BITS Pilani Alumni Association (BITSAA) International Inc. w

 BITS Pilani Alumni Association (BITSAA) International Inc. Annual Report 2008 www.bitsaa.org Page 1 of 23 This publication from BITSAA International is sponsored by Ceera Investments, LLC is a Registered Investment Advisor offering Customized Portfolio/ Investment Management for various types of clients. Using an investment philosophy based upon the thoughts and teachings of investing legends such as Warren Buffett, Philip Fisher, Benjamin Graham, Peter Lynch, and Charlie Munger we invest in a limited number of carefully­chosen investments that are expected to provide appropriate protection of principal and opportunities for an attractive rate of return. While we are typically compensated by an annual management fee (as a percent of assets under management), we also offer to clients who qualify under securities laws, a performance­based fee schedule where we get compensated if and only if we generate a rate of return in excess of a negotiated hurdle rate. For more details on our investment philosophy, advisory capabilities, and processes, please visit us at www.ceera.com or contact us at 713­355­7523. A
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BITS Pilani Alumni Association (BITSAA) International Inc. Annual Report 2008 www.bitsaa.org Page 2 of 23 Table of Contents BITSAA International ‐ Who we are ...................................................................................................................................................................... 4 Chairman’s Message ............................................................................................................................................................................................... 4 2008 Accomplishments ......................................................................................................................................................................................... 4 BITSAA Vision ................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 5 BITSAA Mission .............................................................................................................................................................................................................. 5 BITSAA Initiatives – What we do............................................................................................................................................................................ 6 Students at BITS Pilani Campuses .................................................................................................................................................................... 6 Improving BITS Pilani brand and education ............................................................................................................................................. 10 Helping Alumni realize their potential ......................................................................................................................................................... 12 How can you give back? ............................................................................................................................................................................................ 16 Donate to BITSAA .................................................................................................................................................................................................. 16 BITSEmbryo lectures ........................................................................................................................................................................................... 18 BITS2BSchool, BITS2MSPhD ............................................................................................................................................................................. 18 Plan a Vacation at a BITS Pilani campus – Dubai, Goa, Hyderabad or Pilani ............................................................................... 18 Spend time ................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 18 STATEMENT OF ACCOUNTS .................................................................................................................................................................................. 19 BITSAA INVESTMENT POLICY – EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ......................................................................................................................... 20 DONOR LIST 2008 ....................................................................................................................................................................................................... 21 BITSAA DONATION FORM ‐ International ....................................................................................................................................................... 22 BITSAA DONATION FORM ‐ India ........................................................................................................................................................................ 23 BITS Pilani Alumni Association (BITSAA) International Inc. Annual Report 2008 www.bitsaa.org Page 3 of 23 BITSAA International ­ Who we are
Chairman’s Message I welcome you to BITSAA International's Annual report for 2008! You belong to an association whose members are intellectually elite, culturally diverse, socially conscious, and professionally successful. BITSAA International's goal is to help you remain connected with other BITSians and with BITS Pilani, our alma mater. I hope BITSAA International serves as a catalyst in furthering your lifelong learning and professional development. A continued connection with BITS will hopefully be rewarding and also motivate you to help the mother‐ship, BITS Pilani, to which we all owe so much. BITSAA International is a volunteer organization. I am proud of the association's leadership team comprising highly talented and dedicated BITSians. They have continually surprised me by the amount of effort and enthusiasm in working on the association's activities. Over time, we will need new volunteers to pass the baton and rejuvenate the association with new ideas, new vision, and new beginnings! BITSAA International is engaged in a wide array of activities and fundraising initiatives aimed toward enhancing the quality of BITS education, its faculty, its infrastructure, its student body, affordability of BITS education to the economically disadvantaged, and ultimately the BITS Pilani brand. This report summarizes achievements of the past year and presents plans for the coming year. It also contains information on how you can support all the work that BITSAA is doing. I hope you will be inspired to participate in one or more of these worthy initiatives. With Best Wishes Dr. SP Kothari Chairman of the Trustees, BITSAA International 2008 Accomplishments 
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Created a globally distributed BITSAA International team of 54 volunteers spread across 30 cities. o Organized the volunteer team into a corporation‐like CxO, Director, Manager, Volunteer structure Revamped BITSAA.org web portal to enable a single point of connection for all BITSAA initiatives Launched BITSAA Global Alumni Directory – 3,000 registered members in one month Continued to enhance our scholarship portfolio with the addition of four new scholarships o Bhushan Bhatia scholarship of 50% tuition grant for two students o Ashok Agarwal scholarship for full tuition fees for a 1st year student o Rakesh Chandra scholarship for full tuition fees for a 2nd year student o BITSAA & BITS Pilani Travel Scholarship – first‐of‐its‐kind venture between BITS Pilani and BITSAA to award travel grants for attending international conferences Registered "BITS Pilani Alumni Association ‐ India Trust" – BITSAA International's arm for fundraising activities in India. Published revamped versions of "BITSians in Academia", "BITSian Entrepreneurs" and "BITSAA Who's Who" databases Launched 'Let's Promote BITS, Pilani' to spread awareness about BITS at high schools across India Ran campaigns to help BITSians in need ‐ Seema Sood Fund, Life for Manish Created a joint partnership with Indian Premier League winner Rajasthan Royals Launched Fundraising drive with target of USD 100,000 to fund planned projects
