2021 Philanthropy Leaders List
Leaving the world a better place through giving is, quite simply, our responsibility. I hope Indiaspora’s Philanthropy Leaders list inspires greater giving from our community.
We are delighted to be included on Indiaspora’s Philanthropy Leaders List and we hope our efforts inspire others to contribute to philanthropic causes as well.
About
The Indiaspora Philanthropy Leaders List spotlights 100 leaders of the Indian diaspora who have made a significant impact with their philanthropic contributions and engagement.
This list demonstrates the tremendous generosity of the Indian diaspora, and our hope is that it serves as an inspiration for others to give.
Indiaspora is a nonprofit community of powerful global Indian leaders from diverse backgrounds and professions who are committed to inspiring the diaspora to be a force for good by providing a platform to collaborate, engage, and catalyze social change.
Methodology
Creating a global list of philanthropic leaders is an inherently challenging task. Indiaspora’s philosophy is to inspire generosity by spotlighting individuals who have made exceptional impact through their work and contributions. The Indiaspora Philanthropy Leaders List is the product of rigorous research, input from partners in the philanthropy ecosystem, and the guidance of our jurors.
We approached the task of developing this list with careful consideration using the following guiding principles:
This list is not intended as a ranking of big donors but a celebration of expansive philanthropic vision and consistent support of social good.
We took a regional focus in spotlighting philanthropic leaders, as there are obvious limitations in treating donation amounts as the sole criteria across the globe.
We researched multiple sources to curate our list, including leaders of the India Philanthropy Alliance, reputed studies, earlier verified lists, and publicly shared documents.
We are pleased to present this list for the first time in 2021 to celebrate the philanthropic contributions of the Indian diaspora. However, despite our careful research, we recognize this list is by no means exhaustive. We welcome suggestions of other exceptional philanthropic leaders who should be spotlighted and will evaluate recommendations and add to our list as necessary.
Australia
NV Chandran
Dr. Natteri V Chandran is the founder and a trustee of The East-West Foundation of India (TWEFI). He migrated from India to Australia in 1971 and began his career by opening a full-time private practice. Dr. Chandran, through his work, has been committed to causes in health care, education, child rights, community development, and environmental sustainability.
From his practice, he gained the funds to found TEWFI in 1993 with the purpose of garnering support from individuals across the globe to donate skills, funds, and resources. It is a foundation committed to the integrity of charitable donations as they focus on the development and empowerment of socially and economically disadvantaged people in rural areas of Tamil Nadu. In addition to the widely known TEWFI, Dr. Chandran also founded the volunteer-based Charitable and Education Foundation in Australia which was dedicated to aiding disadvantaged people who were struggling with mental disabilities.
Dr. Chandran and his wife have also been heavily involved in funding research for leprosy and schizophrenia care in India — his primary goal is to give back to his ‘mother country.’ Due to his enormous charitable contributions and community impact through TEWFI and beyond, Dr. Chandran was awarded the Certificate of Recognition by the Prime Minister of Australia in 2001. He also received the ‘Hind Rattan’ award in New Delhi in January 2004 for his service to India.
United States
Deepak Chopra
Deepak Chopra is the Founder/CEO of his personal charity – Freedom Employability Academy (FEA). Deepak’s lifelong mission is to help disadvantaged youth bootstrap themselves out of a cycle of poverty, lead a productive self-reliant life of dignity and go beyond to contribute to the greater good.
FEA runs a free, innovative employability competency program that builds productive mindsets, English language skills and digital literacy. It also provides career guidance and mentorship. To date, more than 200,000 disadvantaged youth have enrolled in the free physical classes at the 100+ FEA branches, spread over 5 north Indian states. FEA currently is likely among the 10 largest secular NGO’s in India in terms of annual budget. The program here doubles, triples, or even quadruples the monthly income for many. Given the potentially tremendous impact of this program, researchers from Stanford University are conducting a randomized controlled trial of FEA’s impact. While historically FEA has had a presence only in disadvantaged urban neighborhoods, it is now shifting its attention and resources to rural poverty alleviation.
