Asian American Giving

Kordant Philanthropy Advisors Launches

I am pleased to announce the launch of Kordant Philanthropy Advisors, a global advisory firm serving families and leading businesses and institutions in the U.S. and Asia.

Our boutique philanthropic firm addresses two general needs in the field – help clients problem solve and provide opportunities in the right context that clients and charities can use to achieve more. We believe clients have ideas of how they want the world to be. They also have the intentions and resources to bring about that change. We serve as an ally and guide clients through complex issues, provide them with access to leaders and information to make decisions, and turn their ideas into reality.

But being an advisor to clients is not enough. A rising tide lifts all boats and so we must also use our knowledge, networks and leadership to build the capabilities of philanthropic enterprises and initiatives. As such, we will continue to chronicle trends and our thoughts on the sector on Asian American Giving and Asian Philanthropy Forum. One exciting aspect of launching the new firm is that we will be in a better position to try new tools and roll out new concepts for advancing philanthropy in the Asian American community and in Asia.

Our team is composed of leaders from diverse cultures and professional backgrounds – all bound by a shared passion to problem solving and making an impact on some of the world’s pressing issues. While our headquarters is in San Francisco, we are also in Seattle, New York, and Washington DC. Over the next few months, we hope to grow our presence in Asia.

Kordant Philanthropy Advisors is a for-profit firm but we are committed to creating social impact and have a special partnership with Philanthropic Ventures Foundation, a U.S. public charity that helps donors engage in creative philanthropy. Philanthropic Ventures Foundation is led by my mentor and maverick grantmaker Bill Somerville, author of the book “Grassroots Philanthropy.” We are in the process of vetting partners in Asia and will expand our networks in the region.

The Asian American Giving community played a significant part in creating the business model and values behind Kordant Philanthropy Advisors.  I hope you will continue to share your thoughts as we collaborate to advance philanthropy in the Asian American community.

Asian American Philanthropy Event Update

Update on Asia Society Event: Giving Gap? Connecting Asian American Philanthropy and Community Needs - date has been changed to October 30th. See the Asia Society site for more details.

Event: Asian American Philanthropy and Community Needs

 

- by Andy Ho

The Asia Society of Northern California is hosting a panel discussion on October 30th in San Francisco on the topic of Connecting Asian American Philanthropy and Community Needs.  The panel features AAG's Dien Yuen, among others.  

As the fastest growing demographic group in the United States, Asian Americans are today one of the leading forces in giving – not only to their countries of origin, but increasingly to their local U.S. communities and across the globe. Many believe that as more and more Asian Americans—a group with an enormously varied national, ethnic, and religious backgrounds—take leadership roles in business, politics, and civic life, they are also are changing the face of U.S. philanthropy, making it more inclusive, impactful, and accountable.

How are patterns of giving in the U.S. changing as Asian Americans become wealthier and increasingly woven in to American society? How do persistent “model minority” stereotypes distort the reality of Asian American giving and community needs? How do other trends led by this community – e.g., the culture of rapid innovation in Silicon Valley – shape patterns and modes of giving?  

Join ASNC, in partnership with Give2Asia, for a panel discussion featuring leading experts from the philanthropic community to address these and other questions.

Speakers:

Buck Gee (moderator) Co-founder, Chinese American Community Foundation; ASNC Board Member

Robbie Fabian, President, ABS-CBN Foundation

Naren Gupta, Co-founder, Nexus Venture Partners; ASNC Board Member

Audrey Yamamoto, President & Executive Director, Asian Pacific Fund

Dien Yuen, Chief Philanthropy Officer, Give2Asia

2012 Global Diaspora Forum: Sec Clinton's Speech

- by Andy Ho

It was a memorable gathering last week at the Global Diaspora Forum, hosted jointly by the State Department and USAID.  I met many in the diaspora community, all interested in making a difference in our communities.  One of the highlights was hearing from Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.  You can catch a video and text of her speech.  It's about 20 minutes, but worth listening [and reading].

Here's one excerpt that really resonated with me around both the gift and opportunity we have as a diaspora community member here in the United States, and how philanthropy can play a role in promoting dialogue, relationship, and building a future where we can relate with one another in peace.

"We see so many places around the world being torn apart by ethnic, religious, racial, sectarian divides of all kinds. When I walk down the street, as I love to do in New York, and I see people living together and working together whose relatives back in the countries from where they came hate each other, kill each other, it just – it makes me so grateful for our country, but it also makes me so heartbroken that other countries don’t have that opportunity, don’t see beyond moving beyond the past. And I think Americans, like all of you, have such an opportunity to talk with, to support these kinds of changes in minds and hearts. Because democracy is not just an election; democracy is changing the way people relate to one another, work with one another, listen to one another. And there’s no place that has more experience, since we are now the longest-lasting democracy, than we do. And there are no people with more credibility than all of you.

