In its quest to play a meaningful contributory role in society, Smile Foundation has chosen education as its delivery vehicle.

By extension, we have also chosen to focus on educating children - especially those who come from disadvantaged communities and backgrounds, and who are denied access to formal learning.

The premise behind this endeavour is as simple as it is profound.

When you educate an underprivileged child, you effectively alter the course of his or her life for the better. And, by so doing, you also give that person the power to favourably impact others… starting with members of his or her immediate family. Persist, and a whole generation can be affected by your initiative.
The recognition of this "multiplier effect" is at the heart of Smile's operating philosophy. In fact, it is also the driver behind our very approach to resource distribution.

Our Social Venture Philanthropy model seeks to consciously 'broad-base' investment to maximize reach and optimize returns. Instead of confining attention to a single project and a limited number of beneficiaries, we focus on providing support that leverages the strengths and efforts of like minded individuals and organizations countrywide. This way, we affect an exponentially larger number of children than what we would have done otherwise with the conventional one project 'infrastructure' model.

A wonderful spin-off of this approach is the flowering of a dynamic new breed of social entrepreneurs who are passionate about what they are doing, and whose wholehearted commitment to their cause virtually guarantees success of the welfare delivery effort. This also ensures optimization of benefits for respective target groups with excellent transparency. In addition, there is a high probability of such a successful entrepreneur replicating the Smile experience - by becoming a similar source of support for other like minded individuals elsewhere.

Smile's SVP assistance spans everything from providing seed money for the project, venture capital for expansion and capacity building, professional guidance, training support, and even counseling on productivity and efficiency enhancement.

This newsletter is a tribute to our many partners in progress : the numerous inspiring entrepreneurs and institutions who we have had the privilege to associate with. It is also a recapitulation of the spectrum of activities and events that Smile has been a part of, all over India.

We hope you enjoy this maiden issue. Because each section in it reflects our desire to generate smiles everywhere!

Happy reading!