Mission & Vision

The Deshpande Foundation is the family Foundation of Gururaj (“Desh”) and Jaishree Deshpande, of Andover, MA. Founded in 1996, the Deshpande Foundation is one of the leading philanthropic Foundations in Massachusetts and India in the areas of innovation, entrepreneurship and international development. Through its grantmaking, the Deshpande Foundation has helped launch innovative companies, helped NGOs develop an international presence and launched partnerships with some of the most remarkable change agents in the world today.

		Innovation: The Deshpande Foundation develops partnerships with innovative leaders with a new idea, product or service that can potentially benefit millions of people and change entire industries. Whether it is ground-breaking research on the next generation of technologies or a more cost-effective idea for international development, the Deshpande Foundation believes that innovation lies at the heart of our ability to grow, succeed and make lasting impact on the world.
		Entrepreneurship: Based on 30 years of experience as technology entrepreneurs in the United States, Canada and India, the Trustees of the Deshpande Foundation have come to believe in the powerful role that the entrepreneur can play to change and improve society. In the long term, a region will continue to thrive as long as it has a vibrant base of budding entrepreneurs, and the Foundation strives to create such an environment in the places it operates.
		Growth: The Deshpande Foundation focuses time, energy and resources on helping the best ideas, researchers, entrepreneurs and organizations to scale up their activities to rapidly increase their reach. It is critical that successful ideas and leaders gain the infrastructure and support they need to achieve their long term vision of change.