Giving Back to College

Giving Back to College

St Stephen’s College is an institution like no other. Over the years, College has consistently promoted the values of excellence, not for itself, but towards service of the poor, the less fortunate and uplifting the world through the application of knowledge. Just look at the list of our alumni and you will find that our former students have contributed, nay excelled, in every possible filed of human endeavour. You may have heard of our active involvement in India’s freedom struggle, you may have met and interacted with ambassadors, ministers and perhaps even heads of governments who studied in our College; perhaps you are one of those yourself? And you must also understand that there are several others who in their simple and quiet ways have contributed just as much or more…a Yogi Durlabhjee, a Sanjay “Bunker” Roy, a Rukmini Banerjee, a Konkona Sen and you! Yes, you! The College gave each one of us much that we appreciate, much that the world appreciates and it’s now time to give back to College.  

College can do better, much, much, better for incoming generations and by extension, for the world, with your help.  When you give back to College, remember that you help support academic initiatives and projects that build up College to keep with the changing times and increasing demands. A College that has helped build up the world. So do consider giving back to College.

How does one give to College? Here are a few ways by which you can help.

A: Mentoring: Ever since you left College you’ve struck out into the world and made your way, sometimes even struck out on your own as a pathbreaker. Share with the young people in College the lessons you’ve learned and they will benefit much from your knowledge and experience. Several options are possible for alumni to contribute through mentoring. You can come and share your thoughts at the morning assembly, you could attach yourself to a department and come to deliver a talk, you could also consider contributing your knowledge and experience in a more sustained manner as a resource person for SCAL. Whichever of these ways you choose to share please do so by contacting the alumni office and letting the young man there know your preferred method/way/platform to help College.

B: Be a consultant for College: You may perhaps be someone who has gained much knowledge and expertise on account of your career in the corporate world, or as a sportsperson, as a leader in a niche area, in manufacturing, in R&D, in Education… College can benefit from all of that. If you feel that this is the best way in which you can contribute to the growth and development of College then, yes, welcome! College will be happy to sit with you and understand how you can help bring the “best practices” or the administrative systems that will help College become more efficient – be that in administration, optimally using our human resources, in making the right choices with regard to use of energy, or simply by giving us so many hours of your physical presence, and advice in an academic or administrative department! College is open and welcomes your intention to help.

For each of the above I suggest that you come to College meet with me and drop off a CV or a Resume. Over our discussion, and those eternal thought-provokers – mince, veg cutlet, scrambled eggs and toast – we can then discuss and see how best you can work out the mentoring or talent sharing options. Seems workable, right? so don’t hesitate, please call Ms Stella, my secretary or Mr Jaswant in the Alumni Office and then come over.

When it comes to giving, one of the best ways to support  College is to give financially. Your money, endowment and donation will go a long way in providing for several urgent needs that College has. C, D below outline a few of the needs:

C: Corpus Fund for Infrastructure: College’s needs have increased since the time you were here. the number of students have increased, courses have increased and so have the needs. Construction, repairs, maintenance, improvements and equipment all add to the infrastructure. And infrastructure, as you know costs money. The Corpus Fund for Infrastructure is a fund that will be used towards building up infrastructure, carrying out repairs and maintenance or bringing about improvements in the residences, Café, Mess, and other spaces in college and for furnishing the rooms and facilities with proper furniture and equipment. Some of the specific infrastructure required are listed below with estimated costs mentioned alongside. You are welcome to choose to contribute to any one of the eight projects mentioned in the list or you could even make a “general” contribution leaving it to the College to decide where your donation should go. Of course you will get a receipt for the amount you pay, we will tell you how the money has been used and yes, you can claim tax exemption for the amount you’ve contributed to College.

  1. Academic Building – 120 crores
  2. Administrative offices – 2 crores
  3. Residences for non-teaching staff – 20 crores
  4. Residences for Junior members – 150 crores
  5. Facilities for Sports – 150 crores
  6. A Residence for International Students – 20 crores
  7. Updated labs (Physics, Chemistry & computer science) – 5 crores
  8. Upgrading furniture & Air Cons in classrooms – 5 crores

Please note that you are welcome to make individual contributions, batch and/or class contributions, part contribution to one of the listed projects or even a full contribution. All contributions are welcome!

D: Community support:  All of us have benefitted from the sincere work done by our non-teaching staff be that in the Café, the Mess, the Residences or the College itself, but did you know that some of these staff who have put in decades of hard work for college, have not been able to be considered as permanent staff (paid by the UGC) and have therefore lost out on several benefits including medical and other allowances. College has in a small way tried to provide them with comparable benefits but we can do with substantial financial help in these areas. A corpus fund that is dedicated to the support and provide for needs of non-teaching staff will go a long, long way in helping us keep our staff comfortable and happy. 

E: Academic support: Corpus funding towards establishment of departments, Centres, Chairs, Fellowships and scholarships and recruitment of faculty. This corpus will look at creating a substantial corpus to underwrite expenses towards these academic concerns.

F: Special projects: 

  1. Green campus: College must lead the way in ensuring that our campus is a green campus, environmentally safe, free from plastic and energy efficient by using alternate sources of energy be that solar or wind. How can you help?
  2. The College Archives: College is putting together an ambitious collection of documents, audio and audio-visual material and other artefacts pertaining to College. You may wish to donate such material that you may have to the archives.
  3. College is looking to open up a collection of paintings, artefacts and collectibles for a Art Repository which will eventually go into the creation of a course on Artists from St Stephen’s. You may be aware that College now boasts of a large number of authors spanning a wide range of Can you imagine what your contribution can do to this idea? Come on and help get this started.

So you see, there are at least six ways (A to F) by which you can support College. How do you wish to help?  Once you’ve made up your mind, please fill the form below and submit.

Make a tax deductible donation‏ via NEFT/IMPS/RTGS following due procedures*. Complete the form and send it to alumni@ststephens.edu. We will require the following six details:

  1. A letter from you identifying the purpose of the donation and indicating that the funds are your own.
  2. Your bank a/c details (we can accept donations ONLY from an Indian bank as of now)
  3. Aadhaar card
  4. PAN card details
  5. Proof of Address
  6. IT returns – 1 year

Thankyou for reading this letter. Now it’s time to act.

 

Professor John Varghese

Principal

 
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