On a personal note, Deepak does not believe in bequeathing wealth to heirs and 100% of his assets will be used to help the disadvantaged and poor through the FEA programs. He has founded or cofounded multiple companies, including Quten Research Institute, which is the US market leader in two different segments of food supplements under the QUNOL brand. Deepak holds a B. Tech degree in chemical engineering from IIT Delhi.
United States
Bharat Desai and Neerja Sethi
Bharat Desai and Neerja Sethi co-founded Syntel, an IT consulting and outsourcing company in 1980 right from their apartment.
Bharat and Neerja give their charitable giving through the Ds Foundation. They also donate through their foundation, the Desai Sethi Foundation (DSF), which supports underprivileged youth in Florida and Michigan. The couple also gives millions annually to a donor advised fund, while also supporting a number of nonprofits.
Bharat Desai graduated from the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay and received his MBA from University of Michigan. Neerja Sethi graduated with a bachelor’s degree in mathematics and her MBA from Delhi University, and has also received her M.S. in Computer Science from Oakland University.
United States
Desh and Jaishree Deshpande
Gururaj “Desh” Deshpande is President and Chairman of Sparta Group LLC and founded Cascade Communications and Sycamore Networks. He has chaired and funded several other companies and is a life-member of the MIT Corporation. Jaishree Deshpande is a Trustee of Deshpande Foundation and the Treasurer of Sparta Group LLC, a family investment office.
The Deshpande Foundation supports Social entrepreneurship and provided the founding grant for NSF Innovation Corps (I-Corps™) and Deshpande Center at MIT. Jaishree currently serves as a Trustee for the Museum of Science and is involved with HESTIA Fund – a fund established to support after school programs for low-income children in Massachusetts. Jaishree Deshpande worked for the Indian Space Research Organization in Bangalore, India until 1980 before moving to Canada. After moving to Massachusetts in 1984, she worked for several companies and taught courses in computer.
Gururaj Deshpande holds a B. Tech. from Indian IIT-Madras, M.E. from the University of New Brunswick, Canada, and Ph.D. from Queens University, Canada. He co-chaired the National Council to support President Obama’s innovation and entrepreneurship strategy from 2010 to 2015. Jaishree received a Master of Science in Physics in 1975 from the Indian Institute of Technologies (IIT), Madras, India. She also received a Master in Computer Science in 1989 from Boston University.
India
Anand Deshpande
Dr. Anand Deshpande is the Founder, Chairman, and Managing Director of Persistent Systems since its inception and is responsible for the overall leadership, strategy, and management of the Company. Prior to founding Persistent Systems, Anand began his professional career at Hewlett-Packard Laboratories. Anand has served numerous positions at various professional and non-profit organizations viz. NASSCOM’s Executive Council, ACM (Association for Computing Machinery) India, where he was the first President, SEAP (Software Exporters’ Association of Pune), Pune Chapter of CSI (Computer Society of India), CII’s Pune Zonal Council, Trustee in the Computer History Museum, Dean’s Advisory Council in the School of Informatics, Computing and Engineering of Indiana University, and Member of the Executive Committee of MCCIA.
Dr. Deshpande and his wife, Sonali, founded the non-profit, DeAsra, which is committed to enabling people to start, manage & grow a small business successfully. In 2020, he announced that Persistent Systems will be donating to help with COVID-19 relief.
He has been recognized by his alma mater, IIT Kharagpur, as a Distinguished Alumnus in 2012 and by the School of Informatics of Indiana University with the Career Achievement Award in 2007.
United Kingdom
Dinesh Dhamija
Dinesh is a first generation immigrant from India, and has lived/worked in 12 European countries. He is an Alumni of Cambridge University, Harvard Business School and IMD Lausanne. He founded the first internet travel company in the UK and Europe, ebookers.com. He took sales to US $1 Billion in 5 years and employed 2000 people in 12 countries.
