The Asia-Pacific region is ripe with philanthropic opportunity. Sixty percent of the world’s population resides there, and the area accounts for nearly half of the global GDP — a number that keeps rising. While the region plays host to vast economic inequalities and social issues, it’s poised to have both the means and mindset to change the philanthropic ecosystem.
In terms of U.S. philanthropy, the Asia-Pacific is second only to sub-Saharan Africa as a focus area for global giving. According to fresh findings from Candid and the Council on Foundations, the Asia-Pacific region drew 17.7% of the funding that U.S. foundations gave out globally between 2016 and 2019, behind only sub-Saharan Africa, at 25.1%.
But the region also presents special challenges for potential funders, from infrastructure problems to regulatory hurdles. India, for example, regulates foreign grants through a 2010 FCRA law that caused investments to drop by $300 million between 2011 and 2015, and became even more restrictive in 2020. And in China, a law regulating foreign NGOs enacted in 2017 requires funders to maintain local representation and partner with Chinese organizations on the ground.
Other barriers, like the low value the region places on tax incentives and transactional feasibility, run counter to the potential professionalization of the practice of philanthropy. And broadly speaking, the rich Asian culture of giving has traditionally centered on kinship rather than on cross-country or global ideas of philanthropy.
Yet there are growing signs of change.
The Philanthropy Asia Summit, now in its second year, was created as a platform to stimulate relationships between global and regional philanthropists and to boost cross-sector partnerships aimed at solving some of the region’s most intractable problems.
A consensus that arose from year one of the summit led to the creation of the Philanthropy Asia Alliance (PAA), a new not-for-profit initiative designed to align regional thought and action, and to develop the leadership needed to make Asia a “force for greater good.” It is expected to formally launch in 2023.
Here’s how the summit and alliance are signaling changes in the way Asian philanthropy is conducted, and a new readiness to collaborate, take action and pool resources to scale and develop “flexible and nimble” solutions to regional issues.
Mounting a summit
A by-invitation-only event, the first Philanthropy Asia Summit was launched in 2021. The second gathering took place at the end of September of this year. Both years’ events were organized and hosted by Temasek Trust and Temasek Foundation, the community giving vehicles of the Singapore-based global investment company Temasek. Owned by the government of Singapore, the holding company has a portfolio valued at $403 billion.
In 2007, Temasek Holdings established Temasek Trust, which acts as a steward of the company’s philanthropic endowments, along with contributions from other donors. The trust operates on a financial and governance level while the Temasek Foundation works on a program level as a “solutions-maker” supporting communities in Asia, including Singapore.
Building an alliance
Following the summit’s debut, organizers and participants defined a need for an action-oriented alliance to mobilize resources and expertise to address the region’s complex challenges.
The result was the new Philanthropy Asia Alliance (PAA). Temasek Trust got the initiative off the ground with $100 million in seed funding to create infrastructure for partnerships and knowledge sharing, and for building measurable calls to action.
While it’s the acknowledged ecosystem leader, Temasek Trust is not going it alone. Early core members of the alliance include the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation; Dalio Philanthropies, which represents the philanthropy of American billionaire hedge fund founder Ray Dalio; Li Ka Shing Foundation, the Hong-Kong-based charitable organization founded by business entrepreneur Li Ka-shing; the four companies of Sinar Mas, one of the largest conglomerates in Indonesia; and Tanoto Foundation, an education-focused family foundation founded by the Indonesian entrepreneur Sukanto Tanoto and his wife, Tinah Bingei Tonato.
Each of the five core funders committed additional funds to the alliance, and total funding is now over $200 million. The second level of member supporters, called “pathfinders,” are asked to contribute between $1 million and $10 million. So far, they include corporations and philanthropists from China, Indonesia, the Philippines, Singapore and the United States.
The World Economic Forum has also signed on as a strategic partner to provide expertise on building communities of purpose and on leadership development.
Calls to action
In 2022, the PAA initiated six calls to action (CTAs) around three focus areas: climate action and sustainable communities, inclusive education, and resilient healthcare. The CTAs are centered on specific projects that were carefully curated by key partner organizations, which were guided by research that identified needs and gaps.
Projects were brought to bear by leading philanthropic organizations in the region, based on areas of interest and expertise. Each leading organization committed $2 million to the CTA it sponsored before making a call for additional investments.
Climate action
In the Climate Action & Sustainable Communities focus area, clean energy investment leader Clime Capital is the lead partner of a Regional Energy Management Initiative, which aims to balance economic growth with meeting national emissions targets. The $5.4 million project will span Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam.
Meanwhile, Sinar Mas is leading a project to improve community livelihoods through biofuel production. The $442 million effort is centered geographically on Indonesia, and will focus on the development of a high-yielding oil crop, Jatropha, in areas where other crops might fail. Successful implementation is expected to create economic opportunity while incentivizing better land management and the development of a renewable biofuel.
Inclusive education
There are also two CTAs in the inclusive education focus area. One, led by Tanoto Foundation, is working to unlock the potential of early childhood education in China, Indonesia and other countries in Southeast Asia. The $10.25 million project will leverage the foundation’s expertise in providing early learning experiences.
The second, led by UBS Optimus Foundation, is a $10 million project aimed at removing financial barriers to higher education and promoting accessibility for low- and lower middle-income families that are currently ineligible for mainstream options like scholarships. The project has already drawn two Singapore-based supporting partners: the Octava Foundation and the Algot Enevoldsen Foundation, which was created by the founder of the global jewelry brand Pandora.
Resilient healthcare
Under the heading of Resilient Healthcare, Jameel Institute, part of Imperial College London’s School of Public Health, is leading a five-year, $8.7 million project. The aim is to prepare the world for future pandemics via economic modeling, ROI dashboards for more than 150 countries, and capacity-building for public health policymaking. Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam will also benefit from in-depth case studies on issues related to pandemic preparedness. The project has already garnered all but $300,000 of required funding.
For its part, the Temasek Foundation is taking the lead on a $4.2 million project examining genomics for kids living in Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries, where rare diseases particularly threaten the lives of children under five. The project will leverage the expertise of a supporting partner, the SingHealth Duke-NUS Maternal and Child Research Institute, to bring scientific and operational technologies to more ASEAN countries and advance genomics and genetics testing in the region. Currently, only two ASEAN countries have genetic sequencing and diagnosis capabilities.
A growing ecosystem
Though the Philanthropy Asia Summit and the new Philanthropy Asia Alliance are driving actions that seek to lift the entire region, they also clearly demonstrate Singapore’s leadership in nurturing a growing regional philanthropic ecosystem and its rising role as a rallying point for Asian philanthropy.
They also represent a new, broader interest among grantmakers active in the region in catalyzing multisector action and collaboration far into the future. Big picture, the one hope is to engage young people in efforts to tackle Asia’s challenges by giving them the agency and tools to make an impact.
Lim Seok Hui, chief executive officer of the Philanthropy Asia Alliance, said that in the years ahead, “we look forward to forming deeper partnerships that galvanize collective resolve and combine our strengths to find comprehensive solutions to the complex challenges we face.”