Organization: DAKSHANA FOUNDATION
Mission: The Foundation is a philanthropic foundation focused on alleviating poverty. It is focused on providing world-class educational opportunities to economically and socially disadvantaged gifted children from impoverished rural backgrounds in India.
Activities: Dakshanas specific purpose is to identify destitute but intellectually gifted orphans and underprivileged children in India. The Foundation will build residential school(s) in India and sending these gifted orphans to these schools. Dakshana will pay for all tuition and living expenses through grade 12 for all such selected Dakshana scholars.The Foundation will also form a partnership with leading student loan lenders. Afterhigh school, Dakshana will, if required, co-sign student loans for all Dakshana scholars to attend any accredited university on a combination of scholarships and loans.The Foundation hopes to build a very deep relationship with the Dakshana scholarsthroughout their entire lives. Dakshana will impose no legal obligation on the scholars but clearly outline a moral obligation to give back 10% of lifetime earnings to the Foundation so that more scholars can be supported by the Foundation. The Foundations vision is that the scholars of today will eventually sponsor a scholar in the future. This will ultimately result in production of more Dakshana scholars every year.In India, every year, less than 2,000 gifted scholars graduated from the Indian Institute of Technology, one of the leading schools in India. But these small numbers have created a sizable impact on the countrys economy. Starting with one scholar in 2006, Dakshana envisions supporting hundreds of new scholars each year after two or three decades with the source of funding eventually coming from the beneficiaries of yesterday.The Foundation will encourage donors to support a specific scholar for a year or two or through the entire program. This will provide an opportunity for the donor to see the impact of their donations on an orphans life. Under Dakshanas supervision, such donors can foster a nurturing parent-like relationship with the scholar.
NTEE category: International, Foreign Affairs & National Security
Secondary category: Education