BITS Pilani Alumni Association (BITSAA) International Inc. Annual Report 2008 www.bitsaa.org Page 4 of 23 BITSAA Vision  Maximize the potential of BITSians and BITS Pilani BITSAA Mission  Make BITSAA the best and most well networked alumni community in the world and positively enhance your professional and personal lives  Give back to BITS Pilani to strengthen the infrastructure, student exposure and education quality BITS Pilani Alumni Association (BITSAA) International Inc. Annual Report 2008 www.bitsaa.org Page 5 of 23 BITSAA Initiatives – What we do To realize our vision, BITSAA initiatives are geared towards Students, Alumni, Education and the BITS Pilani Brand. BITSAA Initiatives For Students To Promote BITS Pilani brand & education For Alumni BITS2MSPHD, BITS2BSchool – Mentor BITSians for admissions to top‐notch research and MBA programs BITSEmbryo – Supplement Alumni Directory ‐ Connect BITSians classroom teaching through online through an online alumni directory and lectures and seminars conducted web portal by Alums around the world BITSAA Travel Grants – Travel grants for students to travel to International Conferences Faculty Travel Grants – Bring the best International Professors to the BITS Pilani campuses for lectures & sabbaticals BITS.aid – Drive social change in the community. Assist needy BITSians financially and through volunteers efforts
Lets Promote BITS Pilani – a Team ACYUT – Assist robotics grassroots movement to promote team at the Pilani campus to create the BITS Pilani brand at high India’s 1st humanoid robot schools across India Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership (CEL) – Create the next generation of entrepreneurs Tuition Scholarships – Merit‐
cum‐need scholarships awarded biannually through the BITSAA Endowment Fund (BEF) New Science Building Initiative – Raise funds for a new science building at the BITS Pilani campus Sandpaper 2.0 – Inform BITSians about the latest news from the campuses and community through monthly newsletter and biennial magazine Students at BITS Pilani Campuses BITSAA’s initiatives for students at BITS Pilani campuses include awarding scholarships & travel grants, BITS2MSPHD & BITS2BSCHOOL for mentoring students and assisting Team ACYUT at the Pilani campus to win Robogames 2009 at San Francisco. Scholarships BITSAA currently awards eight scholarships to students at the BITS Pilani campuses. These scholarships are funded out of the BITSAA Endowment Fund (BEF). BEF is a portfolio of donor endowed amounts and excess BITSAA funds which currently stands at USD 61,756. Income and appreciation out of this endowment are used to distribute the BITSAA scholarships. Travel Grants The BITSAA Travel grants are awarded to meritorious students from the BITS Pilani campus for attending International Conferences. The travel grants encourage more students to perform, publish and present cutting edge research. This grant is jointly funded by BITSAA and BITS Pilani (37.5% each) while the student is responsible for funding 25% of the expenses. BITS Pilani Alumni Association (BITSAA) International Inc. Annual Report 2008 www.bitsaa.org Page 6 of 23 BITSAA Travel Grant and Its Impact on My Academic Life Pritwiraj Moulik (’05 Civil) I can vividly remember the day I sent an anxious e‐mail to BITSAA. It was a short message regarding my work on earthquake predictability using the paradigm of Fuzzy Logic that had been accepted to the annual ASCE (American Society of Civil Engineers) GeoCongress ’08 at New Orleans. Patricia Culligan from Columbia University, one of the conference Chairs, had also certified that I was the “only undergraduate student selected for the conference as well as the only student selected from India.” It was a cold January evening in Pilani when the BITSAA Board of Directors approved the creation of the "BITSAA Travel Grant" and decided to give the first grant to me. This grant constituted a $2,000 award along with assistance that BITSAA would provide me for helping with accommodation, transportation and hospitality. Champa and Brij Bhushan (see picture), icons of the “BITSian‐
style” hospitality, were extremely helpful throughout the preparation for the trip and during my stay at Washington D.C. They even made ‘Chaat’ for me apart from the amazing whirlwind tour of the US capital. The BITSAA travel grant has left an indelible mark in my academic life. It was during the conference that I contacted many professors like Prof. Der‐Har Lee at NCKU, Taiwan and collaborated with him to propose a neuro‐fuzzy model for the landslide problem in the Ali‐Shan area of Taiwan which is being sent for review this month. I am currently on exchange for my senior thesis and remaining courses as a Research Associate at the University of Western Ontario where I have received the Ontario‐
Maharashtra‐Goa Scholarship by the Govt. of Ontario. I am now presenting my work at other premier conferences such as the American Geophysical Union with other scholarships and hope to join a good Geophysics research group in Fall ’09”. BITSAA Scholarships Scholarship Purpose Annual Distributions Instituted Evaluation Process Ashok Agarwal Sponsoring full tuition fee for one student on a merit cum need basis. INR 60,000 January, 2009 Scholarships awarded based on both merit and financial need. Bhushan Bhatia Sponsoring 50% tuition fee for one male and one female student on a need basis INR 60,000 January, 2009 Scholarships awarded based on financial need, with separate lists made for male and female students. Graduate Application Scholarships Fund application fees for MS and PHD programs at top graduate schools INR 1,25,000 (5 scholarships USD 500 each) August 2006 The BITS2MSPHD team invites applications for Graduate Scholarships once a year. These applications are evaluated for merit and need for scholarship awards BITS Pilani Alumni Association (BITSAA) International Inc. Annual Report 2008 www.bitsaa.org Page 7 of 23 Leuna Harkawat Award Awarded to the winner of Tarang ‐ a music competition held during Oasis at BITS Pilani INR 5,000 August, 2003 Evaluated by judges who are invited for Tarang Rakesh Chandra Sponsoring full tuition fee for one student on a merit cum need basis INR 60,000 January, 2009 Scholarships awarded based on both merit and financial need R.P. Vaid Scholarship awarded to a student of Chemical Engineering department INR 5,000 August, 2003 Scholarship is judged by the Chemical Engineering Association Pendyala Vamsikrishna Memorial Sponsoring full tuition fee for a II year student on merit‐cum‐need basis INR 85,000 August, 2002 S.S. Seshadri Memorial Sponsoring full tuition fee for a 3rd year student on merit‐cum‐need basis Student Welfare Division (SWD) sorts students in the merit‐cum‐means list in the order of merit and recommends the top‐most student for the scholarship BITSAA Graduate Application Scholarships The BITSAA graduate application scholarships encourage students to apply at multiple institutions of higher learning for admission. Scholarship amount – USD 500 to 1,000 Andrea Colaço (2003A3PS007) Graduate Student MIT Media Laboratory Arjun Vijaykumar (2003A1A8451) PhD Candidate, Princeton University “The BITSAA [graduate] scholarship came as a huge morale booster amid all the uncertainties associated with 'apping' ‐ the process of applying for the scholarship helped me formulate my SOP more clearly.” says Andrea. “The selection process including the interview served as a trial run of the Media Lab interview I had a couple of months later. Further, the fiscal support offers an opportunity to consider a few more grad schools, which is invaluable in increasing chances of a good app. The overall experience rendered me more confident about my app and in my opinion this scholarship will enable BITSians to better connect and streamline their applications.” “I comfortably sailed through the journey of applying to good schools with the scholarship that BITSAA awarded to me” says Arjun. “The award was motivating and encouraging in terms of high hope the seniors and BITSAA team had on me. Their words like “the application stood out from the rest” makes one feel good about the past and motivated for the future. I convey regards to the BITSAA team for their great job and I wish to be actively involved in its progress and activities in the years to come.” BITS Pilani Alumni Association (BITSAA) International Inc. Annual Report 2008 www.bitsaa.org Page 8 of 23 •
BITS2MSPhD At BITS2MSPHD, we help create the next generation of Technology Leaders and Innovators. BITS2MSPHD was formed in 2005 by a group of enthusiastic BITSians to demystify the MS/PhD admission process and help BITSians make it to their dream Universities. Students can search from a wide database for BITSians with similar research interests, alums of their dream schools for application advice and more specific information on student visa and financial aid. The core objectives of the BITS2MSPhD group are ‐ •
