Request for Funds
Organizing an annual international conference is a significant financial undertaking. The task is compounded by our dependence on the
need to fundraise ever year. In order to secure the long term future of
these conferences, and to make long term planning easier we are seeking
the financial support of donors who would be prepared to contribute
financially for these conferences.
We are looking for both short term and long term donors. Short term
donors are those who make a one time only contribution. Long term donors
are those who pledge to provide an annual contribution for the
conferences. To facilitate long term planning we do encourage donors to
consider being an annual contributor.
There are two primary funding needs for the conference both of which are
to help make the conference more accessible to a diversity of scholars
and community members.
- The first is to enable scholars from South Asia to participate
in these conferences. Our goal is to be able to bring 4-6 scholars a
year from Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka to participate in these
conferences. The current cost per scholar is $2,500 to meet their
airfare and 3-4 days of hotel expenses. We welcome contributions
from individuals, organizations and businesses that cover the full
costs of bringing one scholar or smaller contributions that can be
put towards meeting these costs. We would also like to support the
participation of Ph.D students from South Asia, whom we may not
provide travel expenses for, by providing them with stipends,
approximately $500, to cover their accommodation costs.
- The second is to subsidize the registration fees for attendees.
We are determined to keep the registration fees for attendees as low
as possible in order to further our goal of making the conference
more accessible to community members and students. If possible we
would like to lower the registration fee even further in future
years depending on the level of financial support that we have. We
anticipate that to keep the registration fee as low as we have we
would require a subsidy of $1,000 per 25 attendees.
How to Give
All funds are received and disbursed by the University of Toronto.
If you are interested in financially supporting the conference please contact the organizers at: tamils@chass.utoronto.ca and inform them of your interest. Subsequently you can make your contribution directly to the University officer who handles donor relations.
Payment
- All cheques should be made payable to the “University of Toronto” with a notation in the Memo that states "Tamil Studies Conference Fund." Cheques must be for a minimum of $100.
- Payment can be also be made by credit card or wire transfers. For donors residing outside Canada we prefer credit card payments or wire transfers in order to avoid lengthy delays involved in processing cheques.
- Charitable Donation receipts for tax purposes can be provided on request. Please note that such receipts can not be provided for in-kind donations, though a letter of acknowledgement from the organizers, indicating the value of the donation, can be provided on request.
- Annual donors should download, fill in and send us the
Annual Pledge
Card.
All cheques must be mailed to Ms. Sarah Lang, the University of Toronto
officer responsible for the conference's donor relations, and queries
about the donation process should be directed to her. All credit card
payments and wire transfers will be processed through her office at:
Ms. Sarah Lang, MA
Program Administrator & Event Coordinator
Asian Institute at the University of Toronto
Munk Centre for International Studies
1 Devonshire Place, Room 227N
Toronto, Ontario
Canada, M5S 3K7
Tel: (416) 946-8996
Email: sarah.lang@utoronto.ca
Donor Recognition
- Donors will be acknowledged in conference publicity materials: Website
(see the Sponsors page), Conference Brochure and in the Conference
Dinner.
- Donors who contribute over $500 are invited to the Conference Dinner
and are waived the registration fee to attend the conference.