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| Press Coverage Home > Press Coverage |
Doon School Weekly: May 28th, 2005
Sleepless in New York, San Francisco and Boston
Kanti Bajpai writes about his fundraising trip to the USA
I have just returned from a grinding but exhila- rating two-week trip that took me to the United States as part of the school’'s efforts to raise funds from the Old Boys for its various projects as well as an endowment. With me at various points on the trip were Dhruv Sawhney (ex-37 K, ’'61), Chairman of the Board, Analjit Singh (ex-132 J, '71), Chairman of the Fundraising Committee of the Board, and Sati Puri (ex- 49 K, ’'52), also a member of the Committee.
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During the trip we met Old Boys in substantial numbers; we talked, as Doscos always do, about the school’- past, present, and future; and we discussed in some depth our efforts to renovate and to build new facilities, to strengthen human resources, and to constitute an endowment for scholarships and for the greater financial stability of the institution.
The background to our visit is worth recording. More than a year ago the Board of Governors decided to constitute a committee to raise funds for the school. Analjit Singh agreed to head this committee. The committee recruited various other Old Boys, within India as well as abroad (in New York, San Francisco, Singapore, and Hong Kong, primarily).
Sati Puri was amongst the Old Boys who graciously ’'came on board’', and he was given the task of working in Dehra Dun (he lives here), to help coordinate the effort between the committee and the school. Incidentally, Sati has an office in the old bakery area next to the hospital, where he can be found dictating letters, making phone calls, and receiving Old Boys and potential donors.
Led by Analjit, the fundraising committee began its efforts in India. Analjit and Sati, as well as others, met in Mumbai and Delhi and were in contact with Old Boys and corporates in various parts of the country. In February, they, along with Jayant Hari Har Lal (ex-404 H, '69), Deputy Headmaster, made an initial foray abroad, to Singapore. Here they met a good number of Old Boys and made presentations on why the school needed funds, how it proposed to raise these funds, how it might give recognition to donors, and how accountability and transparency in the use of the funds were to be ensured. Of course, the Singapore visit was also an occasion for an Old Boys' reunion and the usual stories and merriment!
The next port of call for the fundraising effort was the United States. New York and San Francisco are inhabited by a substantial number of Old Boys, spanning various generations, but mostly from the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s. Sati went ahead of time to New York, in March and then again in early May, to help plan the trip. He worked closely here with Sanjeev Mehra (ex-359 JB, '75), a former School Captain, who is a member of the fundraising committee and has taken responsibility for the New York area, Vinit Khanna (ex 350 HB, '74), and Deepak Thakran (ex-123 TB, '90). He also worked closely with Shivbir Grewal (ex- 378 KA, '75) and Anil Kumar (ex-453 KB, '74) in San Francisco.
From May 11 to May 16, the core group of the US trip, Analjit Singh, Sati Puri, and I, met about 80 Old Boys (there are apparently 250 OBs in North America). The Chairman of the Board joined us in New York for two days before rushing back to Delhi to launch a public issue for his company. The rest of us had meetings with individual Old Boys who had already shown an interest in contributing financially to the school. We also participated in two events, one in New York and one in San Francisco, where a larger gathering of Old Boys was present’-about 50 in New York and another 30 or so in San Francisco.
The New York gathering was held at the Utsav Restaurant in Manhattan. The restaurant is owned by Nandita Khanna, wife of Vivek Khanna (ex-933 H, '82). Nandita was marvellous and patient in dealing with all our requirements and idiosyncracies! Dhruv, Analjit, and I spoke on the occasion and took questions from an inquisitive audience of OBs. On the West Coast, we were hosted by Arjun Malhotra (ex-325 K, '64) and his wife at their lovely home in Saratoga. Under a cloudless California sky, we once again presented our thoughts on fundraising and talked about the school, sometimes with great seriousness and sometimes rather more wickedly!