Help students with GRE and TOEFL preparation •
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Help students decide on Universities and Majors based on research interests Comprehensive ranking of universities and majors Help students with SOP (statement of purpose) Help students find financial aid. In just 3 years, the BITS2MSPHD has evolved into a group of 1,800 members helping fellow BITSians in every step of the admission process. This year there were over 460 admits for students from Pilani, Goa and Dubai campuses to universities across the world, including one at Harvard, 11 at Stanford and 38 at Texas A&M University. BITS2BSCHOOL After spending about 5 years working in the tech industry, Adarsh Sreekumar, was going through the same career crisis that many of his seniors went through – “how do I make the next big leap in my career?” Adarsh Sreekumar (’97 EEE, ’09 MBA Wharton) – Credits BITS2BSchool for his Bschool success story "When the question of business school arose for me, I deliberated it for over 3 months. There were too many questions that needed answering before I could realistically start working towards an MBA. Would an MBA be worth my time and money? Was Harvard or Wharton a better fit for me? And finally – how on earth would I make it into these seemingly unattainable schools?" "It was around this time that I joined the BITS2BSCHOOL community, which revolutionized my application process in many ways. Not only was I getting valuable information that helped answer my questions, I was also inspired by success stories of the BITSians who were at top business schools making a difference in the world. I was impressed by the spirit of BITSians to help – unsuccessful applicants shared feedback they received from B‐schools to help others avoid repeating their mistakes. The networks created by the community allowed me to connect with organizations like McKinsey and Google, giving me a head start in recruiting efforts during B‐school." Adarsh is one among the 200 BITSians who's business‐school dreams have been shaped by BITS2BSCHOOL, a forum started in 2004 by Abhinav Gattani (Kellogg '05), Krishna Hegde (Tuck '04), Shobit Rana (Michigan '04) and Manish Bansal (Michigan '04). BITS2BSchool has over 1,900 members on its rolls today. BITS Pilani Alumni Association (BITSAA) International Inc. Annual Report 2008 www.bitsaa.org Page 9 of 23 ACYUT – The humanoid robot from Rajasthan Samay Kohli, Arpit Mohan, Harsh Sinha, Prayag Mukherjee and Sushma Vallabhaneni were elated to see their creation ACYUT ‐ India's first humanoid robot, kicking into life amidst the scraps of aluminium and old motors in the Robotics Lab at BITS Pilani; and this was only the beginning. These young BITSians, only in their third year in Pilani, dreamt big: to participate in the world's largest robotics contest, RoboGames ‐ held annually in San Francisco. Their biggest challenge ‐ FUNDING! About 12,000 miles away, Raju Reddy (BITS '76) and Viggy Mokkrala (BITS '76) got together and decided to step in and lead the fundraising effort. Subodh Karnik (BITS '76), former CEO of ATA Airlines arranged for their travel and Shashikanth Khandelwal (BITS '97) helped with the logistics. More alumni support poured in. ACYUT was placed 6th at the RoboGames 2008 which witnessed over 170 teams from 18 countries with 482 entries, 504 robots and 563 engineers. Improving BITS Pilani brand and education BITSEmbryo BITSEmbryo is a BITSAA initiative aimed at fostering strong collaboration between students, faculty, alumni and friends of BITS, Pilani. Through lecture series and collaborative projects, BITSEmbryo aims to expose students to the cutting edge technology and to provide the opportunity to network with the Alumni. The approach is three‐fold: • Complement BITS courses through video lecture series • Facilitate collaborative research projects between alumni and BITS, Pilani • Expose students to current research trends and provide guidance for pursuing research projects Since its inception in 2006 by an Alumni team led by Shashikant Khandelwal ('97 CS, '04 MSCS Stanford), BITSEmbryo has facilitated more than 100 lectures delivered from USA, Europe and Asia Pacific. Raju Reddy (BITS '76) shares his thoughts with us “Whether it is Oasis, Apogee or Conquest, a distinctive feature of BITS Pilani has always been that such programs are conceived, developed and executed for most part by its students. The BITS ACYUT program is another great example of a student led initiative that not only built India's first humanoid robot but also managed to raise funding to showcase the robot at the world's leading event RoboGames. As a member of the BITS '76 batch which supported this initiative, it has been a privilege to partner in making this possible. Initiatives like this which combine BITS classroom training with industry exposure will go a long way to promote BITS Pilani as the leading global brand for Science and Engineering education.” To deliver talks from your home, office – contact embryo‐[email protected]. To participate / listen to upcoming talks, check the events section on www.bitsaa.org BITS Pilani Alumni Association (BITSAA) International Inc. Annual Report 2008 www.bitsaa.org Page 10 of 23 Abhinav Khushraj (’95 InfoSys, ’08 MBA MIT Sloan) Abhinav conducted the first ever Tri‐Campus BITSEmbryo lecture on the Mechanics of MBA Admissions. The lecture was a resounding success with more than 490 participants from the Pilani, Dubai and Goa campus. Abhinav says, “It was a great feeling to be able to connect with so many BITSians virtually and share my thoughts and experiences. Students had several insightful questions and the BITSEmbryo platform made it easy to respond in real time. I congratulate the BITSEmbryo team which has made significant strides in expanding it to this scale. It has created a highly effective and unique channel to connect alumni with current students. I encourage all BITSians to get involved.” Let’s Promote BITS Pilani Let’s Promote BITS Pilani (LPBP) was born out of a heated discussion on the BITS2BSchool mailing list. The topic of the discussion – how do we spread awareness about BITS Pilani to the remotest corners of India to attract the brightest minds to the BITS Pilani campuses? While others were busy pitching in bright ideas, Deepak Malani (’03 EEE) decided to take action. Poster created by “Lets Promote BITS Pilani” team. The BITS Pilani Information Session is coming shortly to a school near you. Leading from the front, Deepak conducted the first‐
ever LPBP lecture at his high school in Hyderabad. Though the college initially hesitated to permit him to conduct the session, after the session they were so impressed that they requested him to conduct the same for 11th standard students as well. The session was a huge hit with more than 200 students participating in a lively discussion. Impressed by the response of the trial session, Deepak decided to spread the wings and recruited an army of dedicated alums and students. Prof Meenakshi Raman joined the LPBP Board to help the team drive the right message. LPBP’s goal is to reach out to 40,000 students in 200 schools across India by mid 2009. Passions for LPBP BITS Pilani Alumni Association (BITSAA) International Inc. Annual Report 2008 www.bitsaa.org Page 11 of 23 amongst the team are high – with only one aim in mind – promote brand BITS Pilani. Faculty Travel Grants The faculty travel grants were instituted to enable students to get access to the best international professors from across the globe. Dr. Martha Turner was the first Professor to be invited through the BITSAA Faculty Travel Grant to conduct seminars on bioethics at the BITS Pilani campus. Dr. Turner has served as a Program Director for International Health at the Uniformed Services Health Sciences University, Bethesda MD, and has taught in the MPH and PhD programs. She teaches International Health, Medical Anthropology, Ethics in Public Health and Public Health in Disasters. She is a member of the editorial boards for Journal of Nursing Staff Development and Regulatory Toxicology and Pharmacology. Dr. Turner has developed and expanded ethical New Science Building Initiative The BITS Pilani Board of Governors has authorized the construction of a new science building that costs INR 5 crores. The building has been envisioned as a world class facility that will host labs in four distinct areas. 
