Gurudakshina's vision is to enhance the IIT Bombay brand by helping our alma mater recruit and retain world class faculty. 83 Batch Legacy is to strengthen existing programs related to faculty under the name Gurudakshina. The '83 batch is the first to adopt this approach.

Funds raised for Gurudakshina will be used to support programs vital for recruiting and retaining faculty. Instead of creating new programs, the '83 batch has identified existing programs that are already in development, enjoy strong institute support and need funding. We hope that future batches too will take a similar approach and fund worthy causes already under implementation. Gurudakshina will be funded over multiple years and will be administered by a governing body that will oversee the disbursement of funds and make necessary changes as future needs change.

Projects

Gurudakshina will fund 2 projects equally, one for recruiting faculty and a second for retaining faculty. They are (a) New Faculty Signing Bonus, which helps the institute hire new faculty and (b) The Top Faculty Awards, which recognize the achievements of top faculty. The first program has been implemented and the second is expected to be implemented in November-December of 2008.

(a) The New Faculty Signing Bonus awards a bonus of Rs. 3 lakh to each new faculty member joining IIT Bombay. Hiring new faculty is an urgent need. A number of older faculty are retiring, number of students is going up, new departments and labs are being added and there is a lot of competition from other engineering schools and private industry for qualified candidates. The first signing bonuses were given out in late 2007 and early 2008. Early feedback indicates that the program is successful in meeting its goals. In fact other institutes are trying to emulate this plan. As a result, in coming years, the amount of bonus may have to be raised. It is important to fund this project adequately. Therefore, 50% of the '83 batch donations to legacy project will be used to “top-off” the fund for signing bonus.

(b) The Top Faculty Awards are based on contributions made in the areas of teaching, research, lab development and selected professional activities. The institute has proposed a program, put together by a number of professors of various levels of seniority, in which each type of contribution receives points and awards are made in each category. For example, a faculty member could get points for excellent teaching based on student feedback and additional points for papers published in recognized journals. Each award is 40,000 rupees. A faculty member could win in 2 or 3 categories and get up to 120,000 rupees in any year. The goal is the raise the level of productivity in all areas year after year. The institute plans to fund this for the first 3 years from R&D funds. After that, it is expected that contributions from alumni will make up a major portion of the funds for this program. The '83 batch will be the first to participate by allocating 50% of its legacy project donations to the Top Faculty Awards program.

Governance

The disbursement of funds will be overseen by a governing body consisting of representatives from the institute, alumni and independent members. The initial plan is to allocate the funds equally to the 2 projects. Since each of the projects being funded will have its own administration in place, very little additional administration will be required on part of the '83 batch.

Frequently Asked Questions and Additional Information

• How did the team decide what projects to fund?
  Starting with the list of projects that had been discussed by previous batches, The Legacy Project team first broadened the list of projects by: (a) Getting input from batchmates on new projects, (b) Getting input from professors and deans including Prof Jayesh Bellare, Prof. Phatak Dy Director, and Prof Krithi Ramamritham Dean R&D, and ( c) Discussions with previous batches on their experience. Then many discussions took place about pros and cons of various projects. After some formal and informal surveys, the team came up with the recommendation of Gurudkshina. For full details, refer to Section 3 of LP Master Document.

• What is a suggested donation amount?
  We want each donor to consider the value of their IIT experience and their current economic situation and decide how much they wish to contribute. This is not a contest. Our first priority is to have a great reunion and enjoy meeting each other once more after 25 years. With the record number of registrants, we are confident that it is going to be a blast.
  Many of our batchmates have been financially successful and can afford to make a donation. For them, we want to offer some guidelines. A simple one is 1% of career earnings to date. Someone who has made, lets say $2 million to date can consider a $20,000 donation. Another guideline is 1 day's salary for every year that you have worked. If you have worked for 25 years, then this equals roughly one months salary. For someone earning $150,000 a year, it is over $12,000. Also, if you look at past year donors, the average US donation is in the $3,000 - $5,000 range. As you can see, there is no one suggested amount. We expect most donors to be in this range with some of the extraordinarily successful alumni making really big donations.
  
  

• The world economy is in a turmoil. What rate of donations do you expect?
  Most of us are affected by the ongoing global financial crisis. Each one of us will have to decide what to donate in light of this. We should consider making donations in the future years when things improve. No matter what, lets have a great party at the reunion!
  
  

• What are the tax consequences of my donations?
  The Heritage Foundation is a charitable organization in the US and your contributions are tax-deductible. Similar rules apply for India. Check with your financial advisor for more information.
  
