I am currently surveying South Asian women living in the U.S to better understand their health issues. This research study will provide evidence for formulating appropriate immigrant health policies and contribute useful information about the health and well-being of South Asian immigrant women.

The survey is anonymous, and will not ask for any identifying information.

Please click here if you are a South Asian woman in the U.S. in order to access the survey.

As a Villgro Fellow, you will work with a social enterprise for one year, applying your skills to create real impact in Rural India. In charting a better road map for the social enterprise, you may find your own Road Less Travelled. Many Villgro fellows have gone onto work/consult for social enterprises or pursue further studies in the social sector.

More information and a link to apply is here.  (H/T to Nilima Achwal)

First we had the Iowa workshop I attended recently (and the excellent keynote).  And now, we have the third workshop in a series put on by the University of Washington’s South Asia Center, entitled:  “Development, Diaspora & the Next Generation III: Mapping, Learning and Building South Asian Community“.  Aimed at Seattle-area NGOs as well as faculty and students that do work in South Asia, the workshop is part of a series examining best practices and networks of philanthropy and development among the diaspora.

I was lucky enough to have a wonderful chat with the Center’s director Prof. Priti Ramamurthy yesterday, and I hope that SAPP can do more to promote the outcomes of this workshop.  With Seattle located in such a hub of technology (Microsoft) and philanthropy (Gates Foundation), I look forward to seeing what the Center and this series will do in the future.

SAPP hopes that some of the funding will be used to research the giving practices of Asian-Americans and create tools to promote even more charitable giving and volunteering among this growing population.  Talk about a great investment with excellent returns!

And speaking of the White House, just a quick note that SAPP friend Khyati Joshi of Fairleigh-Dickinson University is speaking there today about her research “to help improve understanding of South Asian religious communities in the United States and inform the development of policies and best practices in the area of Homeland Security.” Congrats, Khyati!

Proteus Fund is pleased to announce that applications for the 2012-2013 Diversity Fellowship are now being accepted.

The Diversity Fellowship is designed to increase the number of people of color in positions of leadership within philanthropy who are skilled grant makers using a lens of equity and inclusion, and to support grant making to communities of color that is more representative and effective. The application deadline for the 2012-2013 application period is April 18, 5pm. Click here for application materials and a guide to frequently asked questions.

And SAALT is hiring a new Policy Director:

SAALT seeks an experienced policy professional with a background in immigrant or civil rights to serve as a full-time Policy Director as part of our team.

The Policy Director will develop, direct, and implement the organization’s legislative, administrative, and public policy activities. The Policy Director will report to SAALT’s Executive Director and work closely with programmatic and communications staff as well as local consultants.  For more information on SAALT’s policy priorities, we encourage interested applicants to review SAALT’s three-year strategic plan and policy reports, available at www.saalt.org.  Deadline April 30th.

Rajesh Tandon

As I mentioned below, I was at a fascinating workshop this past weekend at the University of Iowa.  The keynote address was by Rajesh Tandon, founder and President of the Society for Participatory Research in Asia (PRIA), “an international centre for learning and promotion of participation and democratic governance.”

Rajesh gave an inspiring address about the state of affairs in development in India today, problems of government accountability and corruption, and the incredible need for diaspora philanthropy – particularly to support capacity-building and democratic accountability.  PRIA has done some fascinating research that Rajesh presented in his keynote.

I encourage all of you to watch the keynote address here.

• Rina Agarwala (Johns Hopkins University)
• Usha Balakrishnan (Founder, President, and Board Chair, CARTHA)
• Erica Bornstein (University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee)
• Pablo Shiladitya Bose (University of Vermont)
• Verne A. “Van” Dusenbery (Hamline University; Carleton College)
• Paul Greenough (University of Iowa)
• Meena Khandelwal (University of Iowa)
• Ajailiu Niumai (University of Hyderabad)
• Renu Pariyadath (University of Iowa)
• Jay Sehgal (Sehgal Family Foundation)
• Mark Sidel (University of Wisconsin-Madison)
• Rajesh Tandon, Keynote Speaker (Society for Participatory Research in Asia (PRIA), New Delhi, India)
• Margaret Walton-Roberts (Wilfrid Laurier University Ontario)

I’m really excited to participate in what will be a great interdisciplinary conversation about giving from abroad to India.  I was delighted to see so many Canadians represented among the speakers – being new to Canada myself, of course.  And I am also really curious to talk about SAPP’s work with scholars of law, anthropology, sociology, communications, and more.  One of the things that we at SAPP have been advocating for is a stronger research focus on South Asian giving, whether here in North America or abroad.  This workshop seems like an important step in that direction.

I’ll try to check in with some blog posts after the keynote by Rajesh Tandon, and throughout the workshop!

So I was delighted to read that NetIP North America is launching a charity campaign at all of their chapters across the country, entitled “Charity is Colorblind” (CiC)!  Building on NetIP-Chicago’s success with “Cancer is Colorblind” (which raised more than $100,000), all of the NetIP chapters are getting involved now, and focusing their giving on the theme of education.  Here’s an excerpt from their blog post about the launch:

CiC has taken off this year because it is contagious.  It’s contagious because not only is charitable giving an emotional giving, it is also one that keeps on giving back…

This year, many chapters are planning large scale CiC campaigns (many with an education focus), which support a diversity of beneficiaries across the globe including UNICEF, Chicago Public Schools (CPS),  Bal Daan, Teach for America, Nanubhai Education Foundation, and much more.  Due to overwhelming chapter support, our 2012 CiC goal is to raise over $250,000 across all 23 chapters benefiting causes and charities all around the globe.

We at SAPP applaud NetIP for their efforts and encourage all of you to get involved.  If any NetIP members out there want to write to us about their experiences of participating in CiC, we’d love to share your stories with our readers!

This year’s Bain report notes that young people in high net worth families have the most responsibility over philanthropic decision-making.  Their concerns about NGO accountability remain, but things seem to be improving, with more giving than last year and seemingly more sophistication about philanthropy and innovation.