IIT-M alumni on a give back spree

Donations by the former students of IIT-M have recorded a three-fold increase from Rs 3.23 crore in 2010 to Rs 10 crore in 2011. Kris Gopalakrishnan - the executive co-chairman at Infosys and 1979 M.Tech graduate contributed Rs 4 crore towards the Prof M S Ananth Endowment Fund and the Thin Films Labs. On the other hand, Patni Computer Systems CEO and MD and 1985 BTech graduate Phaneesh Moorthy donated an amount of Rs 1 crore to the alumni endowment fund.

These donations by the old pupils have certainly been of great help to the institute. IIT-M director Bhaskar Ramamurthi, said was alleged saying"Instead of waiting for funds to come our way, a team of alumni and faculty members came up with strategies to suit interests of potential donors. In the year 2009, the institute formed a charitable trust, inaugurated the Golden Jubilee Alumni Fund and ascertained areas that the alumni were interested in and keen to help."

According to the reports, earlier more funds poured in from alumni in the United States than from those in India. But on the contrary, nearly 75% of the donations in 2011 came within the country.

"Earlier most of the donations were from the US. In the last year there have been more donors from India. This could also have something to do with the economic downturn hurting the US more than India" said advisor for alumni affairs professor R Nagarajan. He further added that in the past donations from alumni in the US formed a substantial part of the funding. (Read complete story)

Donations soared up to Rs 7 crore in 2007, before dipping to Rs 57 lakh in 2009 due to the global economic meltdown. The institute is quite confident of receiving between 20 crore and 25 crore from the US this year and expects donations to touch 100 crore soon.

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