Asian Philanthropy Forum

Asian philanthropy news digest - 02/16/10

Rockefeller Foundation to support Social Stock Exchange in Asia. The Foundation announced a $495,000 grant to support proof of concept analysis of Asia's first social stock exchange, which IIX hopes to create. IIX is working to launch a regulated trading platform for securities issued by for-profit or nonprofit entities in Asia with a sustainable social or environmental mission.

Indonesian Philanthropy Project. This is a new blog I found by Hilman Latief. The site contains "information about philanthropic activism held and promoted by Indonesians. Apart form discussing general issues on the interplay between religion, state, society and the market, it also consists of opinion and reports on cultural, political, economic and legal issues of humanitarian assistance and charitable works."

GFIA launches wealth management services. GFIA, a hedge fund consulting form in Asia has added a new wealth management service to its offerings. The service includes deal/acquisition due diligence to philanthropy.

Happy Lunar New Year - Year of the Tiger

The Asian Philanthropy Forum team wishes our friends and their families a very happy Lunar New Year! Thank you for your support in the previous year. We look forward to your continuous engagement in the year of the tiger!

Channel News Asia has a beautiful gallery of photos of the new year celebrations in Asia that we encourage you to visit.

 

 

Resource: China Nonprofit Technology Blog

Many charitable organizations in China are using technology to amplify their work.  These trends and practices are covered by the China Nonprofit Technology Blog.   The blog offers news and opinions about the use of the computer and internet technology in China's non-profit and social development sectors.  It is published by Technology for China, a nonprofit organization based in China that develops web and software systems. Updates include:

Alipay services free for organizations.  Alipay, China's biggest online payment platform is providing its services to nearly 50 non-profit organizations for free.  Organizations using Alipay include: Project Hope, Red Cross Society of China and China Charity Federation.

www.gztellthem.org.  The Guangzhou Center for Disease Control launched this website to help people diagnosed with HIV or other sexually transmitted diseases to anonymously notify past sexual partners via a text message sent to their mobile phone.

Chinese Environmental NGOs Online. Website that provides information about NGOs with programs addressing the environment. The site also contains an online database that provides listing of China's environmental NGOs. The website was developed by the China Development Brief and is now managed by Friends of Nature in Beijing.

Photo courtesy of Kevin Kelly: Asia Grace

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

Our new community partner: CAF India

We are pleased to announce our new community partner, CAF India.  CAF India was established in New Delhi in October 1998.  CAF India's mission is to increase the flow of resources from corporations and high net worth individuals to the non-profit sector.  They provide giving solutions such as payroll giving, company accounts, donor advised funds - to individuals and multinational companies and their employees.

In 2008-2009, CAF India facilitated grants of INR 4.94 crores compared to INR 2.88 crores the previous fiscal year from companies and individuals through their Company Accounts, Give As You Earn (GAYE) and International grants and Individual one-time gifts.  CAF India's goal is to raise INR 21 crores in 2011.

CAF India works with companies like Adobe India, Coca-Cola India, Cadbury India Ltd., GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare, HDFC Ltd, Microsoft Corporation and Hewitt Associates to name a few.  Their payroll giving programme, GAYE received a fresh impetus in 2008-09 with financial majors like American Express, The Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) and Barclays GRCB joining the programme.  GAYE is a payroll giving solution offered to employees of companies.  Employees can choose CAF India's validated NGOs and causes to donate to from their monthly payroll.  In India, payroll giving was introduced about a decade ago and it has since been growing every since.  Presently, over 3,500 employees are supporting over 100 non-profits across 14 states in India.

Asian philanthropy news digest (08/25/09)

*  When I read this article, I thought it meant training in philanthropy, i.e, structuring giving and grantmaking but it sounds like it is more non-profit program work: The Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) is starting a Mater's program in philanthropy.  20 students will be admitted and will be trained to work for the "destitute, orphans, streetchildren, social outcase, leprosy-affected and physically challenged."

* China Philanthropy blog has a great post about Chinese fundraising capability and Chinese NGOs use of the internet.  Western NGOs in China have done slightly better in fundraising than organizations in eastern China.  Those in central China are the worst of the three.

* Want to be Australia's first Chair of Social Investment and Philanthropy?  The Truby and Florence Williams Chair of Social Investment and Philanthropy continues to build upon Swinburne's Asia Pacific Centre for Social Investment and Philanthropy's commitment to social investment throughout Asia Pacific.

