Asian Philanthropy Forum

A brief look at British Asian philanthropy

I was in London several weeks ago and had the opportunity to learn about British Asian philanthropy and the work of the Asian Foundation for Philanthropy.  

In the U.S., the term Asian American is often used to refer to those of Asian origin, including Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Indian, etc.  On the other hand, the British Asian refers to those of South Asian origin, particularly Indians, Pakistanis, and Bangladeshis.  The other groups are lumped into 'orientals' and in the ethnic section of UK's census forms, the Chinese are treated separately, i.e., not as "Asians."

There are approximately 2,331,423 British Asians, constituting about 4% of the population of the United Kingdom (UK) (Indians are 2.7%; Pakistanis 1.5%; Bangladeshi's 0.5% and other Asians (0.4%)).  British Asians make up 50.2% of the UK's non-European population, according to the 2001 UK Census.  The South Asian diaspora accounts for 10% of UK's economic output.   According to a 2002/2003 study, there are 71 Asian millionaires, with 47 of them under the age of 40.

In the past, I have blogged about the lack of information, resources, and studies about Asian American philanthropy.  It seems as if the same case also applies to the UK as well.  There are virtually no studies or research on Asian giving patterns in the UK.  If you know of any, please let me know.

Asian Foundation for Philanthropy: Inspiring Social Change.  In London, I had lunch with Bala Thakrar, executive director and founder of the Asian Foundation for Philanthropy.  Bala established AFP in 2005 to connect the British Asian diaspora to innovative social change initiatives in India.  She recently won the Social and Humanitarian Award at the 9th annual Asian Women of Achievement Awards.  In a recent interview with the Guardian, Bala says it is important to link Asian communities in the UK to India because:

The Asian community has always been giving, but I don't think we have been really thinking about it. We need to increase our knowledge on the power of volunteering. People can be surprisingly generous, not just with money, but with time and resources.

Greatest Needs: Protecting communities from the spread of tuberculosis in Burma

Every six months, Give2Asia features several projects that require immediate funding in their Greatest Needs catalogue.  These projects have been vetted by Give2Asia and then broken into scalabe sizes for donors to invest in.  The purpose is to showcase needs in the region, highlight the work that local, on the ground, organizations are doing and then provide a mechanism for those that choose to act. 

Partner: Metta Development Foundation. 

Cost: $55,000 creates 5 new TB centers and helps treat and educate hundreds who are infected or at risk.

The Challenge.  Burma has one of the highest prevalence rates of tuberculosis (TB) in the world with an estimated 1.5% of the population becoming infected each year. Of the 120,000 case that are identified, a high percentage are among those living with HIV/AIDS due to their compromised immune systems.  Lack of education and awareness has also resulted in misuse of TB drugs, which leads to increased prevalence of drug-resistant strains of TB. The Director General of the World Health Organization has identified drug-resistant TB in Burma as an “explosive situation.”

Kachin State, one of Burma’s most rural and remote areas, survives primarily on mining and logging. Because of its rich natural resources, Kachin attracts economic migrants from other areas of Burma looking for work. Mining camps and migrant traffic make Kachin a high risk area for both TB and HIV/AIDS. Lack of awareness about TB is compounded by illegal drug use and sex work. In 2008, the number of deaths in the area doubled for people co-infected with HIV and TB.

The Goal.  To reduce the risk and spread of TB by empowering communities in Kachin State through better education, prevention and treatment of TB infections.

The Solution.  This project will improve access to quality TB care and support programs in Kachin State with the establishment of new clinics, improved training for local health care professionals, and community involvement programs that will build awareness about this critical issue. Building on Metta’s existing HIV programs in Kachin, this program will provide the comprehensive support necessary to curb rising TB infections in the region.

5 new TB centers will bring together people infected by TB for treatment and education. These centers will create support networks for 150 patients and help educate 180 who are infected with both TB and HIV/AIDS. The centers also will focus on improving early detection of new TB cases, as well as helping people stay on schedule with their treatment.