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Drug Design and Discovery Nanoscience & Technology Biotechnology and Proteomics Public health With state‐of‐the art equipment and facilities, these laboratories will provide the environment conducive for research. The entire building will be centrally air conditioned with partitions so that one area does not contaminate (in the biological sense) other areas. Vice Chancellor, Prof. L. K. Maheswari has requested the alumni for help with this initiative: • Inputs are welcome from alumni who are architects or structural engineers in “green” construction. • Alumni who are specialists in the focused science fields to help specify the contents, special needs of these labs. • Alumni who could help find senior research faculty (the faculty would then be given complete control of these labs for research in their respective areas). Helping Alumni potential realize their AZone: BITSAA’s new Alumni directory practices in consultation with nurses and public health professionals in India, Vietnam and Australia. BITSAA International planned and organized Dr. Turner’s visit along with Prof. Suman Kapur and Dr. Radhey Maheshwari and also sponsored the travel expenses of Dr. Turner. On 31st Oct, 2008, BITSAA International announced the launch of a brand new BITSAA portal http://www.bitsaa.org that includes the first global BITSian Alumni Directory. Through this portal, BITSAA hopes to transform the way BITSians connect – enabling you to stay abreast with news from BITS Pilani campuses, keep in touch with batch mates, participate in BITSAA events and initiatives and give back to our alma mater. BITS Pilani Alumni Association (BITSAA) International Inc. Annual Report 2008 www.bitsaa.org Page 12 of 23 The all new www.bitsaa.org – Bringing BITS Alumni across the globe on one platform BITSians can also benefit from the exclusive compilation of BITSian Entrepreneurs, Corporate Executives and Academicians. The BITSAA portal is the result of the relentless efforts of the BITSAA Leadership Team ‐ a team of volunteers spread across thirty cities in three continents. With the continued efforts of the team, the website has registered more than 3,000 BITSians in the first month of its launch, including 600 current students. Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership The Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership (CEL) was setup with a mission to promote entrepreneurial thinking among the BITSian community and create future business leaders. Seeded by the BITSAA Center for Entrepreneurship and Venture Capital (CEVC), CEL was setup in record‐time in 2003 with the concerted efforts of the institute, alumni and students. Today, apart from existing as student CEL chapters in the Pilani and Goa campuses, BITSAA‐CEL is taking shape as a strong community of BITSian entrepreneurs and others interested in entrepreneurship. This year CEL‐BITSAA conducted two successful events as part of their lecture series. The first event was on "Technopreneurship" by Prasanna Krishnan (VC – DFJ, ’96 Comp Sci, ‘07 Wharton). The second event was focused on "Verticalization" by Vipin Jain (CEO, Retrevo). CEL‐BITSAA has also taken the initiative to put together a wiki infrastructure to share resources on entrepreneurship, and is in the process of revamping the CEL‐BITSAA portal. ‘Summer‐in‐a‐startup’ is another initiative started this year, with the goal to encourage BITSians to intern at startups, and helping interested companies connect with BITSians students on campus. BITS Pilani Alumni Association (BITSAA) International Inc. Annual Report 2008 www.bitsaa.org Page 13 of 23 Sandpaper 2.0 – Alumni Magazine and Newsletter Sandpaper is at the forefront of all the media that lets the world know what the BITSian community is all about. It’s a product of the tireless efforts and incredible creativity of a team of over fifty BITSians. The venture that was founded by Anupendra Sharma (’87 Eco & Instru) in 2003 has successfully released eleven editions till date. The monthly Sandpaper newsletter covers all relevant BITSian news: on‐
campus, off‐campus, alumni based, student based and faculty based news. in return, free tickets, special offers and discounted merchandise of the Rajasthan Royals. This also created the first international fan base of an IPL team and gave BITSians outside India a wonderful opportunity to come together, watch their favorite game and root for their home team ‐ the Rajasthan Royals. For Chennai born Kaushik Subramanian who now lives and works in San Jose, California, the final match between the Rajasthan Royals and the Chennai SuperKings, was a tussle between his heart and the mind, "My mind told me to root for Chennai Super Kings because I was born there, but my heart was rooting for Rajasthan Royals because of the four wonderful years I spent at BITS Pilani". BITS.aid Sandpaper 2.0 – Keeping BITSians Informed BITS connects with the Indian Premier League ­The Rajasthan Royals Story True to the saying "Champions associates always tend to be champions", Emerging Media, owners of the Jaipur IPL franchise, Rajasthan Royals announced a first‐of‐its‐kind global fan alliance by signing an exclusive relationship with BITSAA International. With this partnership, Rajasthan Royals inducted over 30,000 BITS Pilani Alumni who rooted for their victory in the India Premier League Cup and received, Coming together in a small way with the right people can make a big impact in supporting the community. Somewhere deep within, all of us have the urge to do something that would change the world, even at a micro level that would support people who need some help. We usually have ideas but do not know how to go about implementing them. BITS.aid was created with this objective‐ to provide BITSians a common platform to interact with each other in an efficient way and give back to the community translating ideas into actions and funneling your efforts for the greater good of the community. In 2008, BITS.aid executed two projects ‐ Life for Manish and the Seema Sood Initiative. BITS Pilani Alumni Association (BITSAA) International Inc. Annual Report 2008 www.bitsaa.org Page 14 of 23 BITS.aid initiatives in 2008 Life for Manish ('97 ME) Proud alumnus of BITS Pilani, Manish Bharadwaj’s case inspired BITS.aid to drive the initiative ‐ ‘Life for Manish’, for registering bone marrow donors for patients affected by Acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Manish put up a brave fight but lost his battle with cancer and passed away on Thursday, November 6th 2008 in Houston. He is survived by his wife Renuka, 5 year old daughter Ankita and 1 year old son Arjun. Manish’s talk about his disease over a video and his appeal to help patients by registering as bone marrow donors has moved every BITSian who watched it. Taking note from Manish’s talk, BITS.aid publicized the drive to spread the message across the world. As on 18th November 2008, drives for bone marrow registration were conducted at 61 locations in US, UK, India and Australia with a