Dinesh is on the board of SCOPE, WCMT LEPRA, and Memorial Gates in the UK and has helped found 2 charities in India: Chikitsa, which gives free medicine to 120,000 people a year through 15 clinics, and Shiksha, which provides free education to 1200 children of transient labour at building sites. Recently Dinesh sent 580,000 masks to India because of the recent Covid-19 wave there. Being a Global Trustee of TiE he contributed to the donation of US $3 million of goods and cash to India. This was done by TiE’s 59 chapters in 13 countries around the world. As the Chairman Emeritus at TiE London, Dinesh mentors and coaches budding entrepreneurs in the UK.
Dinesh was a member of the European Parliament in Brussels, representing London. He left parliament after Brexit in February 2020. Dinesh’s new business is focused on Solar Energy in a 348 MW PV plant, on 900 acres of land in Romania.
Canada
Bob Dhillon
Bob Dhillon is Founder, President & CEO of Mainstreet Equity Corp based in Calgary, Alberta. Since going public in 2000 on the TSX, Mainstreet has continued to grow its assets organically and its double-digit compounded annual growth rate continues today. Holdings currently consist of more than 14,500 apartments across Western Canada. Along with this healthy balance sheet success, Mainstreet is a strong and proud champion of affordable housing.
Bob believes strongly in education and entrepreneurship as engines of national prosperity, and provided a gift to the University of Lethbridge towards the creation of Dhillon School of Business. He ensured that the University of Lethbridge was the first in Canada to mandate an indigenous studies course as a prerequisite for graduation. He also donated apartments to refugees from Syria and Afghanistan in 2019. The history of Mr. Dhillon’s own family – arriving in Canada after fleeing a civil war which ravaged Liberia –motivated him to respond quickly and materially when the opportunity arose to help others fleeing similar circumstances. Mr. Dhillon did not hesitate to offer safe homes to these refugees, with the hope of making their difficult transition easier. Bob also created and sustained donations to food banks at multiple locations in Calgary during the pandemic to respond to the food needs of these hard-hit underprivileged communities. This was done in partnership with Love for Humanity Association of Calgary.
Bob was awarded Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal in 2012 for his dedication and accomplishments in his work and community. He is also committed to improving trade relations between India and Canada to increase economic contributions by trade to both nations.
India
Ashish Dhawan
Ashish Dhawan co-founded ChrysCapital, one of India’s leading private equity firms, in 1999. He has served on the company’s board since its founding. He left his full-time position at ChrysCapital in 2012 after twenty years in the investment management business, to found Central Square Foundation (CSF). CSF is a grant-making organization and policy think-tank, focused on transforming the quality of school education in India.
Ashish’s passion for education has led him to spearhead the founding of Ashoka University. Ashish also serves on the board of several education non-profits including Akanksha Foundation, 3.2.1 Education Foundation, Teach For India, Centre for Civil Society, Janaagraha, India School Leadership Institute and Bharti Foundation.
He holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Yale and Harvard University.
United States
Dinakar Singh and Loren Eng
Dinakar Singh is the Founding Partner of TPG-Axon Capital, a leading global investment firm. He was previously a Partner at Goldman Sachs, where he was co-head of the Principal Strategies Department. Loren Eng has previously worked at Morgan Stanley in investment banking, Lodestar Group in merchant banking, and as the director of business development for KKR’s media company.
After their child was diagnosed with spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), the leading genetic cause of death in young children, they founded the SMA Foundation to accelerate the development of a treatment. The Foundation is the leading funder of SMA research. The couple has also given millions to Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, and have supported Columbia University’s college of physicians and surgeons.
Dinakar serves on the Yale University Investment Committee, Trilateral Commission, and the Boards of the New York Public Library, Columbia University Medical Center, The Rockefeller University, and Cold Spring Harbor Laboratories. Loren serves on the boards of Columbia University Medical Center, the Harvard University Stem Cell Institute, the SMA Foundation, and the Stanford Graduate School of Business; she is a past Trustee of the Bank Street College of Education. She has also spoken before Congress many times regarding SMA. Their foundations have been highlighted in numerous national media outlets, and treatments developed by the organization and researchers from the organization have won many awards, including the Child Neurology Foundation Award, the Giblin Foundation Award, and the Columbia Crown Award.
