Charities doing important work in Asia are struggling to survive during the pandemic. Consider supporting them with a gift.
by Jill Chang, Philanthropy Advisor
Americans love giving to charity. The United States is home to more than 1.5 million nonprofits, covering every cause imaginable.
Yet for most donors, the focus narrows when it comes to international giving. Through Give2Asia, the vast majority of individual donors support education-related causes or disaster relief campaigns.
To date, US donors have enabled Give2Asia and its partner organizations to respond to over 40 disaster events and emergencies across Asia-Pacific, including the recent floods in Henan Province, China. With the COVID crisis taking center stage since last year, our donors have also backed charities delivering live-saving services, including medical care and food relief to vulnerable groups.
However, nonprofits working on other pressing issues, ranging from environment to the arts, are struggling to survive during the pandemic due to the increased difficulty in income generation, resources mobilization, and lockdown restrictions. For example, in Taiwan, more than 30% of nonprofits saw donations drop by more than 20%, and over 65% of the nonprofits had to minimize the projects. Many of these nonprofits serve as the main—and sometimes, the only—source of support, especially in areas with fewer government services.
If you support a cause here in the US, there is a very good chance the same work is needed overseas. We invite you to support the nonprofit organizations working these issues in the communities you care about. Through Give2Asia, you can make a donor-advised grant to your favorite nonprofit across 23 countries—or support one of the hundreds of trusted charities that partners with Give2Asia.
Here are just a few examples of the diversity of nonprofits you can support in Asia when you “think beyond the classroom”:
Bophana Audiovisual Resource Center (Arts and Culture)
Bophana Audiovisual Resource Center is committed to preserving and fostering Cambodian culture and history through arts and multimedia. They collect film, television, photography and sound archives on Cambodia from around the world and provide free access for teachers, students, researchers, journalists, and the general public. Over the last four years, Bophana Center has been working to digitize thousands of archival materials, prioritizing those which are at risk of being lost forever. Learn more and support Bophana here.
Koshish Nepal (Mental Health)
Khosish Nepal has been working to promote mental health at the grassroots and policy level since 2008. They offer a 24-hour help line and manage shelters and other community-based projects in support of psychosocial wellbeing. In particular, they have been working to transform the lives of abused women, survivors of domestic violence, and women forced to live in the streets. They are currently looking to strengthen their support for beneficiaries in Makwanpur District, whose mental health and livelihoods have been adversely affected by the COVID pandemic. Learn more and support Koshish Nepal here.
DOMI Earth (Environment)
DOMI’s mission is to ensure that children everywhere have a prosperous future, free from climate fear. Their DOMI Energy project aims to support impoverished families in Taiwan by addressing the burden of electricity costs during COVID-19 while conducting a Poverty Stoplights survey, which will contribute to a better understanding of factors that define families’ specific experience with poverty. Learn more and support DOMI here.
The Mekong Club (Civil Society)
The Mekong Club empowers businesses to end modern slavery. By using private sector approaches and technology-based tools. the Mekong Club addresses problems in supply chain slavery from auditors who do not speak the local dialect of foreign workers, to underutilized and disaggregated data, to falsified employment contracts. Recently, they have developed a smartphone application for law enforcement officials to identify trafficked persons in Thailand. To date, they have raised awareness of human trafficking and slavery issues among over 400 corporations and 10,000 students, while providing technical assistance to strengthen anti-slavery efforts to over 220 organizations. Learn more and support The Mekong Club here.
Rajasthan Samgrah Kalyan Sansthan (Women and Girls)
RSKS is a grassroot Indian nonprofit located at the Foothills of Aravalli Range in Holy City, Ajmer District of Rajasthan. Since 1992, they have been helping marginalized women and girls through projects in women’s empowerment (connecting women to banks and providing training in life skills), sustainable livelihood (providing vocational training), health (distributing sanitary napkins), and child rights and welfare (providing nutritious food and toys to street children). In addition, RSKS conducts girls’ education, disaster recovery and management, and environment and sanitation projects. Learn more and support RSKS here.
Give2Asia is proud to partner with hundreds of nonprofits doing important work across the Asia Pacific. To search for a cause you care about, visit give2asia.org/fund. If you’d like to enable your favorite nonprofit to raise money through Give2Asia, learn about our Friends Funds here.
We appreciate our donors’ generosity and our partners’ efforts in making an impact across different fields and areas, and we’re more than happy to chat with our potential donors and nonprofit partners for partnering opportunities. To get started, request a meeting with our international giving team.