total number of 4,751 donors. The Seema Sood ('85, ET) Initiative Seema’s case is one more incident that gave BITSAA an opportunity to leverage its network and to lend a helping hand to a fellow BITSian. In the middle of 2008, news about Seema broke online “Himachal girl in pain seeks mercy killing from President of India”. Seema, the 1985 batch Gold medalist was destined for a bright future till rheumatoid arthritis killed her plans. She disappeared from the alumni community, and after being bedridden for 13 years she wrote a letter to the President of India, appealing for mercy killing. Seema’s news shook the BITSAA community into action. Bharti Balakrishnan ('00 Chem) and Aditi Pany ('00 Fin) drove from Delhi to meet Seema in person. Anu ('86 MMS) searched for doctors and arranged counseling sessions. Punita (’80 EEE) scheduled conference calls between alumni and bedridden Seema. As press coverage increased, the Chief Minister of the State intervened. The government agreed to pay for the surgery, but not critical post surgery rehabilitation. BITSAA reached out to the community and raised in four days, twice as much as what Seema requested. 235 alums donated. After four surgeries including two hip replacements, Seema is recovering. With the BITSAA community behind her, she no longer feels alone and helpless. This experience with Seema has reinforced our faith in the power of the BITSAA network – time and again, the BITSian passion to a difference in the life of fellow humans. BITS Pilani Alumni Association (BITSAA) International Inc. Annual Report 2008 www.bitsaa.org Page 15 of 23 How can you give back? Brij Bhushan was among the first batch of students who graduated from BITS Pilani in the year 1964, with Bachelors in Electrical Engineering. He returned to Pilani in '66 and joined the teaching staff, not knowing that he would get trapped in beautiful relationship with Champa Bhatia who was perusing her Masters that time. Over the next 20 years, Brij scaled new heights and successes and went on to found the Reston Consulting Group in 1986. Fast forward to 2008, Brij is back with BITSAA International as a member on the Board of Trustees. Not only did BITS give Brij the better half of his life i.e. his wife Champa, but also provided him with the learning ground and served as his springboard to success. And now, Brij is giving back to BITS – with a $25,000 endowment to fund student scholarships as well as his valuable time and wisdom to help make BITS Pilani, a globally recognized brand. Like it helped Brij, has BITS Pilani contributed in making who you are today? If you feel a sense of gratefulness and want to give back to the BITS Pilani community, we seek your help in one or more of the following ways: 
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If you are hard pressed for time, but would like to contribute to an initiative that appeals to your BITSian spirit, simply donate to BITSAA and let us manage all the logistics. Alternately, spend time with BITSAA and help create the best and most well‐
networked alumni organization in the world. Simply register in the new alumni directory on www.bitsaa.org and let us know that you are out there. Stay connected with BITSians and jump in whenever you are ready! Donate to BITSAA BITSAA International plans to raise $100,000 through 2009 to fund some key initiatives that help the BITSian community and promote the BITS Pilani brand globally. Your contributions will be entirely used towards the initiative that you choose. You can contribute using the donor form (attached at the end of the report) or online at www.bitsaa.org/donations Initiatives 2009 Planned Expenditure Student Travel Grants
$15,000
ACYUT – The humanoid robot $40,000
Graduate Application Scholarships $10,000
Let’s Promote BITS Pilani $5,000
BITSAA Operational Expenses $10,000
BITSAA Corpus Fund
$20,000
Total
$100,000
Student Travel grants Contribute to the BITSAA Student Travel Grant which is used to fund students’ travel to reputed international conferences. This not only assists students in their careers but also helps in grooming the business and technology leaders of tomorrow that help build the BITS Pilani brand globally. The estimated cost of funding the travel expenses for a BITSian to a conference in the US is $2,000 ($1,400 for air travel, $500 for living expenses and $100 for miscellaneous costs). With student responsible for 25% of the entire expense ($500), BITS Pilani contributing up to $500 towards student travel, BITSAA International will fund the remaining $1,000. Applications are reviewed by a panel of experts appointed by the BITSAA Board of Trustees and in close cooperation with BITS Pilani. The fundraising target for the 2009 BITSAA Student Travel Grant is $15,000. BITS Pilani Alumni Association (BITSAA) International Inc. Annual Report 2008 www.bitsaa.org Page 16 of 23 ACYUT – the Humanoid Robot from Rajasthan India’s first humanoid robot, designed by BITSians in the deserts of Rajasthan, was placed 6th out of 30 teams all over the world in RoboGames 2008 – one of the world’s largest robotics contests. Team ACYUT is now aiming for the top spot on the podium in RoboGames 2009. Events like these not only help build recognition for BITS Pilani brand worldwide, but also encourage the start of multi disciplinary, state‐of‐the‐art programs in Pilani. The estimated expenses for ACYUT 2009 come to a total of $40,000 itemized as: 
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BITSAA Operational Expenses BITSAA International operates as a virtual organization with volunteers and leaders spread across the world, working together towards making BITSAA one of the most well‐connected alumni organizations in the world. Our expenses are limited Plan for 2009 
Fund the development and participation of ACYUT in RoboGames 2009. o
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Fund the printing and distribution of promotional material and brochures for ‘Let’s Promote BITS Pilani’ among high schools and junior colleges. Cost of specialized motors and metal: $20,000 Cost of electronics: $7,500 Cost of tools: $2,500 Cost of travel: $7,000 Miscellaneous costs: $3,000 Graduate Application Scholarships Help more BITSians apply to top graduate schools. Each student will be awarded $500 to cover the application costs to top graduate schools in the US. By supporting this initiative, we hope to help students realize their potential in competing for slots in top graduate schools worldwide. These students will be the torch bearers for BITS Pilani brand. The fundraising target for the 2009 BITSAA Graduate Application Scholarship is $10,000. ‘Let’s Promote BITS Pilani’ BITSAA International has taken up an initiative to promote the brand ‘BITS Pilani’ among high‐schools and junior colleges across the country. The program will also expand to cover promotion of BITS Pilani as a top ranked Indian university among graduate schools across the US. The 2009 fundraising target for Lets Promote BITS Pilani is $5,000. Planned expenditure: $40,000 o
