Raghu Vamsi Kadiri
కదిరి రఘు వంశీ, Hyderabad, India
Founder and CEO of Marpu Foundation. Originator of Volunteer-First CSR. Speaker, event host and advisor to companies, campuses and governments.
Featured in The Hans India Deccan Chronicle Telangana Today Namasthe Telangana PMC English hmtv T News
Seven continents. 23+ Indian states.
India never runs short of people who want to help. It runs short of structures that let them. At eighteen, Raghu registered Marpu Foundation to build one.
Marpu is Telugu for change. Today Marpu Foundation, a registered nonprofit organization in India, works with a community of more than a million volunteers, 250+ partner companies and programmes in 23+ states, using a method Raghu calls Volunteer-First CSR.
1M+
volunteers in the Marpu community
250+
companies have partnered with Marpu
23+
Indian states with active programmes
18
his age when he registered Marpu in 2019
The long answer
Who is Raghu Vamsi Kadiri, in full?
Raghu Vamsi Kadiri, written Kadiri Raghu Vamsi in Telugu order and known as Raghu, is an Indian social entrepreneur based in Hyderabad. He is the Founder and CEO of Marpu Foundation, a registered nonprofit organization in India, and the creator of OurVolunteer.com, which runs employee volunteering programmes for companies. He is a member of the Forbes Nonprofit Council and a Global Shaper with the World Economic Forum’s Hyderabad Hub.
He grew up in Indian Army cantonments, where his father served, and moved to Hyderabad at 14. Relief work in the Kerala floods of 2018, at seventeen, was one of the experiences that made his goal clear. On 6 July 2019, at eighteen, he registered Marpu Foundation in Telangana. Marpu is Telugu for change.
Seven years on, Marpu Foundation works with 250+ corporate partners and a community of 1M+ volunteers across 23+ states, from 22 city offices, and has reached 10.2M+ lives. Its programmes have planted 25,000+ Miyawaki saplings, installed 5,000+ solar street lights and 100+ water purification plants, given 10,000+ solar study lamps to students and revamped 30+ government schools. It holds 12A, 80G and CSR-1 registration and takes domestic funding only.
The way Marpu works now has a name. Raghu calls it Volunteer-First CSR: trained, organised volunteers are the delivery system of a CSR programme, and the budget pays for what volunteers cannot do. He set it out in a 2026 working paper on SSRN, which introduces the Volunteer-First Impact Model (VFIM) and the Volunteer-SDG Alignment Matrix (VSAM), and wrote How to Start an NGO in India for first-time founders.
Recognition for him and for Marpu includes the Karmaveer Chakra (2019), an individual project grant from the United States Department of State (2019), the Sankalp Tara Award (2021), NGO of the Year, Empowering Environment (2022), Excellence in Water Conservation at CASCA 2025 and Champions of Impactful CSR Leader (2025). In 2026 he was selected for the American Express Leadership Academy, which meets in Tokyo in November. The full record.
He speaks, hosts, trains and advises in English, Telugu and Hindi, for CSR teams and boards, colleges, governments and international forums, and has travelled across all seven continents. He studied law at National Law University Delhi. He is not connected to the Raghu Vamsi Group, an unrelated aerospace company in Hyderabad. Every fact, with sources.
Ways to work with Raghu
Six roles, one through-line: getting people to show up for work that matters, and making it count.
Speaking
Keynotes, TEDx-style talks, panels and campus lectures on CSR, volunteering and building young.
Hosting and moderation
Summits, award nights and panel discussions, hosted with pace and warmth in English, Telugu or Hindi.
Workshops and training
Hands-on sessions for CSR teams, HR leaders, NGO founders and student leaders.
Public policy
Nonpartisan input on volunteering, youth engagement and social development for public offices.
The idea he is known for
Volunteer-First CSR
Volunteer-First CSR is a way of delivering corporate social responsibility in which trained, organised volunteers form the main delivery system of a programme, and the budget pays for what volunteers cannot do. Raghu Vamsi Kadiri developed it while building Marpu Foundation and set it out in a working paper on SSRN in 2026.
Watch Raghu on why the old model of CSR is dead (54 seconds)
- Volunteers are infrastructure, not audience. A trained network delivers programme after programme.
- Structure replaces spontaneity. Roles, training, supervision and records, like any operations team.
- The budget buys outcomes, not overheads. More of every rupee reaches the field.
- Employees plug into the same system. Volunteering and CSR finally point at the same goal.
Seven continents, one question
Fellowships, programmes and solo backpacking have taken Raghu across all seven continents. Everywhere, he asks the same thing: what makes people show up for each other?
- Asia and Oceania. the Himalayas, Laos, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, the Philippines, Taiwan, Australia and New Zealand Himalayan villages, the United Nations in Laos, where the country keeps an eighteenth goal of its own, and long stretches across Southeast Asia, Australia and New Zealand.
- Europe and Africa. the United Kingdom, Italy, Germany, Switzerland, Russia, Namibia, Nigeria, Mauritius and W. Sahara An international leadership programme in Italy, journeys through Europe, and Africa from the Namib to Mauritius.
- The Americas and Antarctica. the United States, Canada, Greenland, Brazil and Antarctica North and South America, the ice of Greenland, and the seventh continent, where climate change stops being abstract.
The 99% that never makes the feed
Most of the work happens far from a camera: site visits at dawn, volunteer briefings, government meetings, budget reviews and long drives between districts. A few frames that did get taken.
