Foundation for Excellence – Scholarships for bright students with financial constraints
From the Beginning The Foundation for Excellence was founded in 1994. After selling his first company, Prabhu Goel and his wife Poonam Goel decided to use part of the proceeds to build a philanthropic foundation to provide scholarships to bright students with financial constraints for college degrees. The initial focus was on medical and engineering degrees in India, because these professional degrees assure a high likelihood of transforming the lives of the bright students. Prabhu reached out to leaders of other philanthropic organizations in Silicon Valley and built a team that included Raj Mashruwala from Indians for Collective Action, Venki Venkatesh from India Literacy Project, and Mahaveer Jain from Asha to give shape to the idea and organization. The team was expanded to include Balaji Venkateswaran from India Literacy Project and Dinesh Katiyar…