How IIT Madras raised Rs 513 crore, its highest ever funding

Indian Institute of Technology Madras’s donor funding increased 135% in the financial year 2023-24 to touch `513 crore against `218 crore the previous year. The sum was raised from its alumni, corporates and other donors.
So, how did they do it? With a dynamic team of 55 professionals, including a 12-member fundraising and marketing squad, all alumni, that worked round the clock at IIT’s office of Institutional Advancement to zero in on potential donors.
“The institute has attracted the highest amount of external funding among academic institutions in the country for the past two years,” says Professor V Kamakoti, director. “We’re confident of crossing the `500 crore mark in the coming years as well.”
Kaviraj Nair, CEO of office of Institutional Advancement, says efforts have gone into recruiting professionals from various industries. “There are so many competing takers for CSR and alumni funds. We convince donors of the impact and scale of a donation to IIT-M,” says Nair.
The funds came from contributions by alumni, corporates, and other donors, with additional pledges exceeding `200 crore extending over the coming years.
IIT-M also gets about `900 crore in grants from Centre and `45 crore as tuition fee income, which is used to pay salaries and for day-to-day operations. This funding allows the institute to provide more scholarships, take up additional research and development and establish new departments and buildings.
IIT-M’s donations have increased steadily from 2013 and spiked sharply since 2020-21. V Shankar, chair of IIT Madras alumni charitable trust, says the alumni community’s efforts to kickstart fundraising goes back 20 years. “When we reach out to alumni, we are able to relate with them, especially when we talk about the good old days in the hostels,” he says.
Two-thirds — `368 crore — of the funds have been from alumni; `95 crore from corporate entities; and `50 crore from other donors. Of the 1,072 donors, 960 are alumni.
“Recent efforts to bring transparency and donor stewardship have helped bring in more donations from alumni living around the world,” says Shankar.
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