Nipun Mehta is the founder of ServiceSpace, a global community working at the intersection of technology, volunteerism and a gift culture. As a designer of large-scale social movements that are rooted in small acts of service and powered by micro moments of inner transformation, his work has uniquely catalyzed networks of community builders grounded in their localities and rooted cultivating deeper connection -- with themselves, others and larger systems. Today, ServiceSpace reaches millions every month, is powered by thousands of volunteers, and blossoms into ever-expanding local and virtual service projects that aim to ignite a "whole great than the sum of its parts". Nipun was honored as an "unsung hero of compassion" by the Dalai Lama, not long before former U.S. President Obama appointed him to a council for addressing poverty and inequality in the US. Yet the core of what strikes anyone who meets him is the way his life is an attempt to bring smiles in the world and silence in his heart: "I want to live simply, love purely, and give fearlessly. That's me."

A Bit More ...

Soon after college, Nipun felt inspired to transition from Silicon Valley's Internet potential to the "Inner-Net" potential of his own heart. In April 1999, ServiceSpace started as an experiment, with four friends helping a homeless shelter build a website. Through larger arcs of serendipity, it quickly attracted thousands of volunteers, and while their virtual, local and global projects spread expansively over the next 25 years, what was perhaps the most pioneering was its process. Their three creative constraints paved the way for radically uncommon solutions that didn't rely on paid staff, fundraising or impact measurement.

At the heart of Nipun’s work is the idea that every one has gifts to offer, and when those gifts are shared freely, a "many to many" field of heart intelligence emerges to reveal uncommon and regenerative ways to respond to the needs of the world. Cultivating such a field requires the art of "social permaculture" and a shift from leadership to "laddership" -- where changing oneself is the first step towards changing the world.

This work, intertwined with his own deepening inner practices, has drawn numerous honors – from the Goi Peace Award to the Dalai Lama’s Unsung Hero of Compassion, and beyond. Nipun has been invited to advise public initiatives like President Obama’s Council on Poverty and Inequality, featured in over 50 books by wide-ranging luminaries like Dacher Keltner, Adam Grant, and Gary Zukav, and has spoken across diverse settings from corporate boardrooms to United Nations halls to Awakin Circles in ordinary homes around the world.

Standing at the crossroads of algorithmic intelligence, evolutionary insight, and collective social emergence, Nipun continues to illuminate new pathways for ancient wisdom to find creative expressions in a modern world.

For more context, here’s Nipun’s very first public talk in 1999: Spirit of Service; a media story on how ServiceSpace emerged as a counter-culture approach in the Silicon Valley; and Parabola magazine interview on Meditation and Service.

A Brief Timeline