Asian Philanthropy Forum

Asian Philanthropy News Digest 12/19/2011

Meet the Ten Biggest Do-Gooders in the Middle Kingdom. China's billionaire philanthropist list. A very interesting list with background, including dollar amounts and causes. Many of the donors are publicly supporting education and disaster relief efforts.

A Chinese boomtown test drives the concept of charity (Globe and Mail, Canada). Shenzhen was China's testing grounds for new markets, now it is known as a haven for NGOs. Many are registering there and the city is becoming an experimental hub to support the growth of civil society.

Google Awards $40 Million to Boost STEM and Girls' Education, Fight Slavery. With this round of funding, Google.org has made $115 million in 2011 to nonprofits and academic insitutions around the world. Afghan Institute of Learning and Action Aid India are several of the groups included in this round.

Opportunity: International Fellows Program

The Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society is accepting applications to the Senior International Fellows Program 2010. The program provides an opportunity for the professional development of Third-Sector practitioners from outside the United States who are decision-makers in their professions. It offers fellows time away to explore new strategies, increase the sector’s impact in your country or region, seek networking opportunities with colleagues in the field globally, and aim to strengthen community philanthropy. This is a professional development opportunity for Third-Sector senior practitioners to support community philanthropy and help build capacity in their home countries.

Fellows are based at The Graduate Center of The City University of New York, where they attend weekly seminars, explore the work of key agencies and foundations, meet with nonprofit representatives and study U.S. and international community foundation models.The research topic for fellowships for the 2010 program will be community foundations. However, proposals on other topics related to the philanthropic sector will be considered from candidates applying on a tuition or institutionally sponsorsed basis. Fellows will participate in a 1-month seminar looking at the U.S. and international voluntary sectors. The program will run from Monday October 18, 2010 through Friday November 12, 2010. Applications accepted through July 7, 2010; please visit Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society for application details.

Photo from Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society

Funding Opportunity: Seattle International Foundation

The Seattle International Foundation is now accepting applications for its Global Program. The goal of the Global Program is to support and foster local organizations working internationally. The Foundation is interested in development projects in all regions of the world, although it has a special interest in Central America.

Preference will be given to organizations based in the greater Puget Sound region and organizations based outside of Washington State are not eligible. The program is open to 501(c)3 organizations, or those with fiscal sponsorship, with an annual organizational or project budget of less than $2 million.

The program seeks to support organizations launching new projects, or working to establish or expand an international project or program. Organizations may request general operating support or project support, and generally the maximum grant award is $15,000. The application deadline is March 15, 2010 and grant recipients will be announced by mid-May 2010.

SIF is a supporting organization of The Seattle Foundation. In 2009, SIF awarded $2.2 million in grants to 43 organizations (31 based in Pacific Northwest) working in over 40 countries.

SIF was founded by Bill and Paula Clapp, who have 15 years of experience in international development work. They co-founded Global Partnerships where Bill was formerly the CEO, and currently serves as Chairman. Bill also co-founded the Initiative for Global Development with other notable international philanthropists from the Pacific Northwest, where he currently serves as director.

Bill served as the CEO for 30 years of Matthew G. Norton Company, a Seattle based investment, real estate and management company. He has served on the board of Alaska Airlines and Weyerhaeuser Co. as well as numerous private companies and non-profit organizations. Paula Clapp has worked with numerous non profit organizations in the Seattle area in addition to Global Partnerships focusing primarily in education and social needs.

$50,000 Award to Developer of an Innovative Wireless Technology Addressing Health Issues

The Vodafone Americas Foundation is pleased to announce the first mHealth Alliance Award, in partnership with the mHealth Alliance, as part of the 2010 Wireless Innovation Project. The award will be granted to the developer of an innovative wireless technology with the most potential to address critical health challenges, especially in developing regions.

The winner of the mHealth Alliance Award will receive a cash prize and benefits totaling $50,000, including participation in Santa Clara University’s Center for Science, Technology, and the Global Social Benefit Incubator Program (GSBI™), a highly competitive program that connects innovators with a Silicon Valley support network and provides instruction on how to achieve maximum sustainability and impact in social enterprises. In addition, the winner will receive strategic and networking assistance from the mHealth Alliance.

In the Asian Blogsphere 11/14/09

There are many blogs about philanthropy, NGOs, and social entrepreneurs in the Asia Pacific region.  We have tried to list them in our "Alignment of Interest" column on our site.  If you know of any other blogs we should include, please email us.  We will be highlighting posts we think are of interest to our readers in our new "In the Asian blogsphere" tagline.

* FYSE announced the selection of 100 young entrepreneurs and social Changemakers. To inspire more young people FYSE will profile Paragon fellows widely through an extensive network of more than 50 partners in Asia Pacific and multiple online channels as positive role models in order to inspire more young people to consider entrepreneurship as a career choice.

* Bangladesh Corporate Blog has a post about the new Bangladesh Diaspora Project.  The Bangladesh Enterprise Institute in partnership with Asian Tiger Capital Partners (AT Capital) has initiated a year long project on establishing an effective Bangladesh Diaspora network for economic transformation of Bangladesh.

* China Philanthropy blog announced the latest issue of Social Venture Group's newsletter.  It contains the latest news from China's growing grassroots nonprofit sector, including stories on building migrant communities in Beijing, elderly care in Shanghai, a technology social enterprise for Western China, 2009 giving trends in China, and much much more.

* Erica from ResponsibleChina.com blogs about a new form of environmental ethics - environmental virtue ethics (EVE).  Erica writes: Aristotle saw moral virtue as a reflection of a certain state of character, rather than our passions or our faculties and it is this kind of virtue - a consistent, repeated, dedicated character to environmental protection that is considered a environmental virtue ethic. 

Photo courtesy of James Jordan

Perfect Proposals: Making Logical Sense and Hitting the Heart

- by Dien S Yuen

In my line of work, I interact with many small, on-the-ground, grassroots groups in Asia.  While reviewing funding requests are not the major focus of my work, I do have to read them and try to understand them before presenting them to potential donors.  Unfortunately, it is a frustrating and time-consuming process.  I am used to the fairly standardized proposals from U.S. nonprofits and when I read the ones we receive from small, grassroots groups in Asia, I find myself sighing.... what are you trying to say?  who are you helping? what is the issue you are trying to solve? how will your project solve that issue? I am glad you will be grateful but please don't overdo it and tell me that in three paragraphs etc, etc.

I blame myself for being trained in the western ways of proposal writing and budgeting - it created a bar that many small groups cannot pass.  I also blame our perhaps, un-necessary need of requiring pages and pages of paperwork - again and again - and then again to all the different funders.  Mostly, I blame our lack of ability to provide these groups training on how to write proposals, draft budgets, conceptualize the project and be able to articulate it, and most important, share with donors the impact of their work.

Diaspora fellowships for young Indian leaders

From the folks at Think Change India:

Indicorps eagerly announces over 30 competitive new projects for the August 2009 Indicorps Diaspora Fellowship.  Indicorps seeks a few dozen dedicated young Indian leaders who are willing to challenge themselves and “be the change.”  Tackle real issues in education, microfinance, social entrepreneurship, environmental conservation, public health, urban infrastructure, and much more.  Live simply and dig deep to learn about real India (and yourself); projects span from Kanpur to Pondicherry, Gujarat to Madhya Pradesh.

In the spirit of Obama’s campaign to create “Change you can believe in,” Indicorps is a real opportunity for CHANGE YOU MAKE HAPPEN.  The August 2009 Fellowship model will mobilize passionate, sincere fellows to become strong team players and leaders who will build sustainable new initiatives.

About Indicorps: Indicorps offers prestigious grassroots public service fellowship to implement sustainable development projects with community-based organizations across India.  As a total-immersion leadership program, Indicorps will encourage you to explore your role as a catalyst of change.  Fellowship projects promote both personal growth and collective action towards a secular India that is inclusive, peaceful, and participatory.  The program requires a minimum commitment of one year.

Applications are due 15 March 2009.

Photo courtesy of Marco DeLucci

Interim report on Sichuan earthquake relief efforts

Give2Asia released an interim report last week about their China earthquake relief efforts.  The report lists the organizations and projects being supported from the US$9.7 million committed from donors.  Of the US$5.5 million in grants made so far to China, 34% of the funds were for health, education and livelihood projects.  28% of the funds supported emergency relief, 21% supported homes and school projects, 8% for clean water and 9% for community empowerment.

Based on recent visits to the region and ongoing discussions with local partner organizations across Sichuan Province, Give2Asia has identified the following three critical needs for the survivors moving forward:

1. Education: Schools are in great need of teachers, teaching support tools, and materials such as books and paper.
2. Income: Many lack a way of earning income. Replacing farm animals, improving farming practices and job training are critical.
3. Housing: There is a big gap between what governments are able to provide and what is needed to put millions into new homes.

You can read download the full report here.

Vote for your local JusticeMaker in Asia

In partnership with International Bridges to Justice and the 2008 JusticeMakers Competition, we would like to invite you to participate in the JusticeMakers People's Choice Awards. 

We had previously shared with Asian Philanthropy Forum readers about this competition.  The result is that 55 innovators from around the world have provided detailed and concrete project ideas for curbing torture and legal abuse on a local level. Whether it’s the public exhibition of incidents of abuse to encourage pro-bono legal support, or a text message service to aid in the provision of counsel... the ideas are contemporary, cost-effective and critical.

Seven of the $5,000 awards will be granted by JusticeMakers' Judges.  The eight cash prize - the People's Choice Award -- will be granted by the registered members of the JusticeMakers community.  This is where you can participate in this competition.  JusticeMakers' is relying on you to tell them which of these remarkable projects should be supported. 

$3 million challenge grant from Vietnamese American philanthropist

In May, Doan L. Phung, a 68-year old Vietnamese-American philanthropist, gave a keynote speech at the fourth annual Asian Pacific Philanthropy Consortium (APPC) conference in Hanoi, Vietnam. The theme of the conference was "Diaspora Giving: An Agent of Social Change?" and Mr. Phung spoke about his reasons for giving back to Vietnam. At the end of his speech, Mr. Phung announced a $3 million USD challenge grant to the Vietnamese-American NGO (VA-NGO) network, which represents and supports U.S.-based Vietnamese American NGOs conducting humanitarian and development work in Vietnam.

Mr. Phung has been a long-time supporter of Vietnamese and Vietnamese-American causes. He and his wife established the Vietnamese American Scholarship Fund (VASF) and the Fund for the Encouragement of Self-Reliance (FESR). He is a founder of the VA NGO Network and has supported projects in Vietnam through established groups such as Social Assistance Program for Vietnam, Nom Preservation Foundation, Room to Read and East Meets West Foundation.

Mr. Phung's recent gift is just another example of his tremendous generosity and faith in an ability to make a difference. We wondered what life events formed the philosophy and activities behind his philanthropy. Below, we share with you Mr. Phung's personal journey.

Mr. Phung was born in a small village outside of Hanoi, where no school, library, or medical clinic existed. His mother, who had only a second grade education, worked day and night to feed 6 children while his father fought in the war. Two of his siblings did not survive that period. In 1958, Mr. Phung was selected to study in the US, where he pursued his bachelor's degree at Florida State University and obtained a graduate education at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. After receiving two Master's degrees in Physics and Nuclear Engineering, Mr. Phung returned to Vietnam to fulfill the terms of his scholarship.