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Jan 24, 2014 UPDATE:
Thank you for all the generous support in helping us not
only reach, but also exceed our initial fundraising goal! We are very excited
to see so many people making a conscientious effort to become a part of the
process of building Philanthropy in Motion. In only the span of one month, your
contributions have demonstrated that there is a need for programs that empower
a younger generation to engage in intelligent giving. With the additional
funding, we have decided to offer two elements that will significantly enhance
the quality of Model Foundation.
Financial Aid: To go in line with our vision to
make philanthropy accessible to all young people, we want to offer financial
aid packages to students to offset travel and other costs.
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Philanthropy in Motion Fellowship: To
encourage young people to gain a deeper, first-hand understanding of the social
sector, PIM plans to offer a fellowship to a student who has gone through our
philanthropy training and would like to serve full-time at a nonprofit over the
summer. This fellowship offers a 1500 USD stipend for the PIM
fellow to pursue a two-month internship. In addition, the PIM fellow will
receive mentorship and coaching about social impact as well as professional
development. We hope that by creating a fellowship, PIM can build the
capacity of select individuals who have demonstrated a commitment to public
interest, preparing them for careers that promote philanthropy education.
There are still 27 days left to the campaign, so
please help us keep up this spectacular momentum to give students improved
access to our program and exposure to hands-on philanthropic engagement.
Philanthropy in Motion (PIM) is an organization that provides young people with the funds, training, and networks to become intelligent givers. PIM is founded by a team of Yale, Harvard, Cornell, and Peking University graduates who care deeply about fostering a consciousness for social responsibility in developing countries such as China. Using the philanthropic education model developed at Yale and other leading American universities as a basis, we design programs to fit the Chinese context. Through PIM, young people converge in forums to evaluate China-based non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and allocate collective resources to the ones that they deem to be the most innovative and impactful.
We need to raise 13,000 USD to launch our biggest project to date: Model Foundation. Model Foundation is an inter-university conference that brings together students from across China, Hong Kong, Singapore, and the United States to take concerted action in identifying and supporting worthwhile nonprofit initiatives. A sponsor has committed to match each dollar we are able to raise from the public. Please support us in empowering young people to become the next generation of charitable givers and change-makers.
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Model Foundation
This summer, PIM will partner with the University of Hong Kong (HKU) to launch Model Foundation, a four-day conference that brings together university students to learn about and engage in intelligent charitable giving through making strategic decisions on how to distribute a PIM fund of 20,000 USD.
Acting as Grant Committee Officers, student representatives from Hong Kong, China, U.S., and Singapore will be charged with selecting and assessing local nonprofits for potential funding. As a group, they will participate in a roundtable discussion and come up with a strategy to allocate a sum of 20,000 USD to organizations that they deem to be addressing youth development in a unique, innovative, and impactful way. Workshops on contemporary approaches to philanthropy, interviews with social sector leaders, and site visits to these organizations will help inform their final decision, which will then be judged by a panel of experienced philanthropists and social sector leaders for the thoroughness of evaluation and rigor of analysis.
Through providing a platform for cross-cultural exchange and exploring approaches to effective giving, Model Foundation will raise the level of awareness and discourse about the social sector. Through providing a PIM fund, students form an actual young people's foundation with the power -- and also the responsibilities -- to make real impact. Students will gain a firm understanding of the inner workings of a foundation as they build leadership, analytical, and consensus-building skills. By learning and giving together in support of social projects, they enrich the communities in which they live as well as their personal lives and networks.
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Where The Funds Will Go
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Why China? Why PIM?
Imagine a typical student named Liang. He comes from a middle class Chinese family, and through hard work, now attends a good university in Beijing. Other than pursuing his studies, he wants to help his local community. But overwhelmed by the vast landscape of NGOs in China, news reports regarding misuse of public donations, and his general sense that his efforts alone cannot change much, he drops the idea of supporting an NGO and instead focuses more intensely on academics.
