Mihajlo Idvorski Pupin - Mihajlo Pupin Foundation

Mihajlo Pupin Foundation

Pupin in 1914. formed “Fund Pijade Aleksic-Pupin” within Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts to commemorate his mother Olipijada for all the support she gave to him through life. Fund assets were used for helping schools in old Serbia and Macedonia, and scholarships were awarded every year on the Saint Sava day. One street in Ohrid was named after Mihajlo Pupin in 1930 to honour his efforts. He also established a separate “Mihajlo Pupin fund” which he funded from his own property in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, which he later gave to “Privrednik” for schooling of young people and for prizes in “exceptional achievements in agriculture”, as well as for Idvor for giving prizes to pupils and to help the church district.

Thanks to Pupin’s donations, library in Idvor got a reading room, schooling of young people for agriculture sciences was founded, as well as the electrification and waterplant in Idvor.

Pupin established a foundation in the museum of nature-history-and-arts in Belgrade. The funds of the foundation were used for purchasing of artistic works of Serbian artists for the museum and for publishing certain publications. Pupin invested a million dollars in the funds of the foundation.

In America, in 1909. he established one of the oldest Serbian emigrant organization – Union of Serbs - “Sloga”. The organization had a mission to gather Serbs in imigration and offer help, as well as keeping ethnic and cultural values. This organization later merged with three other imigant societies.

Other emigrant organizations in to one large Serbian national foundation, and Pupin was one of its founders and a longtime president (1909–1926)).

He also organized “Kolo srpskih sestara” (English: Circle of Serbian sisters) who gathered help for the Serbian Red Cross, and he also helped gathering of volunteers for the fist world war war fronts in Yugoslavia with the help of Serbian patriotic organization called “Serbian national defence” which he ran, and also founded. Later, during the world war two this organization was rehabilited by Jovan Ducic and worked with the same mission. Pupin guaranteed the delivery of food supplies to Serbia with his own resources, and he also was the head of the committee for help to victims of war. He also founded the Serbian society for helping children which provided medicine, clothes and shelters for war orphans.