“This Feels Like a Gift with More Emotional Meaning.”

Hung Raghavan ’99 and Sharat Raghavan ’98 knew of each other during their undergraduate years. However, it wasn’t until 2001 that they got together thanks to a Dartmouth friend. They married in 2005, and today, as parents of three, they live in Berkeley, California. Karen is an executive in the beauty industry, and Sharat works in technology and is a lecturer at UC Berkeley. They’ve remained close to Dartmouth: Karen has been an admissions ambassador for years; Sharat has been active with the Magnuson Center for Entrepreneurship; they’re devoted supporters of the Dartmouth College Fund; and because of the bequest they’ve pledged to Dartmouth, they’re members of the Bartlett Tower Society. Here, they share their motivation for remembering Dartmouth in their wills. 

What inspired you to make a bequest to Dartmouth? 

Sharat: Part of it was thinking about how to make a more meaningful contribution to the College, and this was an easy way to do that. This feels like a gift with more emotional meaning. 

Karen: It’s a way to acknowledge what Dartmouth meant to me. Not many members of my family had gone to college before me, which made attending Dartmouth hugely significant. Through our planned gift, I hope Dartmouth can be as significant in other people’s lives as it was for me. 

How does it feel to know you’re going to be making a gift to benefit someone you’re never going to meet? 

Karen: I benefited from gifts that were bequeathed well before me, and I’m grateful even if I don’t know the people who made those gifts, so I don’t think of that as a huge consideration. The world is only going to get more complex. Whatever happens down the line, we’re hoping the legacy of our bequest will be there. 

If you were chatting with a classmate who’s thinking about making a planned gift and joining the Bartlett Tower Society, what would you say? 

Sharat: I would tell them to think about what Dartmouth has given to them and how they can maximize their impact on the university—and that it’s got to feel right. It may not be right for everyone. Some people may be more comfortable giving every year. For a lot of people who are busy or have different financial constraints, making a bequest may be the best way to maximize their impact. 

Thoughts about being a Bartlett Tower Society member? 

Karen: At my most recent Reunion, I didn’t mention to anyone that Sharat and I had made a planned gift. When I showed up at a Bartlett Tower Society event, four close friends from my class were already there! Obviously, we were surprised and happy to see each other and to have this new, shared way of being connected to Dartmouth.