Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta (Photo: Ashok Kumar)

The Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Calcutta is in the process of forming a ‘General Alumni Association’ which would help tap the 6,000+ rich alumni base of the b-school in collecting funds to support its major infrastructure expansion plans. The school also intends this association to assist in updating course curriculum and provide help during the placement season.

The General Alumni Association will be at the pinnacle of all individual IIM Calcutta alumni chapter meets that take place across major cities of the country including Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad and others. The institute wants to keep a better track of its alumni through this arrangement.

The proposed Association will be responsible for collecting and managing donations from alumni that are made directly or indirectly. Generally, alumni members give grants for specific projects on the campus, which makes the collection of sufficient funds for individual projects a long-drawn process. Instead, this Association will make a centralised fund collection system. All the funds donated by the alumni will be pooled into the system, which would make it faster and easier for the authorities to raise money for infrastructural projects needed on a priority basis, Prof Ashok Banerjee, dean of new initiatives and external relations told PaGaLGuY.

However, alumni from IIM Calcutta have mixed reactions to the formation of such a committee. Rakesh Bansal, director, AnuSpa Heritage Products, Mumbai and an IIM Calcutta alumnus from the 1977 batch said that he was not in favour of such a step. Alumni preferred giving for individual projects rather than to general funds where their usage may not be trackable, he said. “For me, such a step would reduce the motivation to donate funds to the school,” he told PaGaLGuY.

On the other hand, Alok Chaudhary, a 1979 alumnus called this a positive step. According to him, alumni who have not kept in close touch with the institute are not expected to have a finger on the pulse and current needs of the institute, but may still wish to donate with the intention of giving back to their alma mater. How those funds are used could be tracked by a committee closer home because it would understand the requirements of the institute better, he added.

Adding to the point, Ameya Abhyankar of the 2006 batch working with an energy firm in Mumbai said that in addition to formalising the fund donation process, the institute could also host a forum-like-feature on the website that would make it easier for members of the alumni association to keep a tab on the current projects being undertaken by the institute, the amount of money required for individual projects and any requirements from alumni. “State committees should be kept in the loop about the activities being undertaken by the central committee. This would help streamline the process even more,” Abhyankar told PaGaLGuY. Ritesh Kapur, a 2007 alumnus of the institute echoed the sentiment saying that alumni should be able to express their opinion about the final project in which the funds would be used through a communication channel created for the purpose.

The idea of the General Alumni Association was mooted during a fundraising workshop of all the IIMs in New Delhi during early 2012. At the meeting, the IIMs had discussed the possibility of creating a fundraising department which would reduce the government-owned b-schools’ dependence on the Ministry of Human Resource and Development (MHRD) grants. At present, the IIMs generate the bulk of their revenues through Management Development Programs (MDPs) and executive education.

Apart from raising cash, the Association also intends to connect the institute with alumni who could help evolve its curriculum and assist during placements, Prof Banerjee said.

Till now, our alumni base consists basically of regular PGDM graduates. The next step is to include alumni from the executive and other courses in the institute too, Shekhar Chaudhury, IIM Calcutta director told PaGaLGuY.

The institute is hoping to begin the Association within the next six months. The Association would have to be established as a company under Section 25 of The Companies Act of 1956, said Prof Banerjee, explaining the roadmap towards creating the association.