What should SAPP do and be?

The Giving Trees --by T. Osborne

Venu and I are in the midst of many conversations with nonprofit professionals, philanthropists, and community leaders about how to inspire giving among South Asian Americans, and how to get our community more involved in our local communities through volunteering and board service.

This recent piece by Paul on New Voices of Philanthropy really states clearly and simply why it’s important to engage communities of color like ours in philanthropy – because we are largely untapped by mainstream charities; we have resources; and we have different cultural ways of giving that can be explored together.

I just saw this interesting article on the Give and Take blog about how new ideas should not necessarily spawn new nonprofits. Too many organizations duplicate the work of existing groups. But in SAPP’s case, there isn’t a group that does precisely what we do; however, there are groups like AAPIP that are closely aligned with our mission.

Well, all this brings us to SAPP. For now, we’re keeping it simple – after all, Venu and I have full-time jobs already! We have this site, our resources and organizations list, some research underway, and a summit on the horizon. What direction would you like to see SAPP go in? What kinds of activities and events would get YOU more involved in philanthropy? Chime in – give us some advice, share your philanthropic stories, send us ideas…