* Simplified match-making for nonprofits and donors: Philanthropy Australia launched Project Pool, a new database that allows donors to access projects in which much of the due diligence has already been done.  In order to access the site though, you must join as a member and pay a fee (AUS$500). Maybe U.S. community foundations should look at this model?

* Gabriel Chong over at CSR Asia writes about his observations on the state of CSR understanding in Malaysia.  Currently: (1) corporate philanthropy equates to CSR; (2) Knowledge of CSR is superficial; (3) Companies under pressure do better CSR; and (4) Partnerships lack direction and measurement.

Law of Philanthropy in the 21st Century - free symposium

- by Dien S Yuen

The Chicago-Kent College of Law in Chicago, Illinois is hosting the "Symposium on the Law of Philanthropy in the 21st Century" on October 23, 2009.  The one day event will feature topics on governance, tax and donor intent.  The ACTEC Foundation has provided funding for the event and so the event is offered free of charge.  You can register here (the password is: judicialrelativism).

I just registered and look forward to seeing Prof. Mark Sidel again at the event.  He is one of the very few experts on philanthropy and nonprofit law in Asia.  Prof. Sidel will be speaking on the "New Developments in Community Foundation Law in the United States."

Here is a highlight of his bio:  His research focuses on law, philanthropy and the nonprofit sector, and on comparative law in Asia with a focus on Vietnam, China, and India and South Asia. Professor Sidel teaches philanthropy and nonprofit institutions, contracts, and comparative and international law. In the 2005-06 academic year Professor Sidel served as Visiting Professor of Law at Harvard Law School.  Sidel has also been named a University of Iowa Faculty Scholar beginning in fall 2006.

Professor Sidel has also taught Vietnamese and Chinese law at Harvard Law School (1998), served as W.G. Hart Lecturer in Law at the School of Oriental and African Studies in the University of London (2003), served as visiting professor of Asian law in "chaire Asie" at the Institut d'Etudes Politiques de Paris (Sciences Po) (2004), and taught comparative law in Asia at the University of Melbourne Law School (2005).  Sidel studied at Princeton University (history), Yale University (history), and Columbia Law School.

Professor Sidel has published extensively on comparative law in Asia, and on philanthropy, the nonprofit sector, and civil society, including a volume on anti-terrorism policy in comparative perspective, and a co-edited volume on philanthropy and law in South Asia.

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.

Toolkit for supporting donors of color

Changemakers and Hindsight Consulting will introduce a training toolkit that supports the values and practices of social change philanthropy among donors of color on Monday, August 4, 2008; 11 am to 12 pm PDT.

With Knowledge Comes Change – Essentials for Diversity in Giving builds upon Changemakers’ tradition of advocating strategic, effective, and sustainable giving while honoring the people and communities most impacted by injustice.

The ten-module curriculum works to support donors of color and all donors invested in effecting the root causes of social issues to examine their current giving practices and become more strategic in their giving. EDG provides tools, exercises and worksheets for community foundations, public foundations and philanthropic advisors working with donors at all levels of philanthropic experience and capacity to give.

Reserve your Webinar seat now at:

https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/252220275

Resources and links for 6/30/08

China one of the first stops for Gates in new job (Seattle Times, 6/25/08) Seattle Times reporter interviews Gates on his new role and focus in China

A twist in how Wall St does philanthropy (Financial Times, 6/25/08)
Wall Street donors interest in international philanthropy vs traditional, domestic philanthropy

Top philanthropists donate $1.8b in 5 years (China Daily, 4/3/08)
Top 100 philanthropists given away $12.9b since 2003.  Three-quarters of the money donated were channeled into foundations set up or monitored by the donors themselves.  Experts attributed the weak development of the sector to the lack of public confidence in various charity foundations.

Mirco-Endowments
The unique Micro-Endowment model invests your donations and makes a percentage available to your charity or cause ever year. You can choose a number of charities and causes to support.

Creative Capitalism: new blog
Web experiment with purpose to produce a book on capitalism, philanthropy and global development to be publishe in fall of 2008.  "The book takes as its starting point a speech Bill Gates delivered this January at the World Economic Forum in Davos. In it, he said that many of the world's problems are too big for philanthropy--even on the scale of the Gates Foundation. And he said that the free-market capitalist system itself would have to solve them.  This is the public blog of a private website where a group of invited economists have spent the past couple of weeks criticizing and debating those claims."

Photo courtesy of myorange Taipei