Liang eventually graduates from university and starts a well-paying job at an investment bank in Shanghai. Over the course of his career at the firm he saves some money, and it occurs to him again to donate a portion of his savings to the causes he cares about. He wishes that there were some way for him to connect with other young professionals in China, to gather, exchange, and discuss ideas about trustworthy organizations that addresses causes they care about.
Realizing that there is no such organization, and moreover being reminded again of the fact that he by himself will not be able to make the kind of impact his boss (who had recently donated millions to a famous organization) would make, Liang decides to focus on his job, hoping that eventually he will be as wealthy as his boss so that he himself can also become a philanthropist.
Many young people in China, whether university students or young professionals, miss the chance to support social causes early in their lives. Moreover, they do not realize that collectively over time they could make an even larger impact than a single high net-worth donor or a corporation might make. In fact, most charitable donations in China come from corporations (57%) and a comparatively small percentage (32%) comes from individuals, compared to the US (73%). Our goal is to motivate more individuals in China to become more engaged in contributing to the social sector.
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Source: China Charity Donation Resource Center, Giving USA
While there is a growing trend of charitable giving in China (see graph below), the overall quality of the philanthropic system lags behind due to 1) low public understanding, 2) lack of trust, and 3) insufficient support for independent small and medium NGOs.
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Source: China Charity Donation Resource Center
Many people want to help, but there are barriers preventing them from taking the first step. PIM is here to show young people like Liang that anyone and everyone in China can be a philanthropist! They can achieve more together by pooling together resources to collectively invest in trustable NGOs in a strategic manner.
Let's look the etymology
of the word "philanthropy." Its roots harken back to ancient Greek
civilization and it literally means: "For the love of humanity." So it
is our mission to teach young people that philanthropy is much more than the
exclusive act of writing million dollar checks by a handful of wealthy people
who have the power to do so, but it is about building a community and
showing compassion.
We will help young people in China 1) identify the best NGOs to donate to, 2) discuss with a group of people from diverse backgrounds to devise a strategically sound, sustainable methodology, and 3) contribute their resources, including time, money, and skills, to maximize their social impact.
With our vision to make philanthropy accessible, we will bridge the gap
between the rising young professional class and a vast landscape of NGOs
so as to awaken a common consciousness for intelligent giving among a
new generation of young people, in a nation that with its economic power
will soon bear the Asian status quo.
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Three Ways You Can Help!
1. Donate to PIM
2. Join our Team
3. Spread the Word
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Our Team
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Jasmine Lau
is the
Co-Founder of PIM. Hailing from Hong Kong, she studied Economics at Yale. Upon
graduating cum laude in 2012, she worked at Narada Foundation to build the capacity of
grassroots social entrepreneurs and NGOs in China before pursuing a Masters of International Affairs at Peking University. Jasmine also runs Ember, a
charitable organization she launched in 2007 that supports girls
education in rural China.
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Connie
Leong
is the Co-Founder of
PIM. Born and raised in New York, she graduated from Yale 2012, with
distinction in both Political Science and East Asian Studies. As her senior
thesis, she researched international NGOs in rural China. She continued her
studies at Tsinghua University under the Richard U. Light Fellowship.
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Fedor Deichmann
holds a B.A. in Political Science with distinction
from Yale University ‘11. After working as an Analyst in the M&A
group at Lazard in Europe, he moved to Taiwan to found English Arcade,
an online English school that envisions to democratize English education
in Asia.
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Joyce
Zheng
grew up in Yong'an and Fuzhou in Fujian province and double majored in International Studies and Diplomacy at
China Foreign Affairs University '13. She is currently pursuing a Masters in Public
Administration focusing on nonprofit management at Cornell University.
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Ashwin Kaja
hails from East Fishkill, New York, and studied
at Harvard ’07 and Harvard Law School ’11.
He is a lawyer at Hogan Lovells at the Beijing office, as well as the
founder of Investours, a nonprofit organization that
combines microfinance with educational tourism.
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For any further inquiries contact info@pimchina.org