And that’s why we have focused in on the importance of our own diaspora to our efforts here at the State Department. But we can’t do this without your constructive criticism, your ideas, your support. And I hope that out of this forum we will get many, many more ideas. And all the ones that I’ve mentioned today you will learn about and come up with your own, because we have to send a clear, unmistakable call to action to people everywhere. They really can have a better life; they really can see their children do better than they have done; they really can live in peace, one with the other." -- Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, July 25, 2012

For more coverage, check out the Forum twitter feed at #2012GDF.

2012 Global Diaspora Forum

- by Andy Ho

Over the next two days I'll be attending the Global Diaspora Forum at the State Department. It's an annual celebration of America’s diaspora communities. The gathering challenges diaspora communities to create new partnerships with the private sector, civil society, and public institutions in order to make their engagements with their countries of origin or ancestry effective, scalable, and sustainable.   The theme of this year’s Forum is “Moving Forward by Giving Back,” and will focus on how the U.S. Government and diaspora communities are partnering to further investment and trade, philanthropy, volunteerism, social innovation, and entrepreneurship in developing and emerging communities around the world.

Asian diaspora communities in the U.S. are among some of the largest.  It will be interesting to hear how the growing Asian American population continues to play a larger role in partnerships across sectors and countries.

The Global Diaspora Forum brings together a diverse range of stakeholders, all passionate about promoting diaspora engagement. More than 500 U.S.-based diaspora community leaders from the private sector, academia, media, civil society, and U.S. Government including Under Secretary of Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs Tara Sonenshine, Special Representative for Global Partnerships Kris Balderston, USAID Administrator Dr. Rajiv Shah, USAID Deputy Administrator Donald Steinberg, USAID Chief Innovation Officer Dr. Maura O’Neill, OPIC Executive Vice President Mimi Alemayehou, and Ben Rhodes, Deputy National Security Advisor to the President, will participate in the Forum.

Secretary Clinton’s remarks will be livestreamed on state.gov on Wednesday at 10:30 am ET. Follow the conversation on Twitter with #2012GDF and @diasporaatstate.

The Nexus Global Youth Summit - Beijing Gathering

- by Andy Ho

Last year I was fortunate to attend the first Nexus Youth Summit in NYC which brought together hundreds of next generation leaders, social entrepreneurs, and philanthropists. It was energizing and inspiring to see a collective of next generation leaders encouraging one another to pursue philanthropy and change the world.  And the gathering continues to grow.

Now in its next iteration, a gathering will be held in Beijing on July 21-22, 2012. 

Nexus Beijing delegates will be a mix of next generation wealth holders and social entrepreneurs. The majority of the delegates will be young wealth-holders families in China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan and the United States. Some are active philanthropic leaders or social investors while most are philanthropically or socially-minded individuals interested to further develop their understanding and practice of philanthropy through corporate, professional or personal means. Social entrepreneurs, both experienced civil society leaders and young change-makers, will come from all over China.

Philanthropy as a professional sector and practice is relatively new in China and new philanthropists must navigate a complex and challenging landscape. Recent scandals in the charitable sector around financial transparency and accountability, unclear tax regulations, a watchful media and critical general public are just a few of the challenges. Over the course of the intimate and interactive event, we will address these and many other issues facing young Chinese philanthropists, introduce innovative models of philanthropy and social change as well as showcase exciting philanthropic initiatives and opportunities that exist within China and around the world.

If you're in China or in Asia and fit the participant profile, I'd strongly encourage you to attend.  For more information contact the Nexus China Coordinator Abbie Jung at abbie@nexusyouthsummit.com or our general email at china@nexusyouthsummit.com

Philanthropy News Digest 07/11/2011

* Lisa Philp was appointed vice president for strategic philanthropy and director of Grantcraft at the Foundation Center. GrantCraft helps grantmakers hone their craft and be effective in their work. It was created by the Ford Foundation and is now a joint project of the Foundation Center and the European Foundation Centre earlier this year. Lisa was chair of AAPIP and formerly served as managing director and global head of philanthropic services for the J.P. Morgan Private Bank in NY. Congrats to Lisa!

* The Asian American Arts Alliance is hosting Locating the Sacred, a 12-ay city-wide festival that will be held in NY in fall 2012.  The festival will match artists to spaces regarded as sacred, where they will collaborate to produce their own events.  Through these events, we will explore the meaning of the word “sacred” to our communities, and showcase Asian American artists as agents of change. To raise seed money for the mini-series, they've started a Kickstarter campaign which you can check out here.