The goals behind the work
Every Marpu programme maps to the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Point at a goal, or tap it, to see where the work sits.
17 goals, one methodSeventeen goals, one way of working
Volunteers who stay, budgets that buy outcomes and reporting that holds up, applied goal by goal. See every goal in detail.
Recognition
Honours from industry forums, civic bodies and community institutions, from Hyderabad to New Delhi, Bengaluru and Tokyo, and membership of the Forbes Nonprofit Council.
15honours and selections on record, and many more that never made a press release.
2025
Champions of Impactful CSR Leader
New DelhiFor CSR leadership, ET Edge
2025
Excellence in Water Conservation
New DelhiFor water conservation, CASCA 2025. Received by Marpu Foundation
2024
Finalist, Leader in Volunteer Engagement
IndiaiVolunteer Awards
2022
Global Shaper, World Economic Forum
HyderabadGlobal Shapers Community, Hyderabad Hub
2019
United States Department of State grant
IndiaIndividual project grant, through the Changelooms youth leadership programme
2019
Karmaveer Chakra
IndiaFor citizen action and social change
World Economic Forum
Global Shapers Community
American Express Leadership Academy
Kincentric Leadership
Kalinga Fellowship
WYSE International Leadership Programme
United Nations, Laos
UNESCO World Heritage Volunteers
iVolunteer Awards
Common Purpose
Moved by Love
Gramya Manthan
Youth Alliance
Oasis Movement
Pagdandi Collective
National Law University Delhi
Stanford
Harvard
Oxford
WWF
Youth jams
Vipassana
UNESCO photography
Wildlife camps
And more: campus juries, felicitations by communities, youth jams, retreats and international cohorts.
In the news
A few of the stories. Television features, Telugu dailies and the press kit are on the media page.
The CSR Universe
India charts bold path at CASCA 2025, the nation’s largest climate action platform
April 2025
On television: Social Heroes on PMC English, and Telugu news channels including hmtv and T News. In print: Namasthe Telangana, Nava Telangana and Prajapaksham reported Marpu’s bus shelter at Bolarum, Hyderabad, in April 2025.
Companies that partner with Marpu
Some of the 250+ companies and institutions that have run CSR and volunteering programmes with Marpu Foundation, across banking, pharma, energy, technology and media.
Bharat Petroleum
Reserve Bank of India
Dr. Reddy’s
Bristol Myers Squibb
Garmin
Go Digit Insurance
IDFC FIRST Bank
Ramoji Group
Miyawaki saplings planted
25,000+
Solar street lights installed across India
5,000+
Solar study lamps given to students
10,000+
Government schools revamped
30+
Water purification plants installed
100+
Field notes
Written almost every day: CSR that works, NGOs that last, careers with purpose and India in 2026. 140+ essays and counting.
Where the work runs
A nonprofit, a volunteering company, an enterprise arm and a set of passion projects, each with its own job.
Nonprofit
Marpu Foundation
A registered nonprofit organization in India, founded in 2019. CSR programmes, donations, internships and volunteering across 23+ states.
Employee volunteering
OurVolunteer.com
Volunteering programmes for companies, from in-office kit assembly to on-ground drives, run by Volbiz Philanthro Private Limited.
Enterprise
KRV Enterprises
The enterprise arm for the businesses Raghu builds and backs.
Passion projects
Ventures he co-founds and backs
Early ideas and running teams that he co-founds, supports or mentors, across the causes he cares about.
Questions people ask
Who is Raghu Vamsi Kadiri?
Raghu Vamsi Kadiri (also written Kadiri Raghu Vamsi, and known simply as Raghu) is a Hyderabad-based Indian social entrepreneur. He founded Marpu Foundation in 2019 at the age of 18 and leads it as Founder and CEO. Marpu Foundation is a registered nonprofit organization in India. He is the originator of Volunteer-First CSR, a model in which trained volunteer networks deliver corporate social responsibility programmes.
What is Raghu Vamsi Kadiri known for?
Building Marpu Foundation into a volunteer-led network that works across 23+ Indian states with 250+ corporate partners and a community of 1M+ volunteers, setting out the Volunteer-First CSR model in a research paper on SSRN, and speaking and hosting on CSR, volunteering and youth leadership.
Is Raghu available for TEDx talks, keynotes and summits?
Yes. Raghu gives TEDx-style talks, keynotes, fireside chats and campus lectures in English, Telugu and Hindi, in India and abroad. Organisers can see talk ideas for TEDx and idea-led events, then write to hi@kadiriraghuvamsi.com or message him on WhatsApp.
How do I connect with Raghu for a talk, an event or advisory work?
Write to hi@kadiriraghuvamsi.com or message him on WhatsApp with the date, the city or platform, the audience and the format you have in mind. You will hear back with availability and next steps. The Connect page has every route.
How do you pronounce Raghu Vamsi Kadiri?
Just as it is written: RAH-goo VUM-see KUH-dee-ree. Raghu is enough in conversation. In Telugu order the family name comes first: Kadiri Raghu Vamsi (కదిరి రఘు వంశీ).
How can a company partner with Marpu Foundation for CSR?
Through marpu.org, or by writing to connect@marpu.org. Marpu Foundation is CSR-1 registered with 12A and 80G approval. For employee volunteering programmes, visit OurVolunteer.com. More on the Marpu Foundation page.
Bring Raghu to your stage, boardroom or campus.
Keynotes, TEDx-style talks, hosting, workshops and advisory, in India and internationally. Tell him the date, the audience and what you want people to walk away with.