  

• Can I donate stock instead of cash?
  Yes and please do! When you donate stock, the full value of it goes to the charity. If you sell the stock first, then you may have to pay tax on it before donating the proceeds. Check with your financial advisor for more information.
  
  

• Can I stretch out my donations over multiple years?
  Yes and please do! There are 2 big benefits in doing this. (a) It is easier on your cash flow and (b) You can double your tax benefits. Lets say that you can deduct a maximum of $5,000 per year for charitable contribution. If you donate $5,000 before December 2008 and $5,000 again in January 2009, you will get the tax benefit in each year.
  
  

• What about corporate matching?
  It is critical that we take advantage of corporate matching programs wherever they are available. Many employers in the US (think HP, Cisco,, Google etc) will match the charitable contributions of their employees 100%. This is an easy way to double the value of your donation.
  
  

• Is my donation confidential?
  Absolutely. It is our policy not to publicize individual donations no matter their size. When you send in your donation, you need not tell your batchmates how much you donated. Your check goes directly to the Heritage Fund in the US and to IITBombay in India. The team will only publicize statistical information such as number of donors, average and median contributions to track fund raising progress.
  
  

• Which individuals will have access to the amount of my donation?
  There are officials at the Heritage Fund and the IITB Alumni Association who will have access to the data on all donations across all batches. This is part of their official duties and normal function. There will be 2-3 individuals from our batch who will have access to the same information for our batch as part of our LP. All of them are duty bound to keep such information confidential. The LP team has spent a considerable amount of time reviewing confidentiality rules and takes it very seriously.
  
  

• What information about donations will be made publicized?
  The team will only publicize statistical information such as number of donors, average and median contributions to track fund raising progress.
  
  

• How do I make a donation?
  Please review http://www.iitbombay.org:80/alum/fundraising/HowToDonate.htm

Checks to US	Checks within India
Send Checks to IIT Bombay Heritage Fund 21710 Stevens Creek Boulevard, Suite 115 Cupertino, CA 95014, USA Tel: +1-408-252-1664 Fax: +1-208-498-5404 office [at] iitbombay.org US Residents should send checks written in favor of "IIT Bombay Heritage Fund":	Send checks to IITB83Cell Xoriant Solutions Pvt. Ltd.  Winchester, Hiranandani Business Park, Powai, Mumbai 400076, INDIA Indian Residents should send cheques written in favour of "Registrar, IIT Bombay":

Make sure that the checks mailed to the US are denoted as such in the memo field.

DONATING BY CREDIT CARD

https://www.iitbombay.org/IITBFund/OnlineDonation/creditcardpayment.asp

DONATING STOCK/SECURITIES

The easiest way to transfer securities is through a "DTC Transfer", which results in an electronic transfer of the securities to the Heritage Fund. To do a DTC Transfer, the alumnus needs to write a short letter to his/her broker (or company stock administration dept., as the case may be) which should have the following information:

Please DTC transfer "xxxx" shares of "yyyy" company (Stock Symbol) from my account ("Your Account Number") to the following account :

Accounts Name : IIT Bombay Heritage Fund

Account Number : 912-221440

DTC Number : 0044 Waterhouse Securities

After giving the above instructions, tell them to contact Sandeep Pandya, Sandeep@ieee.org or at 408-257-7711 and provide the following Information:

Date of transaction

Number of shares transferred and name of company

Other fundraising facts and suggestions:

1. Stocks received are sold within a day or two.

2. Receipts will be mailed within two business days of receipt and will include the fund's Tax ID #.

3. 100 % of contributions received are passed on to IITB - fund expenses are minimal and paid for by a separate targeted campaign

4. All IITBHF officers are volunteers and no one receives any compensation for their services.

5. Credit card donations are encouraged - easy for donor, no hassle to write check and mail - payment is deferred for 30 days or so, less paperwork for us too.

6. Accountability: To maintain the tax-deductible status, the IRS (Internal Revenue Service, US Tax Authority) requires a very detailed statement of how the money is spent by IITB. You can get a copy of this if you would like.

7. Transfer of funds to IIT Bombay is usually done by check sent via Federal Express

8. Travel expenses of IITB professors for visits to the US are paid by IITB and not the Heritage Fund.
   
   

• What if I do not wish to make a donation?
  Just tell the volunteer that has approached you about your decision. We hope you will consider making a donation in future years. If you do not want to be contacted further about this, let us know. We will have our own “do not call” list for people who have chosen this option.
  
  

• How to get additional information?
  Email Girish Gaitonde at girish.gaitonde@xoriant.com with your questions.