Asian American Giving

What It’s Like to Give Away a Million Dollars

- by Andy Ho 

I recently caught up with a fellow Asian American friend whom I grew up with and is now a programmer with Facebook. Facebook went public as a company earlier this year, and many of its employees did very well as a result. 

My friend, who wishes to remain anonymous, had the fortune of receiving company stock worth $1 million as part of the Facebook IPO [initial public offering].  What is more remarkable is him and his wife's decision to give all of it away to the charity International Justice Mission (IJM), and in the process, making a personal dream come true.  While his philanthropy is not exactly on the scale of Mark Zuckerberg, it’s still amazing and inspiring to see someone who didn’t grow up with wealth to be able to give away such a large sum of money. My Facebook friend (FBF) was generous enough to share his story and insights with Asian American Giving.   

AAG: When did you first realize that you were motivated to one day give away a million dollars to charity? 


FBF: The million-dollar dream happened to be during late high school, after my experience with the Navajo. The exact figure was chosen randomly; "a million" just seemed to me like a ridiculously large amount, like something I could spend a lifetime trying to achieve. At the time, I told only two people: my soon-to-be wife, and my youth pastor. My youth pastor counseled me not to get ahead of myself, to take things one bit at a time.

AAG: How were your values of generosity informed as a young person?


FBF: One of the pivotal moments of my life occurred when helping the Navajo on a reservation in Arizona during a summer short-term missions trip with my youth group in high school. I had until that point not encountered real poverty on a personal level. My memories of the Navajo in mud huts serve as a reminder that, in a way, most of us are the 1% -- not just a select few. One other major influence in my own thinking about generosity was my experience at Microsoft, where employees give regularly and passionately to a variety of causes. I once attended an ad-hoc lecture that Bill Gates delivered to a set of employees where he talked about his concerns around world health. In those 90 minutes, I remember being deeply impressed by the depth of his understanding into the issues and the possible solutions. It inspired me to further think about the difference that each of us can make in the world both through our finances and through being evangelists about the causes we support.

AAG: What led you to decide to give now in your thirties, versus later in life when you are done working or when your children are grown up?

FBF: There's an opportunity cost to everything we do. For instance, you can spend a lifetime planning all the great travel you'll do once you're retired, and only find out late in life that you don't have the energy and the physical ability to do so. Giving is analogous, in a way. While it's true that there will always be needs, and that it's safest to put off the giving until you know for sure that you don't need the money, waiting has its opportunity cost on real people. We gave now because we had a windfall of money that we weren't expecting; we gave now because we are so very grateful for how well things are going in our own lives. When my wife and I were newly married, we gave IJM $25,000, which for us back then was the entirety of our savings. It felt great then, just as giving away the million dollars feels great now. We're sure that others need the money much more than we do, and we hope to help where we can.

AAG: How did you go about choosing IJM as your charity of choice?


FBF: My wife and I had been supporting IJM for over a decade. The thing that appealed most to us about IJM is that it embraces the cause of social justice -- the idea that the world isn't fair for many people, and that we can do something to help right the world. The enormity of global suffering is crushing -- the weight of it all. But each individual that IJM helps is tangibly, permanently changed in such a dramatic way. Whenever a slave is freed, or a child is saved from sex trafficking, it's a life permanently revolutionized. This potential for radical life change is what drew us to IJM. 

AAG: What difference do you hope to make with your gift?

FBF: Though a million dollars is far more money than I ever expected to see in my lifetime, it's a mere 3% of IJM's annual budget. And IJM's a tiny charity compared with most. It's humbling to realize that, in a way, even a million dollars will hardly make a dent on the scale and scope of the problem at hand. Our hope is to encourage others to give generously and to give early. Philanthropy, in the end, will really only work if we all choose to participate.

AAG: What would you tell others who have received or will receive a significant windfall of money?

FBF: Giving is a very personal thing, influenced by upbringing, circumstance, faith, and personality. It's hard to know what to say to someone who might suddenly find themselves with a lot of money. I'd wish for everyone to empathize with the weight of suffering in the world, and to be motivated to give; but it's not clear to me that clever words or persuasive argument will make a difference here. I guess what I would say is this: there are very few major decisions in life that you can be sure, absolutely sure, are right. In the case of my wife and me, we've always found charitable giving to be one of those rare, absolutely right decisions.

AAG: Thanks for sharing your insights!  Your generosity will bless many others.   