Greatest Needs: Preventing children from living on the streets in Laos

Every six months, Give2Asia features several projects that require immediate funding in their Greatest Needs catalogue.  These projects have been vetted by Give2Asia and then broken into scalabe sizes for donors to invest in.  The purpose is to showcase needs in the region, highlight the work that local, on the ground, organizations are doing and then provide a mechanism for those that choose to act. 

Partner: Friends-International  (Peuan Mit in Laotian)

Cost: $55,000 gives 1,000 children access to education, health care, and family services that protect them from living on the streets.

The Challenge.  On any given day an estimated 600 children live and work on the streets of Vientiane. Street children survive primarily by scavenging, begging and sex work. These children are often deprived of an education because of pressure to earn an income for their survival and, in some cases, the survival of their families. Children living on the street are highly susceptible to substance abuse, violence, HIV/AIDS and human trafficking.

The Goal.  To create lasting social change by ensuring access to education for children and youth at risk of entering street life. To sustain this change through holistic support services for their families.

The Solution.  This project provides at-risk children and youth access to education, helping young people achieve their potential. The project will also strengthen the financial situation of at-risk families, placing a particular emphasis on female-headed households as a means of reducing incidences of child labor; Families with a reliable income are in a better position to meet the needs of their children, including supporting their educational endeavors.

Educating Street Children: The project will provide education for 1,000 children and youth at risk of living on the streets. Friends will provide bridging courses and other preparatory support to help children resume (or begin) their education through the public school system. Once reintegrated into a public school, students will continue to receive support, including academic tuition, to ensure their transition into school has been successful.

Greatest Needs: Empowering Delhi's trash-picking community

Every six months, Give2Asia features several projects that require immediate funding in their Greatest Needs catalogue.  These projects have been vetted by Give2Asia and then broken into scalabe sizes for donors to invest in.  The purpose is to showcase needs in the region, highlight the work that local, on the ground, organizations are doing and then provide a mechanism for those that choose to act.  I will share some of these projects in the next three posts.

Partner: Chintan Environmental Research & Action Group

Cost: $5,000 provides education for 40 child trash pickers in Delhi; $52,000 trains 8,000 leaders in the trash-picker community

The Challenge.  300,000 of Delhi’s inhabitants make a living retrieving recyclable trash, collecting 1,000 tons of waste on a daily basis. While trash-picking is treated as one of the most lowly occupations in urban India, trash-pickers are also responsible for recycling nearly 20% of Delhi’s trash, which would otherwise go to landfills. With growing development and consumption in India, it is estimated that Delhi will generate 20,000 tons of waste daily by 2020. Supporting this large group of trash recyclers in India’s largest city is an important strategy to tackle both poverty and environmental degradation.

The Solution.  This project will help to organize and protect Delhi’s trash-picker community in a number of ways that help them gain respect in the community, while also creating opportunities for their children to gain an education and escape poverty.

Guarantee a loan for an entrepreneur in India!

I just made my first loan guarantee on United Prosperity to see how the platform works. I had previously mentioned Bhalchander ("Bala") Vishwanath, CEO, and this project in an earlier post. United Prosperity officially lauched on May 28th and I am excited to see the responses they will receive.  They have guarantors from all over the world now.  Below is a brief description of my experience in using the website.

First, I reviewed the listing of the entrepreneurs on the site.  There are six women entrepreneurs.  One sells gunny bags to merchants and needs a loan to expand her work.  Another woman owns a grocery shop and requires a loan to expand her store.  I narrowed my choices to two women:

* Gita Devi sells vegetables in the market and she would like to start her own vegetable and grocery shop near her home.  She currently earns Rs. 3000 per month selling vegetables alongside her husband at the market. 

* Sunita Devi supports her family by stitching clothes, as her husband is no longer alive. She does the stitching work at her home. She has applied for a microloan to rent space, furnish it with goods and purchase a sewing machine. She hopes to increase her income and meet the growing financial needs of her children.

