Growing trend of Asian-American philanthropy

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An opinion held by Ms. Yoon, a former news correspondent for Fox who was born in South Korea and moved to the United States when she was 6: “In some ways for immigrants, the better off you become, the more disconnected you become from your community needs.” The community is now redefining its “idea of success,” Yoon explained. “We grew up with this idea that success is the more distance you can create between yourself and the pack. But it’s really about how much of the pack you can bring along.”

Lulu C. Wang, a money manager and philanthropist in New York, and her husband, Anthony Wang, established themselves in the vanguard of the new wave of Asian-American philanthropy when they donated $25 million to Wellesley College, her alma mater, in 2000.

Dien S. Yuen, a philanthropy consultant focusing on Asian-American giving, predicted that the surge in philanthropic activity among Asians is “only a beginning.”  Ms. Yuen adds, “I think in the next three or four years, there’s going to be huge growth, because philanthropy has become mainstream.”

“A lot of donors, when they first come through the door, don’t even know they can do all these things,” said Ms. Yuen. “They don’t even know they can get a tax deduction for giving a gift overseas.”

[New York Times]

The growth of Asian-American philanthropy

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Members of a new class of affluent Asian-Americans, many of whom have benefited from booms in finance and technology, are making their mark on philanthropy in the United States. They are donating large sums to groups focused on their own diasporas or their homelands.

The growth in philanthropy by Asian-Americans parallels a surge in the Asian population in the United States. From 2000 to 2010, according to the Census Bureau, the number of people who identified themselves as partly or wholly Asian grew by nearly 46 percent, more than four times the growth rate of the overall population, making Asian-Americans the fastest growing racial group in the nation.

Pradeep Kashyap, vice-chairman of the American India Foundation, one of the largest and most successful of the new Asian philanthropies, is an immigrant and former senior executive at Citibank. He described this shift as “the journey of becoming American. … They see their mainstream American peers giving and they say, ‘I’m going to do that.’ ”

Asian cultures have a strong tradition of philanthropy in the broadest sense, though it has usually involved donations to relatives, neighbors, churches and business associations. Many Asian immigrants have not immediately embraced the Western-style practice of giving to large philanthropic institutions, organizers said.

[New York Times]

 

A rise of philanthropy in emerging economies

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There are increases in philanthropy documented in emerging economies outside the U.S. where wealth is rapidly growing.

In India, for example, which is one of the fastest growing economies in the world, the average contribution to charity among high net worth individuals grew to 3 percent of their total income in 2011, up from 2.3 percent in 2010, according to Bain & Co’s India Philanthropy Report 2012 and more than half of those surveyed expect to boost their donations again in 2012.

The recently released Report by Credit Suisse and Forbes Insight entitled Next Generation Philanthropy noted a burgeoning culture of giving in both Latin America—where average annual wealth growth is expected to average 12.1 percent for the next five years—and in Asia, where the population of ultra-high net worth individuals is expected to exceed the U.S. by 2025.

[Excerpted from WealthManagement article, by Betsy Brill and Michael Donovan]

International giving on the rise

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One of the most notable trends in philanthropy, according to the 2012 Giving USA Study of charitable giving, is that international giving has steadily grown despite a tumultuous economy.  For the past two years, 2009-2011, international giving has experienced a 15.2 percent growth, the largest increase across all of the subsectors the Study tracks and reports.

The growth in international giving can be attributed to many things: increasing digital access to global information, a growing number of international giving networks, and a heightened awareness of the interrelationships of global communities.

The Hudson Institute’s 2012 Index of Global  Philanthropy and Remittances shows that despite the recession, U.S. giving to developing countries actually increased to $37.5 billion in 2009, outpacing official U.S. government aid by almost $9 million.

[Excerpted from WealthManagement article, by Betsy Brill and Michael Donovan]

Making an impact even with a little

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You don’t need a fortune to be a philanthropist. For example, you can:

Start a charitable fund. A number of community foundations let you funnel as little as $1,000 a year into donor-advised funds, and let you choose the recipient. You contribute cash, stocks or other property — and take a tax deduction for your contribution each year — until you reach a certain threshold, typically $5,000 or $10,000.

Give to a classroom. What better way to spend your charitable dollars than to help teachers help kids? At DonorsChoose.org, you get your pick of teacher-proposed projects. DonorsChoose makes the purchase and sends it to the teacher.

Volunteer on vacation. Use your next vacation to give something back.

Or you can be an angel for as little as $100: Upstart allows you to give money to entrepreneurial college graduates. You can invest in $100 increments in one “upstart” or as many as you choose. You’ll receive a modest portion of the company’s income — up to an annual rate of return of 14.99 percent — for 10 years.  You can also contribute to projects through Kickstarter, which focuses more on creative individuals who want to raise money to produce films, music and art.

