Back to resources

Learning the Art of Giving

Strategic Philanthropy | Sep 4, 2006

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.

View PDF

More like this

Strategic Philanthropy

Indian diaspora givers becoming a powerful force in global philanthropy

An emotional link to their roots means causes in the homeland are a principal target for their philanthropic funding. “Certainly they have been giving to charities that are close to home, whether in education or health, or something they were connected with emotionally,” says Rohini Nilekani, a prominent India based donor and champion for philanthropy […]
Oct 21, 2016 | Article

Civil Society  |  Others  |  Strategic Philanthropy

Rohini Nilekani is Changing Philanthropy

Of India’s many prominent business couples, few can match the Nilekanis in their uniqueness. Nandan Nilekani is now a business legend, for his role in building Infosys (with N R Narayana Murthy and his co-founders) and for rescuing it a few years ago when he came back to set the company right. But unlike most […]
Aug 26, 2022 |

Everyday Giving  |  Strategic Philanthropy

First Givers Club - Signature Workshop with Rohini Nilekani & Nandan Nilekani

This is an edited version of a panel discussion with Mr. Mahesh Krishnamurthy, Nandan and Rohini Nilekani, for GiveIndia.org, an online donation platform. My journey in the nonprofit sector began with a serendipitous meeting with CV Madhukar. Towards the end of 1999, when my children were starting to become more independent, I was lucky enough […]
Jan 21, 2015 | Conversation

Strategic Philanthropy

Giving Pledge is not meant to be prescriptive: Rohini Nilekani

Rohini Nilekani on why she and her husband Infosys chairman Nandan Nilekani signed up for Bill Gates and Warren Buffett’s Giving Pledge initiative. In a phone interview from Bengaluru, Rohini Nilekani explains why the couple felt the need to sign the pledge, how wealth can influence policy and how societal platforms will help them scale up. Edited […]
Dec 5, 2017 | Interview