Singapore
Vijay Eswaran
Vijay Eswaran is the founder and executive chairman of the QI Group, a multinational conglomerate with interests in direct selling, retail, travel and leisure, education and lifestyle sectors. Educated in the UK and the USA, Vijay had a successful corporate career in North America, working with top technology and consulting companies before the call of entrepreneurship brought him home to Asia in the early 1990s. Since growing the QI Group into a successful conglomerate, he is now focused on his legacy project, the Quest International University in Malaysia, which he aims to turn into an Ivy League institution of the East.
A proponent of value-based leadership, Vijay Eswaran, a Malaysian of Indian descent, has ensured the QI Group adheres to sustainable practices in business, making a positive impact in the communities it operates in. He has committed 10% of the Group’s revenues towards RYTHM Foundation, the social impact initiative of the QI Group which focuses on contributing to the UN Sustainable Development Goals on Gender Equality, Quality Education and Sustainable Community Development. He also founded Vijayaratnam Foundations, with a focus on community development and children with special needs in Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. Among its many projects, the Vijayaratnam Foundation established TAARANA, a Malaysian school for children with learning disabilities.
Vijay hosts V-Convention, a motivational, training, and networking event with up to 20,000 attending entrepreneurs, and leads QNET’s international partnerships including with Premier League Manchester City FC. He has published three bestselling books on leadership and mindfulness, with ‘In the Sphere of Silence’ selling half a million copies to date. He is a regular speaker at global events including the World Economic Forum and has received numerous awards, amongst them the ASEAN Business Advisory Council and Lifetime Achievement Award for Global Entrepreneurship in 2016.
Singapore
Tony Fernandes
In 2001, Tony Fernandes founded AirAsia, the first low-cost airline in Malaysia. He is also the co-founder of Tune Group, a leisure and entertainment corporation.
Tony is a trustee of AirAsia’s philanthropic arm, the AirAsia Foundation. The foundation helps with the social enterprise for the underprivileged and humanitarian aid in times of disaster. In 2016, he joined the Global Council of Amnesty International.
In 2015, TIME Magazine placed him in the TIME 100.
United States
Anil and Gautam Godhwani
Anil Godhwani is a serial entrepreneur and investor with 25 years of experience in the technology and telecommunications industries. He is the co-founder of several companies, including Simply Hired, Habitera, and AtWeb. He has been an active angel investor, with investments in 50+ startups. Previously, he worked at AT&T and Sprint. His brother, Gautam, is a serial entrepreneur and investor with 20 years of experience in the technology industry. He was Co-Founder & CEO of Simply Hired, a job search engine. Before Simply Hired, he was Co-Founder & CEO of AtWeb, a Web tools company, which was acquired by Netscape/AOL. Gautam has previously held positions at Hewlett-Packard, IBM, and Microsoft.
They both co-founded the India Community Center, the largest Indian community organization in the U.S. serving the community with 500+ programs and events annually in San Francisco. They contributed to start up the center, renovating the facility, hiring initial staff, and research. They plan to start Indian community centers all around the US and Canada.
United States
Prabhu and Poonam Goel
Dr Goel is an active private venture investor. He is actively involved in renewable energy projects – solar and hydro – in Europe and India . He has served on the Boards of four cloud computing companies – FusionOps Inc, QuanticMind, PowWow Mobile, and Punchh. He has served on the Board of Directors of many private companies and two public companies (SYNP and CDNS on NASDAQ).
The Foundation for Excellence was founded by Dr. Goel and his wife, Poonam, 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.
India
Sanjiv Goenka
Sanjiv Goenka controls the conglomerate RP-Sanjiv Goenka Group which is headquartered in Kolkata. Its flagship is 121-year-old power utility, CESC, which he has restructured into four separate companies. Sanjiv owns a majority stake in the football team ATK and had the 2-year franchise for Indian Premier League cricket team Rising Pune Supergiants.