It was a difficult decision and I could have supported both of them but I thought, if I had to choose one, how would I choose and what would my criteria be? 

Save the world using your cell phone?

I had the opportunity to meet Mridul Chowdhury, CEO of ClickDiagnostics, several months ago and I have been following his work since then.  U.S. based ClickDiagnostics uses cell phones to deliver healthcare to rural communities.  They are working now in Bangladesh, India and Africa.  Will using cell phones be the next big thing for social service organizations to tackle some of the rural development issues and perhaps, grow philanthropy?

Since it is difficult to access doctors for those living in rural villages, Mridul's team deploys health workers with cell phones to those areas.  The cell phones are equipped with macro lenses and software for questioning patients about their ailments.  They take close-up images of eyes or skin to diagnose disorders.  The images and audio files are sent via cell phone to a server linked to a regional doctor who makes the diagnoses.  Within 24 hours, the health worker receives the diagnoses.  Patients would pay the health worker for the services. 

Groups, like ClickDiagnostics, that are using cells phones as social change platforms may be able to solve some of our societal problems where access to healthcare, education, and information is difficult.  But it doesn't end there.  During the Sichuan earthquake in China last year, many individuals used cell phones to donate funds to selected organizations providing relief.   In China, you can even start your own private foundation using your cell phone.

Designing for the poor

Why are 90% of the world's products and services designed for 10% of the world's population? 

We believe in listening to the needs the poor tell us about, not assuming we know best. We believe in products and services designed for specific cultural contexts, not just Western hand-me-downs. And we believe that careful attention to design can create innovative-and extremely affordable-solutions to the problems of the other 90%.

Last week, I attended the Extreme Affordability Design Expo at Stanford University to see the latest projects the students were working on.  The two-course sequence is part of the Entrepreneurial Design for Extreme Affordability course that focuses on treating the poor as customers. 

Students design products and business models for base of the pyramid customers in India, Ethiopia, Myanmar, Nepal, and Rwanda.  Each of the ten teams had designed product prototypes, distribution systems, and business plans for entrepreneurial ventures to deliver these products. 

I had actually seen one of their past projects in action in Myanmar while I was there. Here's a picture of me on the water pump that delivered water to the fields.  This pump saved the farmer lots of time and since it was cost-efficient and offered several repayment models, the farmers could afford it.  I am really excited about these classes because it bridges the gap between theory and practice at universities.  I also like the concept that social entrepreneurial classes like these take the already natural curiosity and talent of individuals and channels them to benefit those that have long been ignored.

Why are 90% of the world's products and services designed for 10% of the world's population? 

We believe in listening to the needs the poor tell us about, not assuming we know best. We believe in products and services designed for specific cultural contexts, not just Western hand-me-downs. And we believe that careful attention to design can create innovative-and extremely affordable-solutions to the problems of the other 90%.

Last week, I attended the Extreme Affordability Design Expo at Stanford University to see the latest projects the students were working on.  The two-course sequence is part of the Entrepreneurial Design for Extreme Affordability course that focuses on treating the poor as customers. 

Students design products and business models for base of the pyramid customers in India, Ethiopia, Myanmar, Nepal, and Rwanda.  Each of the ten teams had designed product prototypes, distribution systems, and business plans for entrepreneurial ventures to deliver these products. 

I had actually seen one of their past projects in action in Myanmar while I was there. Here's a picture of me on the water pump that delivered water to the fields.  This pump saved the farmer lots of time and since it was cost-efficient and offered several repayment models, the farmers could afford it.  I am really excited about these classes because it bridges the gap between theory and practice at universities.  I also like the concept that social entrepreneurial classes like these take the already natural curiosity and talent of individuals and channels them to benefit those that have long been ignored.

