# The Asia Foundation

The Asia Foundation (TAF) is a nonprofit international development organization focused on improving lives across Asia. Its programs operate in various sectors, including governance, women's empowerment and gender equality, inclusive economic growth, environmental and climate action, and regional and international cooperation. One of the Foundation's notable initiatives is the "Let's Read" program, which provides a free digital library in local languages to support students, educators, and community leaders in over 20 countries. The Asia Foundation is headquartered in San Francisco, California, and operates as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. It collaborates with a range of public and private partners and receives funding from various sources, including agencies, foundations, corporations, and individual donors. The Foundation was established in 1954 by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to conduct cultural and educational activities on behalf of the United States government in ways that were not available to official U.S. agencies.
On 1 February 2023, Laurel E. Miller took over as president of the Foundation. She previously directed the Asia program at the International Crisis Group.

## Impact

* Protecting the basic rights of women to counter human trafficking, fight gender-based violence, increase political participation, and strengthen legal systems.
* Offering professional development opportunities for emerging leaders in Asia..
* Reducing the human and financial toll of natural disasters by equipping government officials, businesses, and community leaders in disaster planning and response.
* Creating jobs by improving the business climate and reducing red tape for local entrepreneurs and small businesses.
* Promoting peacebuilding initiatives in conflict zones such as Southern Thailand, Pakistan, Mindanao, and Sri Lanka.
* Conducting surveys to evaluate the quality and responsiveness of government services, the prevalence of corruption, and levels of violence; these include comprehensive public opinion polls, such as those conducted in Afghanistan.
* Providing books to tens of thousands of schools, libraries, and universities.

## Global presence

The Asia Foundation operates at both country and regional levels through its offices in the Asia-Pacific region. The Foundation's staff work on a range of development challenges specific to each location. In addition to its offices in Asia, the organization maintains offices in San Francisco, California, and Washington, D.C.

## Program areas
### Governance

The Asia Foundation's work in governance focuses on encouraging:
* More efficient and effective government systems, structures, and services
* More transparent and accountable governance institutions and practices
* More inclusive and participatory governance mechanisms
* Fairer, more just, and more accessible legal systems, services, and decision making
* More effective strategies, approaches, and mechanisms to mitigate conflict

### Environment and climate action

* Increasing societal benefits through entrepreneurship, partnerships, and innovation
* Increasing attention to environment and climate change in national and local development strategies
* Increasing cross-sectoral cooperation in natural resource management, disaster risk reduction, and environmental conflict mitigation
* Encouraging public and private investment in clean energy, sustainable infrastructure, and green growth

### Women's empowerment and gender equity

* Expanding women's economic opportunities
* Increasing women's personal rights and security, and
* Advancing women's political participation.

### Economic development

* Expanding economic opportunities through reading and digital literacy skills, education reform, STEM, and workforce development
* Improving business environment for private sector growth and job creation
* Strengthening policy measures for continued economic growth in Advanced Middle Income Countries

### Exchanges

Through its LeadEx program, The Asia Foundation invests in equipping and developing emerging leaders in Asia, as well as seeking to encourage greater understanding between Asians and Americans with the ultimate aim of contributing toward strengthened U.S.-Asia relations. The Asia Foundation has a more than half-century partnership with the Henry Luce Foundation to administer an internship program in the Asia Pacific for young Americans with leadership potential. Since 1974, the Asia Foundation has developed and overseen placements for hundreds of Luce Scholars in Asia.

### History

"The Asia Foundation (TAF) was established in 1954 to undertake cultural and educational activities on behalf of the United States Government in ways not open to official U.S. agencies." The Asia Foundation is an outgrowth of the Committee for a Free Asia, which was founded by the U.S. government in 1951. CIA funding and support of the Committee for a Free Asia and the Asia Foundation were assigned the CIA code name "Project DTPILLAR".
In 1954, the Committee for a Free Asia was renamed the Asia Foundation (TAF) and incorporated in California as a private, nominally non-governmental organization devoted to promoting democracy, rule of law, and market-based development in post-war Asia.
Among the original founding officers of the board were presidents/chairmen of corporations including T.S. Peterson, CEO of Standard Oil of California (now Chevron), Brayton Wilbur, president of Wilbur-Ellis Co., and J.D. Zellerbach, chairman of the Crown Zellerbach Corporation; four university presidents including Grayson Kirk from Columbia, J.E. Wallace Sterling of Stanford, and Raymond Allen from UCLA; prominent attorneys including Turner McBaine and A. Crawford Greene; Pulitzer Prize-winning writer James Michener; Paul Hoffman, the first administrator of the Marshall Plan in Europe; and several major figures in foreign affairs.
In 1966, Ramparts revealed that the CIA was covertly funding a number of organizations, including the Asia Foundation. A commission authorized by President Johnson and led by Secretary of State Rusk determined that the Asia Foundation should be preserved and overtly funded by the US government. Following this change, The Asia Foundation was classified as a private, nonprofit, nongovernmental organization under the section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. The foundation began to restructure its programming, shifting away from its earlier goals of "building democratic institutions and encouraging the development of democratic leadership" toward an emphasis on Asian development as a whole (CRS 1983).

## Board of trustees
### Officers of the Board of Trustees

* S. Timothy Kochis Chair of the Board and Executive Committee
* Janet Montag Vice Chair of the Board and Executive Committee
* Kathleen Stephens Vice Chair of the Board and Executive Committee
* Patricia M. Loui Treasurer of the Board and Executive Committee
* Michael J. Green Secretary of the Board and Executive Committee
* Laurel E. Miller President and chief executive officer

### Members of the Board of Trustees

Terrence B. Adamson
William L. Ball, III
Robert O. Blake, Jr.
Karl Eikenberry
Stephanie Fahey
Daniel F. Feldman
Winnie C. Feng
Badruun Gardi
Kelsey L. Harpham
Ryan Hass
Lin Jamison
Stephen Kahng
Eun Mee Kim
Debra Knopman
Frank Lavin
Clare Lockhart
Meredith Ludlow
Jacqueline Lundquist
James D. McCool
Lauren Kahea Moriarty
Ted Osius
Mary Ann Peters
Ruby Shang
Calvin Sims
Harry K. Thomas Jr.
Deanne Weir