Learning the Art of Giving

Sep 03, 2006
Article

SHARE

For Rohini Nilekani, making the money was the easy part. The Bangalore-based wife of Infosys CEO Nandan
Nilekani, Rohini owns 1.67% of the Indian outsourcing company, and her personal fortune soared to about $300 million along with the meteoric rise of its stock. She calls her windfall “a quite frightening amount of money.” And as soon as it started rolling in, the social activist and journalist began to look for ways to give enormous sums away.
That’s been the hard part. With little guidance available for the country’s would-be Rockefellers, Nilekani became a self-taught philanthropist, building two foundations from the ground up. So far, she has provided a total of $37 million to Akshara Foundation, which is dedicated to education, and the Arghyam trust, which tackles water
issues.

KEYWORDS

YOU MAY ALSO WANT TO READ

Nov 02, 2023
Article
Rohini Nilekani, Chairperson – Rohini Nilekani Philanthropies, has been named the ‘most generous woman philanthropist’ for the fourth consecutive year, according to The EdelGive Hurun India Philanthropy List 2023. She donated Rs 170 crore [...]
Sep 18, 2023
Interview
बातचीत:प्रकृति के पास जाइए, फोन छोड़ परिवार संग खाना खाइए, बच्चे को पहला उपहार एक किताब दीजिए… समाज, सरकार और बाजार… देश के इन तीन पहियों की मदद से ही [...]
Sep 08, 2023
Panel
There is a need and opportunity for strategic philanthropy to drive large scale social change. Solvingintractable problems requires philanthropy, government and business sectors working effectivelytogether. But philanthropy’s impact is held [...]