In 1992, US Congress appointed May as National Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) Heritage Month in remembrance of the month during which the first Japanese immigrants arrived in the United States in 1843 and the transcontinental railroad was completed (primarily by Chinese immigrants) in 1869. While we honor our heritage and history year round, in this month we balance a mourning for the United States’ long and ongoing history of discrimination and mistreatment towards our communities, and also a celebration for our communities’ progress towards racial equity and collective liberation, with support from philanthropy.
Fast forward to 2021, our Seeking to Soar report found that foundation funding designated for AANHPI communities only accounts for 0.20 percent of all U.S. grantmaking, or that for every $100 awarded by foundations for work in the US, only 20 cents is designated for AANHPI communities. More recently, from a survey of nearly 400 AANHPI-serving nonprofits across the US, 67% of respondents noted that one of their most significant barriers as an operating nonprofit is lack of funder knowledge on AANHPI issues, while 68% named a lack of prioritizing our community needs and concerns. These striking statistics highlight a greater call to all of philanthropy to increase their total investment in AANHPI communities.
As the progressive home to AANHPIs in philanthropy, AAPIP’s work is empowered by a 150+ membership network of private, family, community, and corporate foundations, grantmaking networks, individual staff of grantmaking organizations, and other philanthropic institutions. Of our institutional members, we are honored to uplift the AANHPI-specific member organizations and their grantee partners who together embody the deeper commitment to dedicating philanthropic support to our communities, led by our communities.
We invite you to explore each organization’s journey below. Keep scrolling for their full spotlight feature, including a highlight of current grantee partners!
Last updated 05/31/2024.
AAPI Civic Engagement Fund
The AAPI Civic Engagement Fund was formed in 2013 by a group of donors that recognized the longstanding need for AAPIs to be informed, activated, and engaged in civic participation. They are the only fund in the country that supports local and state-based AAPI community organizations with sustained, sizable civic engagement funding and tailored technical assistance. As a collaborative fund, they pool funds from multiple sources and engage multiple donor stakeholders across the country.
AAPI Civic Engagement Fund believes that Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders are integral to strengthening America’s multiracial democracy and transforming systemic conditions to improve the quality of life for all. We build the power of AAPI communities through grantmaking, movement capacity, and research.
Signature Programs: UPBUILD AAPI, Civic Engagement, Anti-Racism & Intersectional Justice Fund, Creative Catalyst Fellowship, Sabbatical Fund
Current Grantee Partners:
AAPI Data
AAPI Data was established in 2013 by Dr. Karthick Ramakrishnan, a nationally recognized expert in Asian American politics, in response to inquiries from community organizations, advocates, and journalists about Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander demographics, policy priorities, and civic engagement patterns. Dr. Ramakrishnan launched AAPI Data to ensure that these data were accessible and usable by a wide-range of practitioners in community, government, and philanthropy. Prior to the establishment of AAPI Data, stereotypes and assumptions about AANHPI communities prevailed due to the lack of detailed, high-quality data on these populations. For example, without data, few would know that Asian Americans make-up the fastest growing group of undocumented immigrants in the U.S., or that AANHPIs constitute the most economically polarized racial group in the U.S. With access to accurate data and rigorous policy analysis centered on AANHPI experiences and perspectives, civic organizations and policymakers are empowered to make more compelling claims and advocate for greater investments in AANHPI communities across the country.
AAPI Data is a leading research and policy organization committed to producing accurate data that supports community narratives and drives action toward enduring solutions for Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders (AANHPIs). We aspire to transform public and private systems to ensure that all AANHPI communities are recognized, valued, and prioritized.
Signature Programs: Public Opinion Surveys; Demographic Data; Coordinated Action on Data Equity; Monthly DNA (Data, Narrative, Action) Forums
Current Grantee Partners:
AAPI Victory Alliance/AAPI Progress and Education Fund
AAPI Victory Alliance (formerly AAPI Progressive Action) was founded in 2017 by leading progressive voices in the AAPI community, including former commissioners of President Obama’s Advisory Commission on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.
AAPI Victory Alliance works to build Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) political power across the country by providing education on progressive issues; creating and advocating for policies that affect our communities; and building alliances with organizations to help AAPIs exert their power and be the margin of victory at the local, state, and national levels. AAPI Progress Education Fund supports organizations working to civically engage AAPI communities across the U.S and increase AAPI representation in policy making.
Signature Programs: Gun Violence Prevention; Voting Rights; Climate Justice; Mis/disinformation via Community Education, Civic Engagement, and Research
APIA Vote
In 1996, APIAVote was first conceived as a project at OCA (Organization of Chinese Americans) to increase voter participation around election times, as AAPIs were not voting at the same levels as other communities. Since, APIAVote has been at the forefront of a rising movement to ensure AAPIs are represented and heard, leading to historic voter turnout and advancing equity for AAPI communities.
Asian and Pacific Islander American Vote (APIAVote) is the nation’s leading nonpartisan nonprofit dedicated to engaging, educating, and empowering Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) communities to strengthen and sustain a culture of civic engagement.