The Goenka family has made significant donations towards healthcare and education.
Sanjiv has been ranked #18 in India Today’s List of 50 Most Powerful People in India in 2019.
India
Kris Gopalakrishnan
Kris Gopalakrishnan is the co-founder of Infosys, and chairman and co-founder of Axilor Ventures. Gopalakrishnan was elected as president of India’s apex industry chamber Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) – he served in this position from 2013 to 2014. He has also served as a co-chair of the 2014 World Economic Forum in Davos. Gopalakrishnan is also currently on the Board of Governors of Okinawa Institue for Science and Technology (OIST), and is Chairman of the Board of Governors of IIIT–Bangalore, Vision Group on Information Technology of Karnataka Government, and CII Startup Council.
Kris and his wife, Sudha, co-founded the Pratiksha Trust. This organization is focused on the education and healthcare fields — specifically in regards to regions of India with severe prominence of neurodegenerative diseases. As a result, the trust has focused heavily on brain research in India. which is focused on education and healthcare. In addition to this, he has helped start the Centre for Brain Research at IISc Bangalore.
Kris was recognized as a global business and technology thought leader, and was voted top CEO (IT Services category) in Institutional Investor’s inaugural ranking of Asia’s Top Executives. He was also selected as one of the winners of the second Asian Corporate Director Recognition Awards by Corporate Governance Asia in 2011. In addition, in 2009, he was selected to Thinkers 50, an elite list of global business thinkers. In January 2011, the Government of India awarded Mr. Gopalakrishnan the Padma Bhushan, the country’s third-highest civilian honor.
United States
Vijay and Marie Goradia
Vijay Goradia founded Vinmar International Ltd.,a global distribution company, in 1978. He also established Goradia Capital to invest in and acquire other businesses, which have recieved recognition for their success and philanthropy. Dr. Marie Goradia is an active community volunteer and is the co-founder of Pratham Houston Young Professionals. She has also served on the board for the Indo-American Charity Fund.
Vijay and Marie founded Pratham, an NGO to support education of children living in the slums of India. It has now grown to impact over 40 million children to date and currently benefitting over 5 million children a year in India. In addition, this model is now replicated in other parts of Asia, and many African and Latin American countries.
Vijay’s companies have received numerous recognitions including the E&Y Master Entrepreneur Award and the US Department of Commerce E Export Award. His family foundation has partnered with Sightlife USA to restore eyesight to those suffering from corneal blindness. Marie received a Master’s degree in biochemistry and a PhD in molecular biology from Bombay University. One of four women to be selected by the Bhabha Atomic Research Center (BARC) for their training school, Marie was later appointed as a research officer there. She did her postdoctoral studies at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory and Columbia University in New York.
United States
Raj Gupta
Raj Gupta is the current chairman of both Aptiv PLC and Avantor Inc, and the former chairman, CEO, and president of Rohm and Haas, a manufacturer of speciality chemicals for end use markets such as building and construction, electronic devices, packaging, household and personal care products. Raj has also served as the chairman for the American Chemistry Council and the Society of Chemical Industry, America Section.
He has also served as member of HP, Vanguard Group, DuPont, Tyco, AirGas and Arconic boards amongst others. Their family foundation Ujala was launched in 2009 and has contributed to education, health care, and community organizations in both India and the US.
In April 2005 the US Pan Asian American Chamber of Commerce named Raj as one of the top 10 most influential Asian Americans in business.
Singapore
Piyush Gupta
Piyush Gupta has been Chief Executive Officer and Director of DBS Group since 2009. Before joining DBS, Piyush had a 27-year career at Citigroup, where his last position was Chief Executive Officer for Southeast Asia, Australia, and New Zealand. Piyush is also the Vice-Chairman of the Institute of International Finance, Washington. In addition, he is a member of Singapore’s Advisory Council on the Ethical Use of AI and Data, McKinsey Advisory Council, Bretton Woods Committee – Advisory Council, and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) Executive Committee. He sits on the boards of Enterprise Singapore, Singapore’s National Research Foundation, and Singapore’s Council for Board Diversity. Previously, he has been a member of the Singapore Emerging Stronger Taskforce, aimed at defining Singapore’s future in a post-Covid world, and the UN Secretary General’s Task Force on Digital Financing of the Sustainable Development Goals. Piyush is a term trustee of the Singapore Indian Development Association (SINDA).
