Asian American Philanthropy

By Dennis Dull

Graduate Student, Grand Valley State University

Definition

Philanthropy is the giving of time or money for the common good. "For Asian Americans, philanthropy, in strictly the formal sense of giving money to legally established, professionally-run nonprofits, is a heartfelt activity that has evolved along a continuum beyond the family and ethnic enclave" (Chao 1999, 240).

An Asian American is a person who has moved to the United States from Cambodia, China, Japan, Korea, Laos, the Philippines, Thailand, or Vietnam. "The interest of various Asian groups are so different, and yet intertwined, that it is difficult for them to coalesce around a single issue" (Carson 2001, 262). However, there are a number of similarities in the way philanthropy is practiced by the Asian American population.

An example of this similarity is the development of the Mutual Aid/Benefit Organizations or Prefecture Associations. These organizations were developed by family associations in order to provide aid to the community with basic services and to provide free burials to members. Free meals, housing, social activities, financial, marriage, child- and elder-care, emergency funds and assistance with becoming an American citizen are available to the organization's members.

Another similarity exists in the form of remittances. A remittance is financial aid returned to the home country to assist other family members or to provide community improvements such as roads, hospitals, schools and scholarship programs.

Historic Roots

Asian immigration to the United States began in the 1800s. The Chinese immigrants provided the labor for mining, fishing, agriculture and railroads. The California Gold Rush resulted in large numbers of Chinese men coming to America. The Exclusion Act of 1882 stopped the Chinese immigration trend. However, the Japanese began coming to America in greater numbers following this Act. This Japanese immigration trend continued until WWII.

Korean immigration started in 1885 "as a means of escaping political turmoil in Korea" (Carson 2001, 264). "A second wave started in 1903 when Hawaii...labor for its sugar plantations" (ibid.). Filipino immigration began when the U.S. gained control of the Philippines "and arranged for Filipino students to be sent to the U.S. to study" (ibid.).

"War Brides" represented the next group of Filipinos to immigrate to America.

"No single form of Asian American philanthropy exists. Within the Asian-American community, philanthropy is as richly diverse as the population itself, reflecting the specific social adaptation techniques of various ethnic groups, from a variety of economic strata and from various levels of acculturation and Americanization" (Chao 1999, 190). The philanthropic diversity represented by the Asian immigration is dramatically increasing since "the Immigration Act of 1965 lifted restrictive quotas on Asian immigrants" (Chao 1999, 208).

Importance

Asian American philanthropy represents a continually evolving needs-based outlet for philanthropic endeavors. As the immigration from Asian countries continues today, the needs remain of the previously admitted immigrants from Asia. These identified needs mirror those needs of immigrants from other areas of the world.

For Asians, the lesson of the Civil Rights movement "was that large-scale social change comes from broad, organized, and sustained movements. . .means that we need to emphasize long-term community organizing and political education"(Chao 1993, 8). The philanthropic sector is responding through the increased study of Asian Americans.

The philanthropic sector can link Asian Americans with others through "public awareness campaigns...would be helpful in both stimulating philanthropy and offering a variety of options to potential donors" (Chao 1999, 242). The options are limitless and enduring "because education, mentoring, and role modeling appear to be necessary for developing a lifelong commitment to philanthropy" (Chao 1999, 242). Each option is one component for developing ties between the philanthropic sector and the Asian American population.

Ties to the Philanthropic Sector

"The sequential waves of Asian-American immigrants each have distinctive cultural and demographic identities that have been shaped by economic and political forces-both in Asia and this country-and by the changes in U.S. immigration law" (Chao 1999, 199). The philanthropic sector will continue to be challenged by the obligation to meet this ongoing need.

"The invisible quality [Asian American] associations have to the outside world and [it] serves as somewhat of an obstacle to extending the association's reach beyond the community (ibid.). Perhaps this will change as "the interest of Americans in eastern religions...[as] some Buddhist and Hindu temples have experienced a rise in multiracial membership. The impact this will have on the cultural agent role of religious organizations or their targets for charitable support outside their congregations is not clear" (Chao 1999, 204). This represents another challenge for the philanthropic sector.

