The US-based Deshpande Foundation is internationally offering an opportunity for individuals “to create solutions through social innovations and entrepreneurship for some of the top issues that NGOs face in the Sandbox region of Northwestern Karnataka in India. This family Foundation of Gururaj (“Desh”) and Jaishree Deshpande has helped NGOs in developing an international presence and also has promoted innovation for social change.
The 2010 Deshpande Foundation Innovators Challenge is for “An ideal Innovator is a social innovator who is ready to test a product or idea in a development lab setting. The Innovator may be an undergraduate, grad student or a professional who is trying to create an innovation. The application procedure for this exciting program is as follows: interested applicants will choose one of the nine challenges that we have selected for this year and develop a project designed to address this challenge and the cause of it. Your solution can either be a social innovation to be implemented within the non-profit or social entrepreneurship sector. The nine most pressing challenges in the Sandbox region are listed below for you to view.”
The top three winners of the challenge will receive funding to travel to the Sandbox and implement the project. Accommodation will also be provided for the innovators in the region. There is also the possibility of funding the innovators on a long-term basis. There are nine challenges in this competition which includes addressing lack of low cost autoclaves for community clinics; shortage of science models with local and recyclable products; need short, educational curricula that could be used in a camp format (in biology and life sciences); scarcity of teaching and learning materials in the subjects of science for secondary schools (biology and environmental science); lack of resources and IT skills within NGOs to develop their own websites, brochures and marketing materials; absence of a disaster prevention or management plan for the Sandbox region etc.
A complete proposal of no more than 5 pages has to be submitted by the innovator detailing the fundamentals of the innovation and how it can be beneficial for NGOs. The deadline to submit the proposals is 15 January 2010. For more information, visit this link.
IMPORTANT: Please do not send unsolicited emails seeking funding support to donor agencies. This will discredit your organization and can also bring bad reputation to you as an individual. Fundraising is a competitive process and you need to follow ethics and not spam donor emails with long, unrelated requests for grant support. If you just keep sending emails seeking support without knowing your donor, your chances of raising funds for your NGO will be drastically reduced and you may be blacklisted as a spammer.