He has championed the DBS Foundation, which focuses on social entrepreneurship engaged in various causes, such as children and youth, women and girls, elderly, disabilities and special needs, rural communities, healthcare, urban poor, environment, capacity building, and heritage and culture.
Piyush has a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) Degree in Economics from St. Stephen’s College, Delhi University, India, and a Post Graduate Diploma in Management from IIM, Ahmedabad. Piyush was named one of the world’s top 100 best-performing chief executives in Harvard Business Review – 2019 edition of “The CEO 100”. In 2020, he was awarded the Public Service Star by the President of Singapore for his meritorious services to the nation. He was named Global Indian of the Year by the Economic Times in 2021, Singapore Business Awards’ Outstanding Chief Executive of the Year in 2016, and Singapore Business Leader of the Year by CNBC in 2014. In his personal capacity, he takes a keen interest in nature and is a Co-Chairman of the BirdLife International Advisory Group. He is also an Ambassador for Cankids Kidscan, an NGO supporting children with cancer in India.
United Kingdom
Yusuf Hamied
Dr. Yusuf Hamied is a leader in the industry and in philanthropy, focusing primarily on education and healthcare. He is the non-executive chairman of Cipla, a global pharmaceutical company founded by his late father. Dr. Yusuf has led the campaign to develop the supply of necessary HIV/AIDS medicine to developing countries at an affordable cost. Cipla also provided medicine at an affordable cost during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Dr. Yusuf Hamied donated a generous amount to his previous university, Cambridge University in 2020. The donation is to be used towards the chemistry department and establish the Hamied Scholars Programme.
Singapore
David Harilela
David Harilela started his career at his family’s business. As his career progressed, he established his own trading business under the company HGL, a vehicle which he used to launch and secure the first international multi-category license for the World Cup (a first-ever by an Asian company) for regions including Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and Mexico. He is considered a licensing expert and has undertaken projects with prestigious companies including Disney, Warner, Sesame Street, Noddy, and Batman. Experienced in the field of consulting as well David has worked with Brand America to advise them on franchising opportunities in Asia. Additionally, he has served as a non-executive director of Vision Tech (HK stock exchange number 922.).Today he manages the family trading business after rescuing it from financial devastation in the ’80s, in addition to his licensing, franchising, manufacturing, and exporting businesses. He has created a group of companies under the banner of the David Harilela Group of Companies (DHG). He is also the director of Harilela Hotels Company Ltd
Besides his work life, David is also an accomplished singer/songwriter. Among his many stage performances, David has rocked on stage with his band as second Act for The Beach Boys and Blondie to help raise funds for The Po Leung Kuk scholarship program for Orphans. PDG David is now committed to his project THE ONE, an annual international Humanitarian award, with which he seeks to find and honor the Mother Teresa’s of tomorrow. He founded the George and Chandra Harilela Foundation in honor of his parents and also founded the Indian Community Group charity with his sister.
David Harilela is a graduate of the University of Southern California with a B.Sc. in Business Administration. David is an avid member of Rotary International and the local Rotary Club of Kowloon Golden Mile. David joined the Rotary Club of Golden Mile in 1999 and was Club President in 2006-2007. He was awarded President of the Year and Rotary Club of the year honors in 2007, the Certificate of Recognition for Outstanding Leadership and Devoted Service, and the Four Avenues of Service Citation for Individual Rotarians. He served as District Governor of D3450 in 2011-12. He is currently Rotary Public Image Coordinator for Zone 10B as well as Chair to the RI Global Rewards Program which was launched in July 2015.