Signature Programs: Alliance for Civic Empowerment (ACE) Fund; Electoral and Political Power; Economic Impact; Representation in Media
Current Grantee Partners:
Asian American Futures
In 2019, under the fiscal sponsorship of APCF, the Asian American Futures founders hosted a gala aptly themed “It’s Our Time.” The gala, along with the concept of raising money by AAPIs for AAPIs, received an overwhelmingly positive response in the local community and beyond. It was clear that a nerve had struck, and that Asian Americans relished an organization focused on advocating for inclusion and raising resources for our communities. With the funds raised at the gala, AAF founders immediately held a series of smaller events to support urgent community needs. By November 2020, Asian American Futures filed to become an independent 501(c)(3) organization.
Asian American Futures’ (AAF) mission is to ensure Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders are Seen, Heard, Empowered, and United. AAF activates young Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPIs) to build a multiracial future. They partner with organizations and experiment with evidence-backed programming that aims to shift people’s mindsets at scale.
Signature Programs: Activate CA, The Catalyst Lab, Gold Futures Challenge, NHPI Initiative, IMAGINE Initiative
Current Grantee Partners:
Asian Pacific Community Fund
Asian Pacific Community Fund (APCF) was founded in 1990 by AAPI community leaders in response to the need for alternative funding for Los Angeles-based nonprofit organizations serving AAPI communities. Prior to its incorporation, less than 0.3% of all local foundation funds went to AAPI agencies, according to a 1988 study by AAPI Equality Alliance (formerly known as A3PCON – Asian Pacific Policy & Planning Council). To raise funds for community organizations serving AAPI communities, APCF initiated employee giving campaigns at various workplaces, including private companies, federal agencies, state agencies, county agencies, city agencies, and nonprofit organizations. Over the past decade, APCF has diversified its fundraising and has grown to serve all of Southern California from a network of 12 nonprofits to 80+ nonprofits through capacity building initiatives to sustain and support the AAPI nonprofit sector.
APCF’s mission is to cultivate philanthropists to invest in organizations that empower underserved Asian and Pacific Islanders (AAPIs) to prosper by 1) building healthier communities, 2) creating a stronger AAPI voice, and 3) developing AAPI leaders.
Signature Programs: Funder Briefings (with AAPIP-LA): Meet the Funders, API Community Van Tours, Virtual Briefings; Grantmaking: Operating Grant; Personalized Donor Services: Asian Pacific Community Giving Circle; Donor Advised Funds; Customized Scholarships; Asian Women Leadership in Philanthropy Fund
Current Grantee Partners:
Asian Pacific Fund
The Asian Pacific Fund was established in 1993 by a committee of Bay Area Asian American community leaders, Chang-Lin Tien, Jerry Yang, Emerald Yeh, Larry Lowe, Ray Ocampo, Andrew Ly, Mona Lisa Yuchengco, Bob Lee, Arun Sarin, Osamu Yamada, and Kyung Yoon, led by founding President and Executive Director Gail Kong, who recognized the need to increase the resources available to the Asian community, which had grown more diverse and nearly doubled in size in the prior decade. Throughout its 30-year history, APF has raised more than $60 million for our community, supported a network of more than 90 local nonprofit affiliates, distributed over 500 grants, and delivered more than 40 capacity-building trainings to this network.
Asian Pacific Fund’s (APF) mission is to strengthen the Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) community in the Bay Area by increasing philanthropy and supporting the organizations that serve our most underserved community members. APF is the only community foundation dedicated to improving the lives of underserved AANHPIs in the Bay Area. They do this by: Strengthening our Safety Net, Mobilizing Philanthropy, and Driving Systems Change.
Signature Programs: Resiliency & Recovery Fund; Annual AANHPI Summit; Awards and Scholarships
Current Grantee Partners:
Asian Community Fund (at The Boston Foundation)
The Boston Foundation’s Asian Community Fund was founded in 2020. Asian Americans have lived, worked, and raised families across the Commonwealth for more than a century and a half, and this community now represents the fastest growing—and arguably the least understood—group in the region. Aggregated data masks many disparities and community needs, including poverty and a need for improved language resources. There is a clear need for the ACF to step forward as an organizing platform to support and advance AAPI interests.
The Asian Community Fund at the Boston Foundation is a permanent resource designed to develop, strengthen and support Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community power in Massachusetts, to galvanize and unite the diverse ethnicities within this community, and to build a stronger advocacy voice.
Signature Programs: Small Business Technical Assistance and Advocacy; Community Leadership; Community Advocacy
Current Grantee Partners:
Chinese American Service League
Founded in 1978 by 10 Chinese immigrants who saw a growing need in the Chinatown community for culturally and linguistically adequate support for new arrivals, CASL has grown from one employee to nearly 650 employees today. CASL is an all-inclusive non-profit agency with over 45 years of experience connecting families and individuals with the vital support they need: providing an educational and cultural foundation for our children, ensuring our seniors live full and independent lives with dignity, enhancing education and training for tomorrow’s workforce, putting immigrants on the pathway to citizenship, securing our community’s housing and financial well-being, navigating healthcare systems and wellness resources, and fighting for equal access to justice. Since their founding, CASL has been rooted in the principles of equity and justice and has amplified the voice of the AANHPI communities, fighting for representation and equitable.
Building on the wisdom of generations, CASL catalyzes the transformation of individuals, families, and the community for an equitable future.
Signature Programs: Children to Senior Services; Behavioral Health/Clinical Services; Legal Support; Research; Center for Social Impact
Harry & Masie Masto Foundation
In 1942, Harry and Masie Masto, along with over 110,000 other Japanese Americans, were sent to a WWII concentration camp. After a few months in confinement, the couple was permitted to leave by volunteering to manage a labor camp of Japanese-American internees and German POWs for the American government. After the war, the Masto family bought the land from the government and set up a potato processing plant in Eastern Washington. Over the years, as the company became more successful, Harry found many ways to give back. In 1977, the Masto family sold the company and, a few years later, set up the Harry and Masie Masto Foundation.
Masto Foundation is a Japanese-American family foundation rooted in the Japanese-American community and committed to promoting diversity, equity, and justice by investing in grassroots social change. The Foundation gives resources to support marginalized communities, particularly those who have or are currently experiencing systemic institutionalized discrimination, to build leadership, power, and strength.
Signature Programs: Grassroots Power-Building; Trust Black Women Initiative; Equality Without Borders (global funding for LGBTQ+ community-serving groups)
Select List of Grantee Partners:
Korean American Community Foundation
The Korean American Community Foundation® (KACF) was founded in 2002 by a group of Korean American leaders in New York with a simple idea: philanthropy by and for the community. The goal was to address the chronic underinvestment in the Korean immigrant community by raising funds for programs serving under-resourced Korean American individuals and families, while also mobilizing community members to engage in a culture of giving. In December of 2002, the Foundation was incorporated as a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization, and in 2003, they awarded their first grants totaling $60,000 to five nonprofit organizations.
KACF’s mission is to build more equitable and thriving communities by fostering a culture of giving that catalyzes the collective generosity of Korean Americans.
Signature Programs: Grantmaking (National & Community); Capacity Building Fellowship; Data & Research
Current Grantee Partners:
Korean American Community Foundation of San Francisco
In 2013, a group of Korean American professionals in the San Francisco Bay Area approached Korean American Community Foundation with a desire to bring the KACF model to their city. With a clear business plan, KACF-SF demonstrated its strong leadership and capacity to be a committed partner with the Foundation. Thus, the Korean American Community Foundation of San Francisco (KACF-SF) was founded in 2014 by the thirteen women who recognized the critical needs in the greater Bay Area and realized the potential of philanthropic giving among Korean Americans.
Signature Programs: Capacity Building; Community Grants for Cultural Competency and Language Access; Karen Ha Scholarship
Current Grantee Partners:
National Coalition for Asian Pacific American Community Development (CAPACD)
In 1999, community leaders and activists from across the country recognized the imperative need for a national organization to advocate for policy and issues facing low-income AA and NHPI communities. That year, 16 organizations united to form National CAPACD. For over two decades, National CAPACD has been influencing and advocating for policies that fight discrimination, protect low-income communities of color, provide essential services to neighborhoods, and revitalize communities. National CAPACD has built a strong reputation and relationships with Congress, the White House, and key federal agencies. And, as a voice of more than 100 AA and NHPI organizations, National CAPACD has worked effectively to shift the national discourse on AA and NHPIs and community development issues.
National CAPACD advances equity and creates vibrant, healthy neighborhoods by mobilizing and strengthening a powerful coalition of Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander community-based organizations working in low-income communities. They are a coalition of nearly 100 community-based organizations spanning 21 states and the Pacific Islands.
Signature Programs: Policy and Advocacy; Data and Research; Economic Empowerment (Financial Capability; Empowerment Economics; Housing Counseling); Neighborhood & Place-based Strategies (Small Business, Creative Placemaking Learning Circle, #OurNeighborhoods); Community in the Capital
Current Grantee Partners:
New Breath Foundation
New Breath Foundation President and Founder Eddy Zheng spent over 20 years in California state prisons and immigration jails. He is the first Asian American juvenile sentenced to life to lead a public community foundation. After years of personal rehabilitation and self-education while serving his sentence, Eddy chose to dedicate himself to fighting for others whose life trajectories mirrored his own. He came to understand that AANHPI healing and transformation are linked to the healing and transformation of all communities of color harmed by the unjust U.S. immigration and criminal legal systems. Eddy established New Breath Foundation not only to offer hope of new beginnings to AANHPIs but also to unite with Black, Latinx, and Indigenous grassroots organizers to work together toward our collective vision of true healing and racial justice.
New Breath Foundation delivers critical, under-resourced, frontline groups the resources they need to help empower, heal, and change AANHPI’s lives in real time. They’re leading the movement to fund grassroots groups that transform AANHPI’s lives here and now while fighting for the collective liberation of all people of color.
Signature Programs: We Got Us Fund; New Breath Fund; Kites to Southeast Asia; Funder Education
Grantee Partners:
