Closing the Culture Gap

“Having said this, I would also say that, on average, Asians do tend to give to causes related to their roots or ethnic background. Although we are a Pan Asian umbrella group, there are many nonprofits that focus only on specific Asian backgrounds, such as Korean, Indian, Chinese or Japanese, etc. And some do not want to partner with or collaborate with other Asian organizations not of the same background. This is, of course, due largely to history and the history of Asian countries.”

FS: Are there religious considerations that influence how Asian Americans give?
MT: “There are many large and well funded Buddhist temples in the metropolitan area. Each temple is organized for specific backgrounds. The majority of the Korean population is Christian, and so churches are often well funded from within that community. We all know that in general, churches and religious institutions are the largest recipients of donations by individuals in this country.”