

From The Beginning
The Foundation for Excellence (FFE) has a rich history dating back to 1989 when Dr. Prabhu Goel and his wife Poonam sold their first company and set aside part of the proceeds to provide scholarships for underprivileged and bright students seeking a college education. To achieve this goal, Prabhu brought together a team of philanthropic leaders from Silicon Valley, including Raj Mashruwala, Venki Venkatesh, Mahaveer Jain, Balaji Venkateswaran, Dinesh Katiyar, and Pradip Joshi.
Together, they registered FFE as a non-profit in 1994 and worked towards building a strong foundation for the organization. In 2003, the team expanded their efforts to India, establishing the FFE India Trust in Bangalore to support their growing scholar base. This helped FFE tap into the Indian corporate and individual donor community, taking their mission to new heights.
At its inception, FFE primarily supported students pursuing engineering and medical degrees, recognizing that these professions would offer a higher likelihood of transforming the lives of their scholars. However, in recent years, FFE has also begun supporting students studying law.
To date, FFE has awarded over $54.50 million in scholarships, financing the college education of over 38,000 students. In the current academic year, FFE provided 16,295 scholarships, worth $9.05 million, including 5,441 scholarships to female scholars.
Our Values
Mission
The mission of Foundation for Excellence is to empower academically gifted yet financially underprivileged students in India to fulfill their potential through higher education
Vision
To create a world where every talented student, regardless of their financial background, has the opportunity to fulfill their potential and lead a successful life through higher education.

Our Approach
FFE provides scholarships and mentors underprivileged, but academically gifted students in India to complete their college education and transform lives.
FFE As a Catalyst
FFE is the catalyst bringing change to the lives of academically brilliant but financially constrained students whose potential to succeed is limited by their situation. FFE scholarships provide hope and create positivity thus breaking the cycle of despair, and launching students on a path to graduating with a college education and securing lucrative jobs.
How We Do It
FFE awards scholarships to promising students who are extremely bright and talented, but come from financially constrained backgrounds. These scholarships are granted to students with high ranks in Engineering, Law and Medical entrance exams, and who have been accepted to highly reputed Institutions in India.
Not Just a Financial Need
FFE does not just provide scholarships, but also focuses on holistic development by providing Skill Training and mentorship, making scholars job ready. The mission is to transform their lives and transition them to a higher economic bracket, in a single generation.
Donor Communications
Every April, FFE shares new scholar assignments and scholar academic progress reports with donors. Testimonials are shared in August/September. FFE also facilitates virtual meetings of donors and scholars, once a year, if a donor opts for it.
Technology Driven Operation
FFE has invested in a robust technology platform enabling the organization to scale its Scholarship program and execute skill training and Mentoring programs efficiently. The integration enables tracking academic performance of students throughout their scholarship period and as FFE Alumni after graduation.
Our Journey - FFE Milestones
Founded in 1994 by leading venture capitalist and philanthropist Dr Prabhu Goel and Mrs Poonam Goel


In the Media - Dr Prabhu Goel

Giving poor, bright students manna of scholarship, mentoring | Ralph Alex Arakal | Deccan Chronicle
The Goels struck upon the idea of launching an NGO after they sold their first company Securing a medical or an engineering seat in a

An invaluable contribution towards education by two American-Indians | Anjuli Bhargava | New Delhi
An initiative to fund the education of bright Indian youngsters undertaken by two Indian-Americans has now acquired a momentum of its own he foundation has

An Excellent Foundation | By Mike Ransdell | Carnegie Mellon University
The life of Rajee Ramachandran was a parallel of opposites with the life of Prabhu Goel. One had a life of opportunity that included a