. In a press...more
Police in Alabama say a man shot and killed his wife's best friend before killing himself, AL.com reports. According to the Birmingham Times, police responded to a call about a man shooting his...more
A Montreal-based tech company has just announced a "cutting-edge" new hardware wallet designed for the cryptocurrency industry that it says will offer "a low footprint and competitive cost." In a...more
"This competition brings patients closer to one day having far better odds when contending with a AAA." That's the lofty goal of Matthew Kuhn, co-founder and CEO of Taurus Vascular, which won the...more
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Social Entrepreneurship
Spotlight
Halcyon Incubator Selects Inaugural Class of Fellows
Washington, D.C. based incubator for social entrepreneurs, Halcyon Incubator, has selected seven ventures to move into the newly renovated Halcyon House in September for its inaugural class of fellows.
