On 1 November 2013, SOAS announced a gift of £20 million (US$32 million) from the Alphawood Foundation, a Chicago-based private charity. This was the largest donation ever given to SOAS and one of the largest ever to a UK university. Of the total amount, £5 million was earmarked for development of an ongoing university building project. The other £15 million was intended “to advance the study and preservation of Buddhist and Hindu art in Southeast Asia,” through three new endowed academic posts, scholarships for Southeast Asian students and other programmes. The press release distributed by SOAS is here. The story was widely covered in international news. For a small field such as Southeast Asian art, a £15 million gift has great “transformational” potential, as SOAS noted at the time.
Alphawood Southeast Asian Art Academic Programme
