Mnight Shyamalan Foundation

Mission Statement

The Foundation is built on the belief that each individual has a right to live with opportunity. We envision a world where all human life is valued, and where we share the responsibility of ensuring all individuals are able to reach their full potential. By supporting organizations and programming in the Philadelphia Region that work to expand opportunities for the marginalized, and by supporting programs which work to alleviate poverty and social injustice in other countries, we seek to empower individuals so that they are able to unlock their own ability to positively impact the world.

About Us

Writer/director M. Night Shyamalan and his wife Dr. Bhavna Shyamalan co-founded the M. Night Shyamalan Foundation (MNS Foundation) in October of 2001. It had long been an interest of the Shyamalans to “give back,” and as they watched the advancement of their own lives and witnessed their own children thrive, it was hard to ignore the simple advantage of birth. Since then, the vision for the Foundation has become less about “charity” and more about equity and justice. It is no longer about just “giving back” but about a responsibility to ensure others have the same opportunities to dream, and to realize their dreams. We believe every human being can change the world.

Having grown up just outside Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Night envisioned a city where each individual has a true opportunity to thrive. The Foundation initially focused its work on improving the lives of the disadvantaged in Philadelphia, with grants aimed at improving educational opportunities, providing access to livable homes, and fighting hunger. Recently, Night and Bhavna have become more deeply concerned about the state of public education in America, particularly in Pennsylvania. Through the Foundation, they have begun to focus their efforts on educational reform in Philadelphia.

The Foundation has also broadened its goals and responsibility to include a fight for social justice and poverty alleviation on a more global scale. The MNS Foundation is currently spearheading a project focused on the economic development of a slum community in Nagpur, India, through a program aimed at skills-training and self-empowerment of the women in the community. Other grants have supported families willing to adopt children from India as well as grants enabling orphans in Africa access to a sometimes life-saving vitamin a day.

Through the work of the foundation during its fledgling years, Night and Bhavna have been inspired by the light they have seen illuminated in everyone they have met; from the child who was found abandoned but always wears an incredible smile, to a woman living in abject poverty working tirelessly to improve the quality of life for her community, to teenagers in Philadelphia fighting for a decent education, and to single mothers working hard to get their GEDs so their children can have better opportunities. These are all true leaders, each changing the world.