Planned expenditure: $5,000 to the bare essentials that include: 
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Annual audit fees Attorney consultation fees Web infrastructure expenses A significant operating expenditure for BITSAA is towards the maintenance of our web portal and alumni directory at www.bitsaa.org. This represents the face of BITSAA on the internet and helps connect the globally distributed BITSians with BITS Pilani and each other. The annual maintenance fee for the portal, which is operated through services provided by www.yourmembership.com is estimated at $7,000. We seek your contributions towards this expenditure and help grow our alumni directory to include all the 30,000 BITSians present all around the world. BITSAA Corpus Fund BITSAA International’s Corpus Funds constitute the general pool of BITSAA’s funds that have been used to cover its operational expenses over the years, and BITS Pilani Alumni Association (BITSAA) International Inc. Annual Report 2008 www.bitsaa.org Page 17 of 23 any emergency needs of the alumni community. Some of these expenses during 2008 include the cost of Plan for 2009 
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Raise $10,000 towards BITSAA’s operational expenses including www.bitsaa.org and Sandpaper, BITSAA’s biannual magazine. Allocate $20,000 from the total money raised in 2009 towards the BITSAA Corpus Fund, to be managed by the BITSAA Investment Committee and used to cover future initiatives and needs. setting up the new alumni directory at www.bitsaa.org, funding the travel of Prithwiraj Moulik ('05 Civil) from BITS Pilani to participate in the GeoCongress 2008 at New Orleans and helping Seema Sood recover back to good health. If you do not have a specific initiative that you would like to fund, you can also donate to the Corpus Fund. BITSAA International will keep you informed of how your money is being put to use. BITSEmbryo lectures Thanks to BITSEmbryo, we now have the infrastructure that enables alums sitting in any corner of the world to connect with students across all campuses, and share their technical expertise, industry insights or provide career advice. Can you spend an hour or two, to talk about the latest in microprocessor design, video search algorithms or how to prevent the next financial meltdown? Did you make it to MIT, Stanford or Harvard Business School and know the secret sauce that you want to share? Do you have words of advice that will help BITSians to learn from your mistakes? Do get in touch with the team at embryo‐
[email protected]. BITS2BSchool, BITS2MSPhD BITS2MSPhD and BITS2BSchool have a current total membership of close to 4,000 BITSians, and the number is steadily increasing. The growing number in membership helps in assisting the increasing number of BITSians eager to apply to top graduate schools and business schools. Join these groups on www.bitsaa.org and share your experiences in applying to graduate school or business school. This initiative involves mentoring the students in their search for higher studies. All we ask for is to share your experience in order to shape the budding entrepreneurs, business and technological leaders of tomorrow. http://www.bitsaa.org/?page=bits2bschool2MS PhD http://www.bitsaa.org/?page=bits2msphd Plan a Vacation at a BITS Pilani campus – Dubai, Goa, Hyderabad or Pilani Are you planning a sabbatical from your current work schedule? Do you plan on taking a break to relax and re‐energize yourself? Can you spare a month, a week or even a couple of days for BITSAA? Plan a vacation in Pilani, spend time with students and faculty, and share your knowledge and experiences. You will be awed by the pace at which your campus itself is changing. Simply let us know, and BITSAA will help you with the necessary arrangements. Spend time There are over 7500 students spread across the four BITS Pilani campuses, looking up to their alumni community, to learn from your success and failures, and make intelligent choices and career decisions. All we need from you is your time, to share your knowledge and experiences and enable your juniors to succeed and establish BITS Pilani as a globally recognized brand. BITS Pilani Alumni Association (BITSAA) International Inc. Annual Report 2008 www.bitsaa.org Page 18 of 23 STATEMENT OF ACCOUNTS Statement of Accounts: Jan 1, 2008 to Dec 1, 2008 (All figures in USD) Opening Balance as of Dec 31, 2007 Cash Flow In (Revenues/Donations) Operational Revenues Corporate Contributions $6,768 $5,749 Student Travel Grants Funding the cost of travel for BITSians to participate in international conferences Seema Sood Fund Funding the post surgical treatment costs for BITS Pilani Alum Seema Sood ACYUT ‐ The Humanoid Robot Participation of BITS Pilani Robotics team at RoboGames 2009 in San Francisco Dr. Turner Dr Martha Turner's visit to BITS Pilani Helping BITSians apply to top ranked schools by funding the application cost $1,662 $900 $10,542 $150 $1,700 Donations: Endowed Initiatives Bhushan Bhatia Scholarship $25,000 Interest Income (Bank Accounts) Commerce Bank $15 Account Closings Donations: Operations + Discretionary Use Donations: Non­Endowed Initiatives Graduate Application Scholarships $9,533 TOTAL Merill Lynch Investment Account $1,172 $53,658 Expenses/ Disbursements/ Cash Flowing Out
Operational Expenses Website The new alumni directory and www.bitsaa.org Sandpaper Alumni magazine Auditor Fees $3,000 Legal Fees $350 Registration Fees and expenses $414 $175 $800 Wire Transfer Fees for disbursements BITS Brand Promotion Materials Disbursements: Non­Endowed Initiatives Graduate Scholarships Travel Scholarships Seema Sood Dr. Turner Disbursements: Endowed Initiatives $4,412 $300 $3,000 $1,212 $10,268 Dr Martha Turner's visit to BITS Pilani $1,700 Bhushan Bhatia Scholarship‐Sweep into BITSAA Endowment Fund Endowed Initiatives' disbursements from Operational Funds $25,000 Funds sweep into the BITSAA Endowment Fund for future investments TOTAL Excess Funds for Future Operations and Disbursements on 12/1/08 $3,500 $5,000 $59,131 $4,060 * Includes estimates for rest of the calendar year. **Unaudited. *** As of 9/30/2008 the total combined assets in the BITSAA endowment fund was
approximately $65000
BITS Pilani Alumni Association (BITSAA) International Inc. Annual Report 2008 www.bitsaa.org Page 19 of 23 BITSAA INVESTMENT POLICY – EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Name Of The Plan/ Inception BITSAA Endowment Fund (BEF)/ April 30, 2003 Statement of Purpose The Investment Policy Statement (IPS) has been created to guide the BITSAA Investment Committee (BIC) in effectively supervising, monitoring and evaluating BITSAA International’s (BITSAA) assets, primarily the investments in its Endowment Fund (called the BITSAA Endowment Fund (BEF). BEF’s Investment Objectives The objectives of BEF’s investment activities are two fold: 1) Primary Objective: Generate proceeds (via investment income and/or capital appreciation) to administer BITSAA’s current endowed (fully or partially) initiatives, AND 2) Secondary Objectives: a.