"For the most part, second- and third-generation Asian Americans are still in the career building stage, if not younger" (Chao 1999, 235). Therefore, their interests remain focused on the immediate needs of their family. While "in many regions of the United States there exists a small but growing population of more acculturated, third- through fifth-generation Asian-Americans." (Chao 1999, 195). Each generation represents an opportunity for the philanthropic sector to respond to the identified needs of each generation, whether as a receiver of services or later as a donor of services.

The philanthropic sector needs to communicate with or learn "how to inform Asian Americans about the most effective philanthropic vehicles for their particular desires and needs" (Chao 1999, 241). While, "honoring the cultural practices of giving and sharing and the cultural values of maintaining strong family and community relationships needs to be further. . .examined whose goal is to increase philanthropic giving to or through U.S.-based charitable interests" (Chao 1999, 242). Perhaps the philanthropic sector can build "... grants to develop board and staff, create meaningful participatory services and programs for donors and to gain critical fundraising skills are [the] essential next steps" (Chao 1999, 243).

Key Related Ideas

Credit Unions function similarly to the Mutual Aid Organizations. Members of both groups provide financial contributions to assist other members' endeavors such as home purchases or to start small businesses. Repayment is expected and these monies are recycled within the system; the money is used to assist other members.

Civic participation is prevalent in all people and is expressed through the voluntary act of charitable giving. Voting, money donations to organizations and the volunteering of time to organizations represent civic participation.

Reciprocal giving is the understanding of mutual expectation between the solicitors of philanthropic activity to donate in kind to the grantor charity. In other words "those who ask for contributions to their causes are usually expected to reciprocate with a gift to the donor's cause when asked" (Chao 1999, 227).

The Asian American immigrant experience is unique as "several .have seen family wealth.whether quite rapidly in the face of war, depression, and political upheaval (Chao 1999, 233). Having some knowledge base of the immigrants' cultural history, customs, values and an understanding of the challenges that brought them to America will contribute to the philanthropic sectors future endeavors.

Important People Related to the Topic

• Dale Minami: Minami co-founded the Asian Law Caucus, the Asian Pacific American Bar Association of California and the Coalition of Asian Pacific Americans. He was also a Board Member of the Asian Pacific Fund.

• Chong-Moon Lee: Lee is a Silicon Valley philanthropist and donated $16 million to the new Asian Art Museum in San Francisco.

• Dominic Ng: Ng is a banker from Los Angeles and fundraised $66 million dollars for the United Way. This amount was a fundraising record until recently surpassed by Andrew Cherng. "We wanted to show that we Asian Americans are as American as anyone else. The best way to demonstrate this is by contributing to the community" (The Philanthropy Roundtable 2002, 2)

• Oscar Tang: Tang is reported to have given approximately $14 million dollars to the New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art. This gift enabled the museum to purchase 11 paintings.

• Charles Wang: Wang established a center in his name with the purpose of the center to educate the public on Asian and Asian American cultures as related to the American culture.

• Tan Yu: Yu overcame overwhelming adversity in his life and is respected as a great philanthropist. Born into poverty in Bicol, he later achieved international business success through Zenith. He has supported thousands of students by the granting of college scholarships (Flores 2002).

Related Nonprofit Organizations

• AADAP, Inc. provides the Asian American Drug Abuse Program which serves people throughout Los Angeles County. Programs have expanded to include water conservation, HIV/AIDS outreach and cross training, Drug Court Services for the Inglewood Municipal Courts, tobacco education and a for-profit business venture, MTC Construction ( http://www.aadapinc.org ).

• The Asian American Federation of New York , founded in 1989, was created to unite the city's diverse Asian American communities by providing community services and identifying critical needs of Asian Americans ( http://www.aafny.org ).

• The Asian American Arts Centre , founded in 1974 in New York City, addressed the distinctive concerns of Asian Americans in the United States. Through the arts, the Centre promotes the preservation and creative vitality of Asian American cultural growth as well as historical and aesthetic linkage to other communities ( http://www.artspiral.org ).