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

Cultural & Motivational Differences in Giving

-by Andy Ho

I've been out of the office and off the grid following the passing of my mom two weeks ago.  It was busy preparing for the funeral, hosting out-of-town relatives, and having the funeral.  Now my family and I are adjusting to the new normal we have in our lives, without my mother.   

One of the more stark cultural & motivational differences in giving between Asians and Americans came out in the process of holding the funeral service.  Typically at American funerals few or no monetary gifts are given, except in the case of flowers to be sent to wherever the funeral service is held.  This is in contrast to Asians, which typically give money, usually to the family (in this case, to my father) to help with funeral and other expenses.  We didn't want so many flowers at the funeral home, nor did my father necessarily need the money, so we specifically requested that in lieu of flowers, that a monetary gift can be made to the building fund of the church my mother attended in her memory. 

What was not surprising was that most of the younger (40s and under) and American/Asian American friends did not give any gifts, and most of the older and Chinese (1st generation) friends did give a monetary gift.  Many gifts were made to the church, and a smaller percentage of gifts were given to my father.  As we tallied up the gifts, my father and I wondered if we hadn't specified that gifts be made to the church, would a smaller amount would have been given to my father than what they gave to the church? Would some people rather give more to church knowing that it's going toward something lasting, being more philanthropic (i.e. a building fund) versus covering short-term expenses, or "charity" to my father? While we'll never know the true motives of gift giving, it is probably true that a combination of factors is at play, perhaps the tax deduction may well be a factor, as well as the preference of giving a gift to the church versus an individual. 

Readers, what do you think?

Conversations with a Cause

The following is by Andy Ho and is cross-posted with the Council on Foundation's blog, RE:Philanthropy.

Parent: “What did you learn in school today?”

Johnny: “Nothing.”

Every parent knows how difficult it is to engage a child, particularly a teenager, in any type of conversation, never mind trying to start family conversations about philanthropy and charitable giving that inevitably lead to awkward glances at the dinner table. In my family, language and cultural differences with my parents and grandparents are additional barriers to meaningful conversation that are often difficult to overcome. When we do have these conversations about where we’ve been and the experiences and people that have shaped us into who we are, it makes me really appreciate the family I’ve been born (and married) into. And that is what many children will come to realize. But how can we do a better job of pointing this out to them now without forcing it on them?

With summer in full swing, this might be a great time to engage your family members in some meaningful conversation on the topic of giving, perhaps during that upcoming family vacation. These conversations can be spontaneous, informal, and casual, and don’t require sitting down to a structured meeting in order to take place. Studies have shown that conversations about family philanthropy provide deeper connections and a sense of shared values, and can help guide the legacy for future generations. A recent article in the Wall Street Journal talked about taking simple steps to encourage philanthropy and explain why doing good is important.

Groups like 21/64 and Relative Solutions have developed tools to encourage such conversations through questions that explore the motivations, values, and feelings along various themes of giving. Thoughtful philanthropy is inspired philanthropy, and taking time to initiate conversations with the next generation helps engage family members of all ages to explore philanthropy together.  

What motivates you to give? What issues are you passionate about? What causes do you support? Who has influenced your giving?

Photo courtesy of BeautyofAfrica, Flickr, Creative Commons

Understanding the Giving Preferences of the Chinese American Diaspora

    

From Give2Asia's blog, post written by Ann Hoang

Over the last 25 years, the Chinese economy has grown at breakneck speed, creating enormous wealth as well as opportunity. The effects of this growth extend far beyond the country itself; today’s global Chinese diaspora has consequently risen in influence across a wide variety of industries, from the arts to finance and technology. In America alone, this group’s prominence has demanded the attention of nearly all sectors of society.

The philanthropy field, in particular, has much to gain from today’s influential Chinese Americans. Vital to effective engagement, however, is a solid understanding of why, where, and how this unique group approaches its philanthropy. Unfortunately, little research currently exists. To lay a foundation for further study on this topic, Dien Yuen, Chief Philanthropy Officer at Give2Asia, and Andy Ho, Manager of Global Philanthropy at the Council on Foundations, have released a study exploring the history, emerging trends, and projections of Chinese-American giving.

The study, titled “Chinese-American Diaspora Philanthropy: A Perspective on History, Characteristics and Potential,” can be found in the latest issue of the Journal of Asian Business (University of Michigan Press). It offers the insights of two experts within the philanthropic advisory industry on this significant, and yet little-understood, phenomenon.

The report’s key findings include the following:

• Chinese Americans are rooted in a desire to support their communities—particularly in Asia, where they give most.
• First-generation immigrants tend to give to the country with which they most closely identify, in some cases even to specific home towns. Ethnic Chinese who settled in different Asian countries before emigrating tend to have multiple country interests.
• Most Chinese-American donors value the opportunity for hands-on involvement with recipient organizations, whether through research, site visits, or other forms of engagement. Further, they tend to be interested in straight-forward projects with a defined set of beneficiaries, immediate impacts, and measurable results.
• Because most Chinese Americans have close ties to Asia through their personal and business networks, they tend to be well-informed about issues on the ground. Accordingly, they often have very specific project or program interests.
• They most consistently give to disaster relief; education and livelihood; women’s empowerment; healthcare; and economic development.

An executive summary version of the article can be downloaded here. The full report can be purchased through the University of Michigan: http://www.umich.edu/~cibe/faculty/jab.html

 

Philanthropy News Digest 03/02/2011

Vikram Gandhi, Credit Suisse Vice Chairman of Investment Banking and co-Global Head of Financial Institutions Group, will be stepping down to pursue his interest in philanthropy.  He and his wife had co-founded the Giving Back Foundation to help alleviate poverty, illness, and suffering, as well as help educate young children. The foundation has programs in New York, Mumbai and Hong Kong.

Alumnus donates $2m to IIT Kharagpur. Prabhakant Sinha, a cofounder of ZS Associates in Chicago, has donated $2 million to his alma mater for a bioenergy centre of excellence.  

Lisa Philp: Global Head of Philanthropic Services at J.P. Morgan Private Bank discusses her 12 years in financial services. Lisa is featured again about her work in philanthropy. She talks about the services her firm offers and how she became engaged in the philanthropic sector.

Online giving grows. Blackbaud shares findings of their online giving report covering 1,812 nonprofits. Online giving grew 34.5% in 2010 compared to the previous year. 88% of nonprofit received at least one online gift of $1,000 or more.

Grandpowers - passing on stories and values

My friend, Alice Wu, started a beautiful site called Grandpowers. The pilot site encourages grandchildren to connect to their grandparents by sharing stories in a fun-loving way. I believe the intent is to remember the time spent with your grandparents, cherish it and then memorialize them. Inadvertently, I believe Alice created a platform for not just passing stories but values also. 

So, how does this relate to philanthropy? At the core of all philanthropic gestures is values. What we believe is right, why we do good in the world, what makes us care, why we take that extra effort. These values are inherently passed down from one generation to the next and usually in the form of stories or they are shown by example. As you read the stories others have posted, you can sense the warmth and tenderness, even laughter in them. What story would you write about your grandparents?

There is a trend in philanthropic advising to encourage parents and grandparents to write letters to the next generation that passes on stories to guide them on the social use of family wealth. These letters generally include themes of hopes, dreams, love, and for many Asians, "how to be a virtuous person." If you are a grandparent or a parent, what would you say to your heirs? What do you want to be remembered for? What legacy do you want to leave behind?

Grandpowers is working on a beta launch in September for Grandparent's Day, and in the future, people can share more than just stories. They hope to become the go-to place for young people to find new and interesting ways to connect to the elderly within the family and into the community!

Advisors in Philanthropy: More than a Conference

Please find below a post I had written for the Give2Asia Forum about the AiP conference.

From April 22 to 24, the International Advisors in Philanthropy (AiP) annual conference was held in Chicago. The event brought together advisors from the nonprofit and for-profit fields to discuss the latest trends in philanthropy. I attended the event because I wanted to meet and learn from others who were working with families and involving the next generation in their philanthropic decision-making. This was important for me because more and more Asian American families are working through issues of passing on wealth and values to the next generation. Philanthropy plays a critical role in many of these conversations. At Give2Asia, we are beginning to explore how we can be of assistance to these families and what role we should play. 

Profile of a typical advisor in philanthropy 

I have always wondered who considered themselves to be “philanthropy advisors,” what services they provided, what the context of their work was and how they evaluate their success. This year, AiP hired Thomas E. Backer, Ph.D. of Human Interaction Research Institute to conduct the first annual AiP member survey. He found that a typical AiP member: 

(1) Spends half to two-thirds of their time serving clients directly, but only about 10% total work time focused specifically on clients’ philanthropic needs. 

(2) Collaborate with others and sees “successfully orienting the donor or family to what is important to them in being philanthropy” as the most important indicator of successful advising. 

(3) Find that success is measured by informal discussions with clients. 

(4) Relies on books and articles for developing professional skills. 