* The Vietnamese Resettlement Association in Falls Church, VA will be received a $200,000 grant from the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure.  Since 1990, VRA provides social services including translation assistance and mental health support to the Vietnamese community. VRA has served more than 10,000 women and the funds will be used to support healthcare promotion for women in the Vietnamese and immigrant community free of charge.

COF Annual Conference: Philanthropy in China

The following is a re-post from the Council on Foundation's blog, RE: Philanthropy. I had the opportunity to moderate a session on the growth of philanthropy in China at the Council's Annual Conference in Philadelphia.

Interest in global philanthropy is on the rise and many individuals, corporations, foundations and nonprofits are looking at the opportunities for developing their presence in China. In the “Philanthropy in China” session at the Council on Foundation’s annual conference in Philadelphia, we looked at the growth of grassroots groups and explored some of the challenges and opportunities of philanthropy promotion and discussed legal and practical barriers of making grants to local NGOs inside China.

As moderator of the session, I quickly realized how diverse our audience was—some had already developed programs inside China while others were still trying to understand how to start their work there. Even seasoned global practitioners were mystified by the diverse range of challenges of working inside China.

C.Y. Yeung, director of Corporate Social Responsibility at Intel China, shared his experiences on engaging his company’s more than 7,000 employees. He spoke about how important it is to partner with the different layers of government in accomplishing major programs, and encouraged more bridge building and shared learning between philanthropy experts in China and the United States. He also encouraged groups like the Council on Foundations to establish themselves in China to continue philanthropic innovation between the two countries.

Grace Chiang, co-founder and board chair of Social Venture Group (SVG), fielded questions on the growth of grassroots groups working inside China. As the first philanthropic advisory firm in China, SVG is registered in Shanghai and Hong Kong. Chiang shared her experiences in growing SVG and the challenges local grassroots groups face, including the difficulty of obtaining appropriate nonprofit registration status. Recent trends, including the development of an online fundraising portal for the Shanghai United Foundation, also were discussed.

During the breakout session, Jennifer Lofing, vice president of Give2Asia, moderated a roundtable discussion on how U.S. donors can support projects in China. In addition to some of the U.S. legal and financial requirements, she answered questions about the ability of organizations to receive foreign funding under the SAFE legislation in China. Conversations also centered on capacity building and managing the expectations of donors when it comes to what organizations inside China can and cannot do.

Overall, I found the session to be a good beginning to understanding the intricacies of working in a foreign country where the enabling environment for philanthropy to grow is not yet fully developed.

Under the leadership of John Harvey and Andy Ho, I am confident that the Council’s global philanthropy program will flourish. Their commitment to create more opportunities for members to gain substantive, philanthropic knowledge from leaders and experts working in emerging countries will only enhance greater understanding and deeper impact of programs on the ground.

Philanthropy News Digest 3/22/2011

* The Association of Fundraising Professionals annual conference featured a session on raising money from minority groups. Part of the session discussed Asian cultures of giving, which is discussed in this Chronicle of Philanthropy article. 

* Bolder Giving's next monthly teleconference on March 24th features Mark Lee discussing 'Giving What We Can', a pledge to give at least 10% away to combat global poverty. Mark is an Asian-American getting his Ph.D. at Rutgers University.

* Philanthropy Journal is hosting a webinar, Philanthropic psychology: Using donor identity to increase giving, on March 29th.  Asian American, Jen Shang, is the world's first PhD educated in the discipline of philanthropy at the Center of Philanthropy at Indiana University and the world's only philanthropic psychologist and an assistant professor at the School of Public and Environmental Affairs at Indian University-Bloomington.

Philanthropy News Digest 02/23/2011

The Southeast Asians in the Diaspora conference is scheduled for March 10-11 at San Francisco State University. The main objectives of this conference are to encourage the interdisciplinary and comparative study of Southeast Asian American peoples and their communities; to promote national and international cooperation in the field; and to establish partnerships between academia and the community.

The Committee of 100, a leadership organization of prominent Chinese Americans in business, government, academia, and the arts, will be hosting their 20th Annual Conference on May 12, 2011 in NYC, followed by an awards gala at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Co-chairs include Clarence Kwan, James Li & Lulu C. Wang.

4th Annual Executive Directors Leadership Program is seeking applicants for its three-part, six-month program designed to provide executive directors with knowledge and skills that they need to effectively lead and propel their organizations forward. Asian and Pacific Islander (API) Executive Directors of local, statewide, regional, or national nonprofit organizations who have less than 8 years experience as an Executive Director should apply. Applications are due March 15, 2011.