Give2Asia Giving Forum

Philanthropy & diversity: Q & A with Meghna Shah

Interview by Dien Yuen, Give2Asia Director of Philanthropy
Reposted from Asian American Giving Blog

Rockefeller Professional Advisors (RPA) produced three studies on diversity in philanthropy last year. Meghna Shah, a former Associate at RPA, co-authored the reports, Philanthropy in a Changing Society and Diversity and Inclusion: Lessons Learned from the Field. Meghna also served as Editor of Diversity in Action: Strategies with Impact. We were honored to have the opportunity to ask Meghna several questions about the findings. Meghna Shah is currently a William J. Clinton Fellow of the American India Foundation. She will be spending the next ten months working on capacity-building projects for Saath, an NGO that creates market linkages for India's urban and rural poor.

1.  What were some of your responsibilities as an Associate at RPA?

At RPA, I worked on a diversity portfolio that included a series of publications on diversity in philanthropy, made possible by the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, as well as the Cultures of Giving Fund, a Special Project of Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors made possible by a grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. The Fund empowers emerging donor communities to lead, develop and grow philanthropic resources for community social change causes. We made grants to culturally-specific and multi-cultural social change funds to increase the impact and effectiveness of individual and collective giving in these communities.  The fund invests in the capacity of community organizations to address community needs.

GIVE2ASIA’S PHILANTHROPIC COMMUNITY TAKES ACTION IN RESPONSE TO CONSECUTIVE ASIAN DISASTERS

SAN FRANCISCO, CA - Give2Asia, a U.S. public charity which empowers donors and local Asia-based charitable groups, is partnering with corporations, foundations and individuals to help on-the-ground organizations respond to recent disasters in Taiwan, Southeast Asia and India.

Since August, Give2Asia’s donors have supported disaster relief projects across Asia in response to typhoons in Southeast Asia and Taiwan, massive flooding in South India, and successive earthquakes in Western Sumatra in Indonesia. Donors have given over US$400,000 for disaster relief since August. Contributions to support disaster relief projects can be made online at www.give2asia.org/relief.

IDE-India featured on NewsHour with Jim Lehrer

Amitabha Sadangi, a 2005 Skoll social entrepreneur and head of IDE-India, a grantee of Give2Asia, was featured in a news video on NewsHour with Jim Lehrer on September 14, 2009. NewsHour correspondent Fred de Sam Lazaro reports on how India is trying to feed its growing population while maintaining the environment. The segment focuses on how IDE-India uses market approaches to help subsistence farmers become income farmers.

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/indepth_coverage/social_issues/social_ent/

Food Insecurity in Asia

By Dien Yuen, Director of Philanthropy

Through 2007 and 2008, as the financial crisis was unfolding in the U.S., a food crisis was raging through most of the developing world - especially in Asia. Rapid increases and decreases in food prices across the developing world exacerbates the plight of communities that are already suffering from poverty and hunger. Hunger persists in Asia - even in China, India and Vietnam - countries that have already been experiencing unprecedented rapid economic growth over the past decade. 

As part of our philanthropic education initiative, Give2Asia presented a private gathering that brought together leaders from the Filipino community along with advisors from the local areas to discuss these issues. Dr. Bruce Tolentino, Director of Economic Reform and Development of The Asia Foundation, shared his perception of the food price crisis and how donors could help. The topic, "Food Insecurity in Asia" was hosted by Mr. Robbie Fabian, Resource Development Consultant and Mr. Joe Lumarda, Trustee of Give2Asia and SVP of Capital Group Companies. Held in the boardroom of the California Community Foundation (CCF), Ms. Carol Bradford, VP of External and Donor Relations of CCF opened the event with a brief introduction of the Foundation's work. 

Dr. Pratapaditya Pal - renowned Nepalese, Indian and Tibetan art scholar

On August 13, 2009, Dr. Pratapaditya Pal, a renowned Asian art scholar, spoke about his academic journey, introduction to various Asian arts, and his passage to the United States. His semi-formal talk at Give2Asia encompassed humor, affection for his family, stories of Cambridge, cricket, his time traveling to the United States, and high remarks of John D. Rockefeller III, The Asia Foundation and the Asia Society.

During the presentation, Dr. Pal showed slides of valuable art pieces from Tibet, India and Himalayas that have been bought and sold at cheap prices. He pointed out that Philadelphia Museum has not done a single exhibition of Dr. Stella Kramrisch's collection of Nepalese and Indian art. He displayed his frustration at lack exhibition of South Asian art in museums across the world and lack of appreciation of artwork in Asian countries.

Dr. Pal was born in Bangladesh, grew up in Calcutta, India and lived in the United States since 1967. He completed his doctorate in Fine Arts and History from the University of Calcutta with a special focus on Nepal. In 1962, he received the Commonwealth Scholarship of Cambridge to do his second Ph.D. on Nepalese art.