The Foundation (SDEF) provides Merit-cum-Means Scholarships to exceptionally talented but poor students in India pursuing professional courses. The foundation awards scholarships to recent high school students who are the top rankers in national/state level common entrance tests, based on which they have secured admissions to quality institutes/colleges.

We fund the most talented students and help them pursue the best education in India. Given the level of tuition and other fees in professional colleges, the poor have no chance today to pursue their dreams of becoming engineers. These students cannot get educational loans from banks either given the insistence of banks in India for history of banking relationships and a need for collateral. However, the earning potential of these professions is very high. A prfessional earns enough to help his/her family financially, lifting the whole family out of the poverty trap. 

The student also becomes a role model in the community inspiring others to pursue this path. In other words, the multiplier effect on the society of enabling a talented child to become a high income earning professional is huge. By a conservative estimate, each rupee invested in a talented child returns 140x to the society.

Each scholarship recipient makes a pledge to support at least two more students once he/she has the capacity to do so. This pledge provides a built in mechanism for the future sustainability of the scholarship program. As we become better at sustaining relationships with our scholars, this amount will only go up in the future. An additional unique aspect of the foundation is that every rupee of every donation goes to the scholar directly.

"We can't help everyone, but everybody can help someone"