• The Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF) was founded in 1974 and has the distinction as the first legal rights organization on the East Coast serving Asian Americans. The organization was established by lawyers, law students and community activists with the belief the law should be used as a tool for social and economic justice for Asian Americans and all Americans ( http://www.aaldef.org ).

• The Asian Pacific Policy & Planning Council (A3PCON) is a coalition of Asian and Pacific Islander American (APIA) health, human services, educational, cultural, policy agencies and individuals advocating for the rights and services of the APIA community in Southern California, primarily in Los Angeles County ( http://www.a3pcon.org ).

• The Asia Society is headquartered in New York and was founded in 1956 by John D. Rockefeller III to increase understanding and awareness of the Asia Pacific region ( http://www.asiasociety.org ) .

• The Museum of Chinese in the Americas (MoCA) works to reclaim, preserve and interpret the history and culture of the Chinese and their descendants in the Western Hemisphere ( http://www.moca-nyc.org ).

• The China Institute in America was established in 1926 to promote the understanding, appreciation and enjoyment of traditional and contemporary Chinese civilization, culture and heritage. It provides cultural and historical context for understanding contemporary China through classroom teaching and seminars, art exhibitions, public programs for children and adults, teacher education and curriculum development, lectures and symposia and business programming ( http://www.chinainstitute.org ).

• The Chinese Progressive Association is a grassroots community organization working for equality and empowerment of the Chinese community in and beyond the Greater Boston area. Their activities seek to improve the living and working conditions of Chinese Americans by involving community members in the decision-making process ( http://www.cpaboston.org ).

• The Filipino American National Historical Society gathers and preserves the history and culture of Filipino Americans in the United States ( http://www.fanhs-national.org ).

• The Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) is a membership organization with a mission to improve the human and civil rights of Americans of Japanese ancestry ( http://www.jacl.org ).

• The Japanese American Cultural and Community Center (JACCC) presents, perpetuates, transmits and promotes Japanese and Japanese American art and culture to various audiences. They provide a center to compliment other community programs ( http://www.jaccc.org ).

• The Korean Community Center of the East Bay ( KCCEB), established in 1924, offers services and community-sensitive programming for the Korean American community in the Bay Area of California. ( http://www.kcceb.org/english ).

• The Organization of Chinese Americans, Inc. (OCA) , founded in 1973, is dedicated to securing the rights of Chinese American and Asian American citizens through legislative and policy initiatives at all levels of the government ( http://www.ocanatl.org ).

• Self Help for the Elderly promotes the independence, dignity and self-worth of seniors through self-empowerment and by providing a comprehensive range of multicultural and multilingual services ( www.selfhelpelderly.org ).

Related Web Sites

The New Heritage of Giving Web site, at http://www.asianamericanphilanthropy.org , is an initiative of the Asian American Federation of New York. The site provides information on Asian American donation and volunteer opportunities including tax incentive information, and a collection of stories about Asian American philanthropy.

The Model Minority Web site, at http://modelminority.com/, provides articles and news regarding Asian Philanthropy and serves as a guide to Asian American empowerment. 

Bibliography and Internet Sources

Carson, Emmet. "The Roles of Indigenous and Institutional Philanthropy in Advancing Social Justice." Philanthropy and the Nonprofit Sector in a Changing America, edited by Clotfelter, Charles and Thomas Ehrlich, 262-265. Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 2001. ISBN: 025321483.

Chao, Jessica. "Asian American Philanthropy: Expanding Circles of Participation." Cultures of Caring Philanthropy in Diverse American Communities. Washington D.C.: Council on Foundations, 1999.

Flores, Wilson Lee. Star. 14 March 2002. Philippines Headline News Online. http://www.newsflash.org/2002/03/hl/hl015377.htm .

Tonai, Rosalyn. Asian American Charitable Giving. University of San Francisco: College of Professional Studies, 1988.

Philanthropy Roundtable. "Asian Americans Giving More." (2002). Accessed 7 December 2002. http://www.philanthropyroundtable.org/magazines/
2002/september/brieflynoted.html .