Indiaspora Monitor of University Giving 2018

Press Releases

Sep 25

Indiaspora Releases Monitor of University Giving

More Than $1.2 Billion Donated by Indian Americans to U.S. Higher Education

Press Release

Tuesday, September 25, 2018

Washington, D.C., USA

Indiaspora today announced the creation of the Monitor of University Giving - a “living database” to keep abreast of Indian American philanthropic donations to higher education. The goal is to illustrate how Indian Americans, the most highly educated ethnic minority in America¹, are giving back to higher education in their adopted homeland.The database catalogs Indian American donations totaling US $1 million or more to American institutions of higher education since the year 2000. It includes donations, made to colleges and universities that have been publicly disclosed. Since smaller gifts are not tracked, this results in underreporting of the total contributions made by Indian Americans, but allows for consistent year-to year comparisons of donations.MR Rangaswami, Founder of Indiaspora stated, “While Indian Americans continue to donate time and money towards causes in India, our community also believes that charity begins at home. Indian Americans are acutely aware of the vital role played by American Institutions of Higher Education in their professional success stories, and many of us consider it a moral obligation to give back and pay it forward for the next generation of Americans.”Several significant trends were found among Indian American donors. Fifty individuals made 68 donations of one million dollars or more amounting to over $1.2 billion. Of these donors, nearly half are repeat donors indicating how passionately Indian Americans feel towards giving back to American institutions of higher education, in many but not all cases, their alma maters. Additionally, while the frequency of large donations has stayed fairly consistent since 2000, the dollar amount of donations has increased on average since then.Indiaspora is proud to note that seven of the 68 donors are Indiaspora members. These members include: Sumir Chadha, Desh Deshpande, Kris Gopalkrishnan, Raj Gupta, Deepak Raj, Anand Rajaraman, and Sanjay Swani.This demonstrates that Indian Americans are giving back to institutions of higher education in their adopted homeland of America, helping to contribute not only to their own communities, but to the United States as a whole.Indiaspora (www.indiaspora.org) is a nonprofit, 501(c)(3) organization established to transform the success of Indian Americans into meaningful impact worldwide. Their members, who are influential Indian-American and Indian leaders from diverse backgrounds and professions, form an impactful network. Indiaspora has three objectives:

Increase the visibility and influence of Indian-Americans to actively engage in their communities
Create a platform to help shape successful U.S.-India relations and connect with the global Indian diaspora in various countries
Redefine the philanthropic model to promote more effective and sustainable giving by Indian-Americans

For questions, please contact Gabrielle Trippe, Indiaspora Philanthropy Initiatives Manager, at gabrielle@indiaspora.org.Footnote¹:https://www.pewsocialtrends.org/chart/educational-attainment-of-indian-population-in-the-u-s/Additional Resources: