From youths to retirees, nonprofit staff to corporate staff, over 90 dreamers and doers from across the country, including Irvine, CA, St. Paul, MN, and Columbia, S.C., came together in Oakland for our 2014 Convening. With now 43 Giving Circles in our Network and more emerging Circles, the Movement that local community philanthropists and leaders have built alongside AAPIP’s National Giving Circle Campaign was on full display on October 24 and 25.
Over the day and a half, Giving Circle leaders shared their personal reasons for becoming philanthropists and built on the theme of uplifting our collective AAPI narrative. We were joined by a special guest, Joe Lambert from the Center for Digital Storytelling, who taught us the importance of storytelling in our everyday lives. We also had the honor of bringing together five community partners from our incubation program, the Queer Justice Fund, to uplift issues within the LGBTQ AAPI community. From their own perspectives, the community organizations brought awareness to our Giving Circle leaders about the challenges they face in their specific community, ranging from family perception, immigration, to incarceration. Giving Circle leaders left the Convening with a deeper knowledge of our diverse community, with inspiration and tools to shared giving Giving Circle leaders left the convening inspired and motivated by the power of shared giving.
Thank you to Cynthia Brothers (Kibei Giving Circle, Seattle), Michelle Gollapalli (Asian Mosaic Fund, Philadelphia), and Gerlie Collado (Los Angeles API Giving Circle) for sharing their experiences at the National Giving Circle Convening.