Health
The foundation of well-being
A healthy body is the cornerstone of a healthy mind. By supporting organizations that provide healthcare to underserved communities, we aim to foster vibrant communities that thrive.
Mirani Foundation
About Us
Our vision: hope for a better world
Founded in 2015 by Dr. Haresh Mirani and his wife Hana Mirani, the Mirani Foundation is a family foundation based in Knoxville, Tennessee, and Mumbai, India. We support organizations working on health, education, and social justice in low-income and marginalized communities.
Our unwavering commitment to serving those most in need drives us to partner with organizations that share our vision of a more equitable world.
This website is not a fundraising vehicle. The foundation is entirely self-funded. The hope is simpler: inspire people to open their hearts, and to live by two themes - Never say Never, and Keep faith alive.
Founder · Mirani Foundation
Meet Dr. Haresh Mirani
A physician who turned a ruined career into a life of returning.
Never say Never
Kilimanjaro at 60, with an artificial ankle.
Keep faith alive
Learning, earning, returning - his measure of a meaningful life.
Haresh K. Mirani, M.D., was born near poverty about 8,000 miles from Knoxville. Partition displaced his family. His father sent him into medicine. He entered the United States with a torn bag of clothes and $40 from a Delta agent.
He became a doctor, built the most profitable practice in Tennessee, then a car accident at 43 ended the career. Seven surgeries. Chronic pain he still calls “the beast.” At 60, eight months after an artificial ankle, he stood on Kilimanjaro. That is when he stopped feeding the wolf of self-pity, looked outward, and formed the Mirani Foundation with his wife, Hana.
He does not ask anyone for money. He lives on less than he receives. What he wants from this site is simpler: that someone open their heart a hair more.
- Geographic focus
- Primary focus on East Tennessee and India, with additional grants to national U.S. organizations and international work where a dollar goes farthest - roughly one third local, one third India, one third international.
- Grant size
- Typical grants have ranged from $1,000 to $3,000. We are moving toward fewer grants, generally in the $5,000-$10,000 range, so the work can go deeper without multiplying meetings.
- Applications
- By invitation only. If we are interested in supporting your organization, we will reach out. Because of our small size, we cannot respond to unsolicited applications.
- Funding
- The Mirani Foundation takes no outside money. Giving here is a family practice - not a campaign.
Our values
Education
Unlocking potential
Education is the key to breaking the cycle of poverty, strengthening communities, and unlocking individual potential. We provide educational opportunities to children in the U.S. and abroad, empowering them to become agents of positive change.
Social Justice
Building a fairer world
Social justice is the backbone of strong, inclusive communities. We champion initiatives that promote equality, tolerance, and understanding, paving the way for a peaceful and prosperous world.
Our team
Our founders
- Dr. Haresh K. Mirani
- Hana H. Mirani
For an overview of Dr. Mirani’s life and the origin of the Mirani Foundation, read the story.
Our board
- Dr. Haresh K. Mirani
- Hana H. Mirani
- Kush H. Mirani
- Luv H. Mirani
Mirani Foundation India - Trustees
- Yamini Babani
- Dr. Smita Puniyani
- Satish Rajbhar
East Tennessee Advisory Council
- Jerry Askew
- JuliaTomma Battle
- Charlie Biggs (Interim Coordinator)
- Fred Cannon
- Shondreka Daniels
- Gordon Gibson
- Nora Messing
- Margo Miller
- Anne Whitney
What we say
A running list of Dr. Mirani’s lines - some filed with the USPTO, all used as a kind of wisdom ticker.
- 1
Learning, earning, returning are 3 stages of a meaningful life
- 2
Living on less is not living small, living on excess is!
- 3
I live to give, since giving provides purpose to my living
- 4
Everyone needs a Dutch uncle
- 5
To meditate is to medicate
- 6
Do less, be more; but when you do, be all-in
- 7
Providence takes precedence
- 8
Meditation can reset your DMN (default mode network) for cognitive insights and mystical experiences
- 9
Balanced karmik-ledger implies since you can't pay backward, so pay forward
- 10
Energy flows where thought goes
- 11
I am aging and saging. I couldn't claim that, until 10 yrs ago.
- 12
Dislodge yourself from your point of view, sometimes
- 13
Hana is my karmik muse
- 14
People get their high and low; I get my high and flow
- 15
I am a broken man, but more whole than ever!
- 16
Brick walls show up in one's life not to keep people from getting ahead, rather to test how badly you want to get through. Once you get over them, share it with others so they will learn to do it too!
- 17
Good day is good but sometimes bad is better.
- 18
Learn to fall and fail, so you will know the taste of success.
- 19
To travel to places beyond what you imagined..
- 20
Stay a virgin until married.
- 21
For those you could never adequately payback, simply pay forward. It keeps your karmik-ledger balanced.
- 22
As much as possible, say yes to life.
- 23
Gratitude is a real deal. Writing gratitude journal can invite magic in your life.
- 24
Monk can live in the world but world can't live in the monk.
- 25
There is too much know-how and very little know-why
- 26
I have greatly benefited from dislodging myself from my point-of-view
- 27
If it is happening, it is for good!
- 28
Knowing more is only so that one knows "how little he knows"
- 30
There is pre-birth intention, and remember universe doesn't make administrative errors
- 31
Go big or go home
- 32
Everyday in every way, I am getting better and better......Emile Coue/HK
- 33
Less "I" am, more "i" become
- 34
Life's challenges are worthy opponents, first accept them, then conquer them.
- 35
To meditate is to magicate