(5) The Chartered Advisor in Philanthropy (CAP) program was cited as “the most important credential an advisor can have.” 

Engaging the next generation of givers 

Mary Galeti of the Tecovas Foundation spoke about engaging the next generation of givers. Mary is 27 years old and through several unfortunate events in the family, found herself sitting on the family foundation board with many of her siblings and cousins. A majority of the board was under 30 years old. Mary was open and frank about the issues that her family had to struggle with - not just with family business but also with the family foundation. 

Mary then asked the audience what characteristics would describe the millennial generation. The audience of advisors averaged the age of fifty or more. It was clear that many in the audience was not able to identify with the traits that Mary listed: 

(1) They want a balance of life. 

(2) Millennials care about impact and many are consultants and have MBAs so they understand measurement and analysis well. 

(3) They communicate using Facebook and Twitter. 

(4) They want instantaneous answers and cannot understand why things can’t happen. 

(5) Millennials have a sense of entitlement; they don’t understand why they shouldn’t since everything was easily available. 

(6) They have a global perspective. It seemed the key is open communication and Mary suggested that instead of heading down the road of “why I can’t do something because you never let me” to encouraging the use of descriptive language. For example, to start sentences with “I feel” or “I hear that you are saying...” 

These are very interesting conversations for me to hear because I wonder whether the Asian American community struggles or will struggle with the same issues. Our community is composed of many immigrant families and as they have acquired wealth and success, how will they pass these values to the next generation? How will they communicate and involve the next generation in their philanthropic decision-making? How much control are the parents or older generation willing to share with the next generation? Most important, how do we prepare the next generation to receive these responsibilities? 

Behind the conference sessions 

Conferences provide a face-to-face venue to network and share experiences with others that are beyond the conference sessions. While conference fees, airline tickets and hotel stays can quickly add up, I am an avid believer that inspiration and collaboration happens outside the office. To be in the philanthropy field means that you have to meet others where they work - whether at events or a visit to organizations doing work on the ground. 

Breakfast, coffee breaks and dinners allow opportunities to meet new people and say hello to old friends across the coast that I only see once a year. As much as I enjoy certain sessions and appreciate the time the organizers and speakers put into the event, I feel that my take-aways mostly come during these networking opportunities. I met other advisors in the field (even one from Australia) and left with a list of books and leaders to contact. My conference highlight was the last hour of the conference when I had the opportunity to meet with my mentor, Phil Cubeta, professor at the American College and leader of the Charter Advisor in Philanthropy (CAP) program. It is nice to receive feedback, reassurance and inspiration that the work you are doing is necessary and you are on the right track.

Supporting Internationally Focused Families

There were several of us blogging from the Council on Foundation's Family Philanthropy Conference in San Diego. You can follow the conversation on COF's blog, RE: Philanthropy, What Matters Now.

My second post: Supporting internationally-focused families

The families I’ve spoken to at the conference support diverse projects overseas: from children and women to environmental issues. But many jump from project to project without clear long-term goals—for example, supporting initiatives around clean water in Bangladesh to micro-finance in Uganda. The financial support ranges from a $50 gift to buy a stove to a $100,000 grant for endowing a school. 

The majority of the families do support U.S. based 501(c)(3) organizations that are doing work overseas. Some are using intermediaries to implement particular projects while others are running their own programs in specific countries. For instance, one family hired two local leaders to implement a micro-loan project in Haiti. But many families are just lurking on the periphery—still collecting information and unclear where to start.

Read more

The first post, Where domestic and international philanthropy meet, can be found here.

Photo courtesy of spacetrucker

Where Domestic and International Philanthropy Meet

There are several of us blogging from the Council on Foundation's Family Philanthropy Conference in San Diego. You can follow the conversation on COF's blog, RE: Philanthropy, What Matters Now.

My first post: Where domestic and international philanthropy meet

I am excited about attending the upcoming Family Philanthropy Conference in San Diego this weekend. While I have attended the Council on Foundations’ Annual Conference for several years, this will be my first time attending the Family Conference. My interest in attending the conference is to find out how families are incorporating domestic and international philanthropy and how they approach their implementation and evaluation process as an entity. 

I have met many families that support the community they currently live in. Several of them also support charitable projects overseas. The reasons they support overseas organizations and projects are diverse and many subjectively and passionately have done so for many years. However, as the philanthropic field moves towards quests for efficiency, impact and accountability, many advisors, like me, are looking for ways to help our clients/donors answer these questions in an international context.

Read more

Photo courtesy of camera-caritatis