Generate funds to support any other BITSAA needs/ obligations as deemed necessary by the BITSAA Trustees/ Executive Team. b.
Grow the capital base of BEF to help support future initiatives of BITSAA Current BEF Assets $61,756 (as of 10/31/08) Targeted Rates of Returns Target A: Annualized 5 Year returns, ending the latest calendar year, in excess of 6% per year Target B: Annualized 5 Year returns, ending the latest calendar year, that is 3% in excess of the annualized rate of inflation during the same period: 5.9% as of 12/31/2007 Actual Annualized Performance 7.0% (04/30/03 to 12/31/2007) Conflicts of Interest None Total Annual Fees paid to all Authorized Money Managers None (4/30/2003 to 10/31/08) Authorized Parties Name of Person/ Party BITSAA Investment Committee (BIC) Rajesh Chelapurath (Chief Investment Officer); Kartik Bandhuvula (Manager) Authorized Money Manager (AMM) BITSAA Investment Committee (BIC) Trading Authorizations Rajesh Chelapurath (Chief Investment Officer (CIO)) [email protected] Authorized Account Officer (AAO) CFO‐Krishna Hegde Authorized Custodians T.D.Ameritrade Inc. CFO of BITSAA Krishna Hegde [email protected] Audit Committee Members Dr. S.P. Kothari [email protected] BITS Pilani Alumni Association (BITSAA) International Inc. Annual Report 2008 www.bitsaa.org Page 20 of 23 DONOR LIST 2008* Bhushan Bhatia Scholarship BITSAA Annual Giving Corpus fund Brij Bhushan Preethy Padmanabhan Hans Raj Nahata Champa Bhatia Suchithra Upadhyayula Karthik Krishna
BITSAA Travel Scholarships Akash Jauhar Rajeshwar Chopra
Gopi Krishna Chava Sarathchand Kolla
Zahida Taher
BITSAA Graduate Application Scholarships Aparna S Ashish Shah Lakshmi Ganesh
Pradeep Elango
Praveen Joginipally Rao Sanketh Shetty Aparna Sundar Badhri V Arun Madhav Deepak Ramachandran Mukul Chawla
Pradeep K E
Rahul Sampath
Sridhar Venkatakrishnan
Nitish Korula
Pradeep Kumar G
Ramji Venkat
Suresh Ganapathy
Ashish Garg Ketan Bhatt Nitish Nair
Pranesh Sundararajan
Ranjith Subramanian
Seema Sood Fund Abhay Raut Dipen Vardhe Afsheen Rajendran Elamaran Meibalan Gayathri Devalapalle Akbar Kamal Giridhar Pula Alok Prasad Girish Verma Anand Arunachalam Anand Kumar Gundu Hariharan Vasudevan Harsha Vinnakota Anand Lakshmanan Hussain Shaik Anwar Haneef Jagadeesh Krishnan Abhijit Pattewar Kiran Ayodhya Krishna singh Lakshmi Ganesh Laxman Rao Pulumati Lokesh Kumar Raja Madhav Acharya Madhura Nataraju Magma Design Auto. India Pvt Ltd Mahesh Umasankar Mahesh Visvanathan Ashish Garg Jaideep Mavoori Ashwani Tikoo Jay Raju Mahul Shah Balaji Babu Jayaprakash Sappidi Manish Mohan Chandrasekhar Reddy Joseph Kuruvilla Daljeet Singh K R Venkatesh Deepa Thandaveswara Kalpana Raman Manoj Srivastava Maya Tamhankar Mayur Siddanna Naveen Paladugu Rajasekhar Kalahasthi Sanketh Shetty Sri Venkata Tulumuri Nirmal Hasan Rajeev Shankar Santosh Thakur Sridhar Adurti Nitin Kumar Raju Krishnamoorthy Nitin Sood Rakesh Goenka Saravanan Subbarayan Saurabh Deshpande Srikanth Jammulapati Srikanth Metlakunta Srikanth Subramanian Srinavya Vutukuru Srinivas Avasarala Ojas Choksi Pankaj Chikara Pavan Konka Pradeep Kumar Reddy G Pramila Rani Pranesh Adhyam Sundararajan Preethi Premkumar Preeti Dave Rama Priyan Mangalagiri Ramaswami Kishore Ramkumar Mopuri Ramnish Kalsi Rampalli Narasimhan Ramprasad Nagaraja Rao Shanthi Nangunuri Shashikant Khandelwal Shivani Tripathi Shriram Ganesh Shruthi Vembar Rishi Sinha Shubha Govil Rohit Nelli Siddharth Swarup Priyadarshani Jadhav Sabhanayakam Parameswaran Saikrishnan Ramachandran Radhika Annoj Sajida Kaliyadan Priya Jain Shanthi Aratikatla Sindhura Sunkara Siva Natarajan Sivakumar Sundaresan Srinivas Jampani Srinivas Vishnubhotla Srinivasa Devanaboyina Srinivasa Kalapala Srinivasan Murari Sriram Kumar Sriranjani Srinivasan Subbarao Polavarapu Tamanna Saha Vaidyanathan Venkatesan Vamsidhar Valluri Vasanth Ram Srivatsan Veeru Bhora Venkata Jataprolu Venkata Koganti Venkateshwarlu Yadha Vikram Kohli Vinay Deo Vinay Kumar Ayyagari Vipin Kumar Yashaswini Kannan Yogesh Dheenadayalu Kalyan Muralidharan Raghavendran Sivaramakrishnan Sudhersse Chakravarthi Sakshi Arora Murugan Hanumantharau Narayanan Kalaiselvan Kondi Deepika Karthik V Murlidhar L Sameer Soumya Rahul Ganguly Sujoy Haldar Gangula Krishnamoorthy Pagarani Sonkusale Krishnamoorthy Kavitha Mustaque Sravan Kumar Surya Devina Ahuja Rahul Sampath Sangeeta Iyer Venkatesan Ahamad Patel Potharaju * – We apologize if we have missed out your name. Please send an email to fundraising‐[email protected] with your name, amount and initiative supported and we will update our records
