Community Foundations

NY Coalition for New Philanthropy Works to


Empower Ethnic Donors


By Houkje Ross


Closing the Gap, Funding • April/May 2001


“WVice President of the Wallace Readers Digest Funds, 

hen it comes to minority donors, giving is usually 

very direct and personal,” said Jessica Chao, former 

now an ethnic philanthropy consultant working for the New York 

Regional Association of Grantmakers (NYRAG). 

Often Asian Americans and Latinos send money back to the old 

country to extended families. African Americans often give to churches, 

extended families, or sororities and fraternities, said Chao. “This type 

of non-institutional giving comes from a strong sense of personal 

identity and obligation among ethnic communities. Many times these 

individuals don’t consider giving money in terms of ‘philanthropy.’ 

Rather, it is just considered a part of what you do as a member of a 

community,” said Chao. 

Increasing the Impact of Minority Donors 

With funding from the Forum of Regional Associations of 

Grantmakers, a national organization based in Washington, D.C., 

NYRAG created a coalition of five non-profit organizations that are 

working to increase the effectiveness and impact of individual and 

collective philanthropic resources. Funding for the three-year project 

began in 2000— when NYRAG conducted market research to learn 

the needs of minority groups. 

The resulting Coalition for New Philanthropy is unique because 

it focuses on creating permanent resources in and for three minority 

groups—African Americans, Latinos, and Asian Americans. “We are 

striving to honor the traditional ways these ethnic groups have given 

in the past, while at the same time, encouraging other ways of giving,” 

said Chao. 

This is important because as the personal wealth of many minority groups continues to rise, the ability to give also increases. “At some 

point, it is no longer effective for minorities to give on a personal level 

when dealing with systemic issues like eradicating poverty, promoting 

social justice activities or improving education—which are high on 

the list of issues that many ethnic groups fund,” noted Chao. “It is 

much more satisfying for donors when they know that their funding 

really had an impact,” said Chao. 

The Coalition will aim to promote, educate and offer information about sustained, strategic philanthropy to donors within the 

targeted minority communities. A speakers bureau will be created to 

offer presentations on community issues, philanthropy, volunteerism 

and the non-profit sector as they relate to specific community nonprofits and ethnic associations. 

The Coalition also plans to hold 13 training sessions over a 

three-year period for financial and legal advisors. Advisors will be 

trained on how to incorporate philanthropic issues within their financial, tax, investment and estate planning services as they relate to 

donors with culturally specific social and community interests. Other 

strategies to be implemented by the coalition include: 

•	 Developing reports and briefings on findings about philanthropic 

practices and interests among donors of color; 

•	 Distributing relevant information through, educational and promotional materials, conferences, web sites and media; 

•	 Establishing private consultations for individual donors, families 

or donor groups to support their efforts to become strategic philanthropic investors in their communities. 

The five collaborating organizations that make up the Coalition 

include the Asian American Federation of New York; the Center for 

the Study of Philanthropy of the Graduate School and University 

Center of the City University of New York; the Hispanic Federation; 

the Twenty-First Century Foundation; and NYRAG. 

The Coalition is one of 13 recipients of a New Ventures in Philanthropy grant from the Forum. “New Ventures in Philanthropy’s main 

goal is to increase philanthropic giving in the U.S,” said Albert Ruesga, 

director of New Ventures. “Minority communities have a rich tradition 

of giving—through churches, support for disaster relief efforts and 

direct giving to family members. New Ventures is one way we can 

increase our support for these communities that have historically been 

very generous,” added Ruesga. 

Other New Venture grantee projects include: the Ohio 

Grantmakers Forum initiative, which is working to introduce and 

pass legislation that would provide new tax incentives for philanthropic giving, and the South Florida Promotion of Philanthropy 

Initiative. The South Florida project released a study entitled The 

Corporate Giving of Hispanic-Owned Companies in Miami-Dade 

County. The study compares the nature of local Hispanic giving to 

national corporate models, and discusses the local non-profits that 

Hispanic corporations support. 

To learn more about New Ventures in Philanthropy, contact Albert 

Ruesga at (202) 467-0298. To contact NYRAG, call (212) 714 0699.

The Council of Foundations (COF) has a publication entitled Cultures of Caring, which outlines how minority 

communities have traditionally engaged in philanthropic efforts. 

To obtain a copy of the publication, contact COF at (202) 466-6512. The 1999 publication can also be downloaded from COF’s website at http://www.cof.org/Content/General/Display.cfm?contentID=235

Office of Minority Health Resource Center	 U.S. Department of Health and Human Services