Nipun Mehta is the founder of CharityFocus.org, a fully
volunteer-run organization that has delivered millions of
dollars of web-related services to the nonprofit world for free.
The recipient of the Jefferson Award for Public Service and the
President's Volunteer Service Award, his work creatively
leverages web technologies for collaborative and
transformational giving, lending him insight into service,
leadership, organizational design, and spirituality. He serves
on the advisory boards of the Seva Foundation,
Dalai Lama Foundation, and Airline
Ambassadors.
Nipun's high-school goal was to either become a tennis-pro or
a Himalayan Yogi. However, by the third year of his Computer
Science and Philosophy degree at UC Berkeley, he started his
software career at Sun Microsystems. Dissatisfied by the dot-com
greed of the late 90s, Nipun went to a homeless shelter with
three friends to "give with absolutely no agendas." They ended
up creating a website, and also an organization named
CharityFocus. Today, CharityFocus's 8500 volunteers incubate
compassionate action in a multitude of ways and its inspiration
portals get 100 million hits a year. In 2001, at the age of 25,
Nipun quit his job to become a "full time volunteer." He didn't
have a plan of survival beyond six months, but so far, so good.
In January 2005, Nipun and Guri, his wife of six months,
dropped everything to embark on an open-ended, unscripted
walking pilgrimage in India to "use our hands to do random acts
of kindness, use our heads to profile inspiring people, and use
our hearts to cultivate truth." Living on dollar a day, eating
wherever food is offered, sleeping wherever a flat surface is
found, the couple walked 1000 kilometers before ending up at a
monastery where they meditated for three months. Today, both
Nipun and Guri live in Berkeley, California, do small acts of
service with great love, and run CharityFocus.
Nipun's mission statement in life reads: "Bring smiles in the world and stillness in my heart."
other related websites
Personal Website & Blog
http://nipun.charityfocus.org
Charity FocusHelping Others Help Others
http://www.charityfocus.org/