Premji's philosophy of Philanthropy: connect with people, world

For Azim Premji, philanthropy is all about the connection that one feels with the people or the world around. The view is significant considering Premji had emerged the most generous Indian contributing Rs 8,000 crore towards this cause last year, according to Hurun India Philanthropy List 2013.

Hurun Report included donations made by companies in which an individual had a significant share, by applying the percentage the individual has of the company on the donations. Education was the most important area for the Indian philanthropists with a total contribution of Rs 12,200 crore.

Premji thinks the privileged, just like the government, has a responsibility to help better the society. “To me philanthropy is the connection that we can have if we are not indifferent to all these issues that face us…,” he said at the Economic Times Awards.

He highlighted the grassroot changes taking place thanks to the work of his foundation as a sign of a bright future - the attendace rates for the teacher training programs, held on weekends by Premji’s staff and sponsored by the district teachers themselves, has between 12 percent to 18 percent of a district’s typical number of 5,000 teachers. “These are all government employees but they are deeply committed and genuinely care,” he said.

Lamenting on how he wished he’d begun his charitable activities sooner in life, Premji shared the three lessons he has learnt from his philanthropic dealings. He advised honchos to get their families involved in some form of giving at an early stage as “their understanding, endorsement and involvement may eventually be the most determining factor. Second, he said, was to make sure good people with a genuine interest in the charity in question get involved with the project. And finally, to make a difference, those interested should develop “patience, tenacity and empathy”, Premji said.

With the new Companies Act, 2013 laying down rules for certain companies to annually spend at least 2 percent of their three-year average profit on CSR works, one hopes India Inc. takes Premji’s words to heart.

Read Premji’s full speech here .