management and advisory positions on 30 major charities. “It’s a misunderstanding that Asian
people have not been philanthropic up to now,” Hon says. “Such a sense of obligation is deeply
rooted in traditional Chinese culture and in Islam also, zakat—essentially charitable giving—is one of the pillars of the religion. “The issues have been that, from the
beginning of the 19th century until relatively recently, the region has been poor compared to the west and also, Eastern philanthropy has been more focused on one’s extended family, clansmen, village, or hometown.” It is a view many ultra-wealthy tycoons
agree with. At the height of the Gates and Buffett’s dinner criticism, one invitee, Zong Qinghou retorted that giving should be a private choice and objected to being shamed by the West into “giving for the sake of publicity”. Data gathering in the space is difficult due to the desire to be more private,
Johnny Hon, Hong Kong-born founder and chief executive of the venture capital Global Group, set up a charitable foundation for children with congenital heart disease in China’s Heilongjiang Province, among his philanthropic efforts.
coupled with a lack of government regulations in the sector, says Ruth Shapiro, chief executive of Hong Kong-based non-profit Centre for Asian Philanthropy and Society (CAPS). CAPS chose to rely on
non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and social enterprises, rather
than philanthropists to fill out the surveys for their inaugural Doing Good Index (DGI) in 2018. These limitations, she says, have made it difficult to chart the exact scale and scope of philanthropy in the region. “Any report that tells you actual numbers coming from
this part of the world, really needs to be questioned,” Shapiro says. “Most giving has been low-key and done through
companies of donors so it is hard to pin down real numbers about the sector. “However, it is starting to change because people are
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more aware that they themselves can be influential in changing the marketplace—you’ve got Jack Ma at Alibaba and Pony Ma at Tencent retiring to become full-time philanthropists, saying, ‘We’re engaged in philanthropy in a big way, and so can you’.” Indeed, such is the appetite for philanthropic giving
among Asia’s wealthy, that Shapiro’s research into the region’s charitable giving is being funded by a handful of leading philanthropists, including Ronnie Chan, Daniel Tsai, and Ratan Tata, keen to improve the quality and quantity of philanthropy in the region.
ISSUE 75 | 2019
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