Deepan Divakar BITS Pilani Alumni Association (BITSAA) International Inc. Annual Report 2008 www.bitsaa.org Page 21 of 23 BITSAA DONATION FORM ­ International Please fill this out and mail to: Krishna Hegde, CFO, [email protected] BITSAA International Inc. 100 Dudley St, Apt 2318, Jersey City, NJ 07302 Federal EIN# 22­3835037 DONOR INFORMATION Name: _________________________________________________________________________________________________________ BITS Batch (year of entry) and Degree(s): _________________________________________________________________ Street Address: ______________________________________________________________________________________________ City, State, Zip: _______________________________________________________________________________________________ Phone Number: _____________________________________________________________________________________________ Email Address: ______________________________________________________________________________________________ DONATION AMOUNT Recurring Donations Donation Mechanism Yes, please send me reminders for donation every ______ months No, I would prefer to make a one‐time donation I’ve enclosed a check payable to ‘BITSAA International’ I will donate by credit card on www.bitsaa.org/donations Please mark ‘X’ against the initiative(s) that you would like to contribute to, along with the allocation: ______ BITSAA Operational Expenses & Web Portal Donate: $______________________ ______ ACYUT – The Humanoid Robot Donate: $______________________ ______ Student Travel Grants Donate: $______________________ ______ Graduate Application Scholarships Donate: $______________________ ______ Let’s Promote BITS Pilani Donate: $______________________ ______ BITSAA Corpus Fund Donate: $______________________ ______ Other/Create Endowment (specify) Donate: $______________________ Creating an endowment: A perpetual endowment in your name or in the name of a loved one can be created with a reasonable sized donation. For example, a $25,000 endowment donation can create an annual disbursement of $1,250 for any initiative that you would like to support. DONATING SECURITIES Have you thought about donating securities to BITSAA International? BITSAA can sell your securities and the proceeds used towards the initiative or program of your choice. Appreciated securities (stocks/mutual funds) held for more than one year can result in double tax benefits. 
You receive gift credit and an immediate income tax deduction for the fair market value of the securities on the date of transfer, no matter what you originally paid for them.  You pay no capital gains tax on the securities you donate.  You can direct your gift to a specific fund or purpose. If you are interested, please contact us at [email protected] and we will send you more information and coordinate this transfer to BITSAA International. Yes, I am interested. Please contact me at my email ID. No, Thank You. BITS Pilani Alumni Association (BITSAA) International Inc. Annual Report 2008 www.bitsaa.org Page 22 of 23 BITSAA DONATION FORM ­ India Please fill this out and mail to: Uzma Barlaskar, [email protected] Flat 402, Srinivasa Towers (Near ITC Kakatiya), Begumpet, Hyderabad 500016 DONOR INFORMATION Name: _________________________________________________________________________________________________________ BITS Batch (year of entry) and Degree(s): _________________________________________________________________ Street Address: ______________________________________________________________________________________________ City, State, Zip: _______________________________________________________________________________________________ Phone Number: _____________________________________________________________________________________________ Email Address: ______________________________________________________________________________________________ DONATION AMOUNT Recurring Donations Donation Mechanism Yes, please send me reminders for donation every ______ months No, I would prefer to make a one‐time donation I’ve enclosed a check payable to ‘BITSAA International India’ I will donate by credit card on www.bitsaa.org/donations Please mark ‘X’ against the initiative(s) that you would like to contribute to, along with the allocation: ______ ______ ______ ______ ______ ______ ______ BITSAA Operational Expenses & Web Portal ACYUT – The Humanoid Robot Student Travel Grants Graduate Application Scholarships Let’s Promote BITS Pilani BITSAA Corpus Fund Other/Create Endowment (specify) Donate: Rs______________________ Donate: Rs______________________ Donate: Rs______________________ Donate: Rs______________________ Donate: Rs______________________ Donate: Rs______________________ Donate: Rs______________________ Creating an endowment: A perpetual endowment in your name or in the name of a loved one can be created with a reasonable sized donation. For example, a Rs 12.5 Lakh endowment donation can create an annual disbursement of Rs 65,000 for any initiative that you would like to support. DONATING SECURITIES Have you thought about donating securities to BITSAA International? BITSAA can sell your securities and the proceeds used towards the initiative or program of your choice. Appreciated securities (stocks/mutual funds) held for more than one year can result in double tax benefits.  You receive gift credit and an immediate income tax deduction for the fair market value of the securities on the date of transfer, no matter what you originally paid for them.  You pay no capital gains tax on the securities you donate.  You can direct your gift to a specific fund or purpose. If you are interested, please contact us at [email protected] and we will send you more information and coordinate this transfer to BITSAA International. Yes, I am interested. Please contact me at my email ID. No, Thank You. BITS Pilani Alumni Association (BITSAA) International Inc. Annual Report 2008 www.bitsaa.org Page 23 of 23