BY ALEXIS WONG Philanthropy in China is growing at a rapid and inspiring pace. In the past decade alone, the volume of Chinese philanthropy has quadrupled from US$ 44 million in 2007 to a new high of US$ 23.4 billion in 2017, allowing China to emerge as an important contributor to the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals. In light of China’s emergence as a rich ground for potential philanthropic activity, and with APC members having highly active impact projects in the country, APC organised the China Philanthropy Online Forum to spark greater interest in international collaboration, and to examine what meaningful…

BY CINDY HSIAO Do you remember what your world was like when you were three? Perhaps it involves memories of your father teaching you to wait for the green light before you cross the road, your grandmother taking you and your friends to the local park, or waiting at the doctor’s office with your mother because you’re unwell?    Even from an early age, children’s development can already be impacted by interactions with a complex system of relationships, settings, and cultures. Adopting a holistic approach to early childhood development (ECD) is therefore crucial, if not essential. As such, the Asia Philanthropy…

BY MIRA NADARAJAH AND BRADLEY WO APC celebrated its sixth birthday in July 2021, which prompted some reflection on our role and place within the sector. As a network, we know that the relationships and interactions between our members forms the core of APC and sits at the heart of the work that we do. Recently, we came across Ilona Haslewood and the Carnegie UK Trust’s report, which offered a framework to understand how networks support policy and practice development to foster social change. This framework, known as Network Functional Analysis, was designed to assist humanitarian networks to strategically reflect…

BY BRADLEY WO Philanthropy can play many roles: filling in gaps in government services, driving advocacy efforts, and bolstering change leaders. But one area where philanthropy can truly be “risk capital” and punch above its weight is in blended finance. The need for blended finance is especially pressing as the COVID-19 pandemic has reversed progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). World Bank projections in June 2020 estimated 71 million people would be pushed back into extreme poverty due to COVID-19 with the Asia-Pacific region most severely affected. Even before the pandemic, there was already an estimated US$2.5 trillion annual…

BY LAURENCE LIEN This month, APC celebrated its sixth birthday. It is also the time I have moved on to becoming the non-executive Chairman at APC.  I am certainly proud of what APC has achieved so far. We set out to build a community of philanthropists, the principals, and we have 47 now. Many warned us at the start that the task was hard. It would be like herding cats. (I like cats.) Then we set out to put together joint projects, and we have more than 10 now. Many said that philanthropists did not like giving up control. And lastly,…

BY MIRA NADARAJAH In May, APC members and the philanthropic community came together to successfully pool US$1.5 million towards the Gavi COVAX Advance Market Commitment (COVAX AMC), an innovative financing mechanism enabling access to COVID-19 vaccines for low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). With matching funds from a public charity bringing total funding to US $3 million, the efforts will yield some 600,000 vaccines earmarked specifically for Asia. The idea of supporting COVAX’s COVID-19 relief efforts came about during an APC online dialogue on vaccine development and distribution in early 2021. The dialogue explored the role of philanthropy in ending the…