New philanthropy resources (06/07/09)

The philanthropy field is now so popular that new studies are coming out almost every week.  Three studies were released in the past several weeks that I think are worthwhile to take a look at.  First, corporate foundation giving will decline in 2009 so nonprofits that are working on their 2009 budgets now should take this reduction of revenue stream into consideration.  Second, a study of giving circles and how it impacts giving and civic engagement was released.  Since giving circles are social vehicles, it was not suprising that those that participate in giving circles have a higher engagement with their communities.  However, more research on giving circles and how they impact communities like the Asian American community is still needed.  Third, women play a prominent role in philanthropic decisions and not surprisngly - are much more open to receiving advice on their giving.  As I come across more philanthropic research that affects our community in the future, I will be sure to share it with you.

* Corporate foundation giving will decline in 2009:  Foundation Center's Key Facts on Corporate Foundations found that U.S. giving by 2,500 corporate foundations remained "virtually unchanged in 2008".  Giving totaled an estimated $4.4 billion last year.  However, 2009 will see declines as banking and finance industries account for about one-quarter of corporate foundation support.  51% said that they expect to reduce their giving this year, with three-quarters of these funders anticipating decreases of more than 10%.  Education is the number one focus of corporate foundations followed by public affairs/society benefit and human services.  The Northeast and Midwest account for the larges shares of corporate foundation giving. 

Twitter, international platforms and rock stars at COF

Sean Stannard-Stockton of Tactical Philanthropy has a recap about the Council on Foundations conference in the Alliance Magazine.  I was excited to see the recap because I had contributed to it.  The Alliance Magazine is one of the few philanthropy magazine that serves the global community and always has several stories about philanthropy in Asia.  The donor interviews are my favorite sections.  You can read the full article here.

When I attended the Council on Foundations conference two years ago as one of the first bloggers to be issued media credentials, my presence was clearly an oddity. At this year's conference, it seemed that social media had finally gone mainstream with the Council launching their own blog and using Twitter. As with all conferences, the best part of the Council on Foundations gathering is the conversations in the hallways, but with Twitter usage high among attendees, many of those ‘hallway conversations’ happened on Twitter while sessions were still in progress.

In spite of the economic crisis, interest in international philanthropy seemed greater than ever. There was an extensive list of sessions devoted to the mechanics of international grantmaking, such as the use of intermediary organizations. The progress of new technological platforms, such as the Council on Foundation and TechSoup Global's centralized repository initiative to help foundations give overseas in a more efficient and cost-effective manner, was also featured. One session, Building Philanthropy BRIC by BRIC, dug deep into the areas of private giving and the growth of civil society in Brazil, Russia, India and China.

The projected declines in international philanthropy did not seem to deter the attendees. Many sessions were well attended and the question was not how reduced assets would hurt giving, but how foundations can do more. How do we capitalize on the new philanthropic models? How do we leverage technology and human capital to increase our impact? How do we create partnerships in a world that has redefined the concept of ‘community’?

Asian philanthropy news digest (5/30/09)

The following is a compilation of news and resources related to Asian philanthropy:

* Omidyar to become India's first philanthropic investment firm: Since 2004, Omidyar has committed nearly $270 million in for-profit and not-for-profit organizations.  Now, they are looking for an India director and will invest in organizations that serve the bottom of the pyramid.

* MacArthur Foundation pledges $68 million to promote peace in Asia: With security concerns rising on the Korean peninsula, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation announced today it is committing $68-million during the next seven years to promote peace and international cooperation among Asian nations. 

* Smooth sailing: Rohet Tolani, shipping entrepreneur, born in India, educated in the US and now lives in Singapore sets up the Rohet Tolani Distinguished Professorship in International Business at Carnegie Mellon.

* Teach a man to fish or give him a fish: Initially, the concept of CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) was exclusively associated with economic aspects, such as corporate donations to the poor and disaster relief. Nowadays, however, CSR is endowed with much broader meanings.

* Chinese leaders learn about corporate social responsibility: Participants from China attend conference in Oregon to learn about CSR programs in the US.