What is Giving Compass?
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Giving Compass' Take:
• Indiaspora breaks down donations to American universities from Indian-Americans, highlighting the group's role in funding higher education.
• How can funders work together to drive impactful giving?
• Learn about funding higher education.
Donations to American universities grew 6% to a record $43.6 billion in 2017 according to the Council for Aid to Education. More than $19 billion of these charitable funds were given by individuals.
Indian-Americans are the most educated ethnic group in the United States. What’s more, they have a higher income level than any other ethnic group in the U.S. As a community, Indian-Americans embody the ideal of hard work and have even been named the most entrepreneurial ethnic group in America.
Clearly, quality higher education is of extreme importance to Indian-Americans. In 2018, Indiaspora embarked to quantify that importance with the establishment of the Indiaspora Monitor of University Giving. The study aims to highlight Indian-Americans’ past philanthropic actions so the group’s commitment to higher education can become even stronger in the future.
Findings:
The first release of data from the Indiaspora Monitor of University Giving found Indian Americans donated more than $1.2 billion to 37 American universities and colleges from 2000 to August 2018.
Fifty different donors made the 68 donations analyzed. A total of 47 percent of the gifts in the database are from repeat donors who had also given $1 million or more to either the same or a different university.
A total of 37 different colleges were recipients of the 68 largest donations. These schools are both geographically and economically diverse. Private universities were targeted for donation more than twice as often as public schools and receive $5 for every $2 donated to public schools.