The trip was noteworthy for a variety of reasons. First of all, while there have been earlier efforts to raise funds from North America, this is the first time the school has mounted such an extensive campaign. Secondly, our presence was the excuse for probably the largest get-together of Old Boys that has ever been held in North America. While individuals and groups of OBs do keep in touch, they rarely get time or find an occasion to meet in large numbers. Thirdly, the trip was useful in laying the groundwork for a dedicated, long-term fundraising effort. Old Boys were very candid and helpful in reacting to our presentations and ideas, confirming that we were basically on the right track in terms of the approach and 'architecture' of fundraising and helping refine our thoughts and methods. Since fundraising as a science is basically an American invention, and since a number of Old Boys and their wives have been involved in it in the US on behalf of their universities and children's schools, we (continued on page 7)learned a good deal about how such an effort has to be crafted for the long term. Fundraising can be, and often is, for a specific event (such as the 50th year of the institution or the 25th year reunion of a batch of OBs) or for a specific set of projects (such as a new Art School or the extension of the Rose Bowl), but it is also a dedicated programme that continues for as long as the institution remains alive!
The last point came home to us with great force when Sati and I visited the Groton School in Massachusetts on May 18-19. Groton is about an hour by road from Boston. It is one of America's most famous residential schools. Its alumni, like Doscos, are to be found in public life, business, the arts and letters, and the professions. The school boasts huge grounds, wonderful buildings and facilities (including a new performing arts centre which would be the envy of many universities and large cities!), and is home to about 350 students. Our host was Nishad Das (ex-950 H, '82), son of Shomie Das (ex-165 H, '51, and Headmaster of Doon, '88-'96), who is Co-Chair of the Mathematics Department at Groton.
Sati and I stayed with Rick Commons, the new Headmaster, who came to Groton in July 2003, exactly when I arrived at Doon. Rick is an astonishing 39 years old, looks even younger, and is sturdy and athletic. He’-and his vivacious wife’-made me look and feel rather creaky! Nishad also is in fine physical shape and looks no different from when I saw him last, which was in his Sc year at school in 1982. He plays a lot of squash and runs medium distances and coaches both squash and distance running. His charming wife, Shovani (who teaches English at Groton), and their three children invited us into their home and shared ideas and perspectives, over two hectic days.
Sati and I spent a rewarding day and a half at Groton, learning about the school’-its history, traditions, practices, achievements’-as also how it raises funds. Groton has an endowment that runs into the hundreds of millions (US dollars, in case you were wondering). Its fundraising team, which is housed in the school, consists of a professional group of fundraisers that works closely with the Headmaster. Fundraising is a never-ending and very systematic activity. Rick Commons participates at alumni reunions and gettogethers at least once a month in various parts of the U.S. as well as in the school!
Groton is quite like Doon. But there are differences that go beyond the physical setting and facilities. It is older than Doon (going back to 1864) and is coeducational (since the early 1970s). The students are housed by forms. Each form lives in a separate dorm (so do the boys and girls, by the way!). There are only very few prefects’-my impression was two head prefects (a boy and a girl) and maybe a couple more. Groton has no intra-mural, i.e., inter-house, competitions. Whereas we believe that inter-house competition is essential in fostering excellence, spiritedness, and community feeling, Groton has taken a different view.
While it does not have a weekly publication like Doon, Groton produces very high quality writing. I read a number of the chapel talks’-the equivalent of our five-minute assembly talks-which are excellent: they are wonderfully written, mature and thoughtful (they are also delivered with great verve). Groton has produced scores of authors- there is not an issue of their quarterly magazine which does not feature 3-4 books written by old Groton students and reviewed by present students. Nor are Groton students obsessed with engineering and medicine! They proceed, in large numbers, to degrees in the humanities, social sciences, pure sciences, as well as law and business. (In August, we will host a recent graduate of Groton who will teach a bit of mathematics and English and play some soccer.).
In sum, the trip was exciting and wonderful: we woke early, travelled great distances, interacted intensely, and communed with old and new friends. We will fundraising again to the US and will also visit the UK later in the year. In all likelihood, these programmes must be an annual feature of the calendar. Personally, would prefer to do them in the holiday period-it too physically demanding otherwise, and it is too long to be away from school. I cannot say how much will raise by way of money (though I am optimistic), but I can say that it was terrific to see old schoolmates from the 1960s and 1970s and to meet some of former students from the 1980s. Their love of school, their desire to give something back to the institution that gave them so much, their congeniality, their graciousness in receiving us, all these were striking-I suppose I had expected no less, but to see it and hear it, to speak, was heartening and often moving.
Thank you, Old Boys of New York and San Francisco, and thanks also to Groton School!