NEW DELHI: The Indian Institute of Technology Madras has raised a sum of Rs 113 crore during the 2019-20 financial year from its alumni and corporate firms via CSR, claiming it to be the highest amount raised in a financial year by an educational institution in India.
According to officials, the figures of 2019-20, present a significant growth in fundraising by the institute, from Rs 4 crore during 2010-11.
"This is possibly the first time any educational institution in India has raised over Rs 100 crore in a financial year.
Notably, we are leading all other IITs by quite a bit.
While raising funds for various causes is essential, we also want to ensure that a significant fraction of alumni is broadly interested in the growth of the institute," Mahesh Panchagnula, Dean (Alumni and Corporate Relations), IIT Madras, said.
"The institute started the decade with about 200 donors giving to IIT Madras (in 2010-11) and closed the decade with over 1,000 alumni giving back in 2019-20.
Over half of these alumni are new and first-time donors, which is a very encouraging sign.
The fund will be used to support augmenting the campus infrastructure, research and development projects and diverse student and faculty initiatives," he added.
The office of alumni relations and the office of institutional advancement (OIA) have been established by the institute to raise funds from alumni and other corporate well-wishers through corporate social responsibility (CSR).
"The OIA is about four-years-old and currently has extension offices in Mumbai as well as in Delhi.
The institute has also established a not-for-profit foundation in the US, the UK, Canada, Singapore, and Germany to raise funds from alumni in those respective countries," Panchagnula.