Fiscal Cliff Tax Deal expected to boost Charitable Giving

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The income-tax provisions adopted by Congress to avert the year-end “fiscal cliff” will increase charitable giving by an estimated 1.3 percent, or $3.3-billion in 2013, according to a new Urban Institute analysis.

The boost will come mainly from the decision to increase the top tax bracket from 35 percent to 39.6 percent on income above $400,000 for individuals ($450,000 for married couples), the institute said.

Because the charitable deduction is tied to a person’s tax bracket, those donors will now save $39.60 in taxes for every $100 they give to charity. In other words, their gift will cost them only $60.40, down from $65 under the 35-percent rate.

People in the top 1 percent of income distribution will provide almost all of the higher giving, increasing their donations by an estimated 6.2 percent, the analysis found.

The study also took into account the decision to raise the capital-gains tax from 15 percent to 20 percent. That provides an additional incentive for people to donate stock or other property that has risen sharply in value. Not only will they escape the higher capital-gains tax, they will also get the bigger 39.6-percent tax savings on their gift.

Ponying with Hollywood to teach about Disaster Giving

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Mike Rea, founder of Give2Asia, calls the 2004 Asian tsunami the “first global disaster of our time.” When he learned that Hollywood was producing its own retrospective (of sorts) on the tsunamis, he realized it was an opportunity for educating people about responding effectively in the wake of natural emergencies.

So Mr. Rea fast-tracked his plans for his “Tsunami Plus 10″ Project to coincide with last month’s release of The Impossible, a film starring Ewan McGregor and Naomi Watts.

His goal is to help inform disaster philanthropy. Mr. Rea’s takeaways, in broad strokes, are relatively simple:

* Make gifts not only to the Oxfams of the world but also to community groups.

* Give “when emotions are high,” he suggests, but also later—six months or a year after the disaster, when it becomes clearer which nonprofits are doing an effective job and still need cash.

* Write checks; don’t send used clothes.

Generation Y and charity

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According to a recent survey, volunteerism and charitable outreach are vitally important to Generation Y (ages 20-35). In brief:

  • 75% of Gen Y personally donate to charity
  • 70% have raised money on behalf of a charity
  • 63% volunteered for a non profit
  • 77% are interested in becoming involved in volunteer leadership

IRA charitable rollover still an option

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As part of the “fiscal cliff” deal, Congress has resurrected a popular tax-law provision, known as the “IRA charitable rollover,” that had expired at the end of 2011.

The rule allows many investors 70½ or older to transfer as much as $100,000 a year from an individual retirement account directly to a qualified charity without having to count any of that transfer as taxable income. The transfer, if done properly, counts toward the taxpayer’s required minimum distribution for that year.

And there still is time for some people this month to take advantage of the rule for 2012. “Charitable rollovers can be made in January 2013 for 2012, and individuals who took mandatory distributions in December 2012 can donate that money to a public charity and not have the distribution subject to tax,” according to Independent Sector, a Washington-based nonprofit, nonpartisan coalition of charities, foundations and corporate philanthropy programs.

According to a Senate Finance Committee document, the law is scheduled to “sunset,” or die, at the end of 2013. What will happen after that? That’s anybody’s guess.

The IShack betters conditions in slum settlements

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As you approach the simple dwelling, a rooftop solar panel, an outdoor security light and a roof overhang make Nosango Plaatjie’s shack stand out amid the sprawling cluster of makeshift wooden structures and rusty corrugated iron dwellings where her neighbors live.

Welcome to the iShack, or improved shack, an innovative approach to housing that’s being tested in the windswept slum of Enkanini, just outside Stellenbosch, South Africa. The dwelling, developed by researchers at the University of Stellenbosch, is intended to raise the living standards of slum residents while improving their access to electricity and protecting them from extreme temperatures in an environmentally friendly way.

The iShack prototype is occupied by Plaatje and her three young children. It is fully equipped with a photovoltaic panel capable of producing enough electricity to power three lights, a mobile phone charger and an outdoor motion detector spotlight. Its windows are strategically placed to achieve better air circulation and sunlight heating, while the roof is sloped so that rainwater can be harvested during the winter months.

Plaatjie, a domestic worker employed once a week, says her family’s life has improved a great deal after relocating to the ecologically designed iShack. Their previous home was a cold, damp shack hastily put together from disused pallets and corroded zinc sheets.

62% of the urban population in Sub-Saharan Africa lives in slums, typically characterized by deplorable living conditions, a feeling of insecurity and inadequate infrastructure for basic energy, sanitation and water services.

Excluding the solar power system, the iShack costs about 5,600 rand ($660). And thanks to a grant by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the iShack project will be trialled over the next year.