EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW FROM THE PHILANTHROPY FOR BETTER CITIES FORUM 2024

Giving is a concept deeply ingrained in Asian life. 

The reasons for, and ways of, giving that crisscross this diverse region were in focus on Sept. 9 and 10 at Hong Kong’s fourth Philanthropy for Better Cities (PBC) Forum. It served as a platform for foundations, thought leaders, policymakers, NGOs and experts from around the world to engage in dialogue and share ideas on how to turn philanthropic action into sustainable impact. The theme of this year’s forum — “Delivering Impactful Philanthropy in the Real World” — focused on exploring models and methods that philanthropic organizations can reliably use to generate greater social impact.  

Convened by The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust in association with the Institute for Philanthropy (IoP), the forum featured nearly 100 prominent speakers and more than 2,000 delegates from 40 countries and regions, including representatives of over 200 local, regional and global foundations. Among the speakers were former Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard, Nobel Laureate Professor Michael Spence and Olympic gold medalist Tom Daley. The forum was set against a dramatic backdrop of mountains, skyscrapers and heaving container ships around the West Kowloon Cultural District (West K). 

The two-day event marked the start of Hong Kong Philanthropy Week and was organized by The Hong Kong Jockey Club (HKJC), a not-for-profit horse racing and entertainment mainstay that is celebrating its 140th anniversary this year. The club supports charities and community initiatives like this forum by channeling the demand for horse racing and entertainment into tax contributions, charity support and employment opportunities that benefit the local community. 

Recontextualizing philanthropy through an Eastern lens 

As home to nearly 60% of the global population and some of the world’s fastest-growing economies, Asia has an increasingly influential role to play in today’s evolving philanthropic landscape. As HKJC Chairman Michael Lee said in his welcome speech at PBC 2024’s opening ceremony, “In Asia, we are experiencing rapid growth in philanthropic giving commensurate with the region’s rising prosperity through development.” 

Diverse actors, ranging from businesses and investment firms to governments, have been focusing more of their social impact contributions in Asia over the past few years. Data shows that private impact investing in the finance industry increased 63% between 2019 and 2022, and this wealth is forecast to grow. 

William Foster, managing partner at The Bridgespan Group — a U.S. nonprofit organization providing consulting services to other nonprofits, philanthropists and social enterprises — attributes this growth to the flexible methodology for giving that Asian philanthropies tend to use, citing fluidity in the way they work and a willingness to collaborate, pivot and adapt as opportunities arise. 

Pictured: The Hong Kong Jockey Club Chairman Michael Lee delivers a speech at the opening ceremony of the Philanthropy for Better Cities Forum 2024. (Photo courtesy of The Hong Kong Jockey Club)

“Half of the 20 largest philanthropies in Asia are under 20 years old, whereas globally that number is only 20%,” Foster says. “There’s less that’s baked in and more that can change and evolve.” 

Lee also notes that “Asian philanthropy requires properly contextualized models and solutions to account for varied political, economic and cultural contexts that are different from established, largely Western models. Unlocking its full potential will be crucial in addressing shared social and environmental challenges most effectively.” 

Asian giving in practice 

By adopting an “in Asia, for Asia” framework that is different from Western philanthropic models, Asian philanthropists, social entrepreneurs and policymakers can better translate charitable giving into real results. Naina Subberwal Batra, CEO of AVPN, Asia’s largest social investment network, touched on this in her remarks at the forum.  

“Given that so much of the impact needs to take place in the global south, it’s important that the voices of the global south are also there when decisions are being made,” she said. “I think that has been more useful than just blindly copying models that originated in the West.”  

With more than 600 members across private and corporate foundations, universities, governments and family offices, AVPN has moved USD $25 billion toward impact projects in Asia over the past five years.  

This model of global sharing with a local focus has been tried and tested over the past 14 years by Wendy Kopp and her Teach for All initiative. Since its founding in 1990, Teach For All has expanded Kopp’s model of collective leadership in grassroots education to more than 60 countries. Each locally led branch adheres to a basic set of principles, but is otherwise empowered to find its own way of recruiting graduates to commit two years to teaching in underserved communities. 

Teach For All also encourages sharing and learning between its partners. 

Pictured: The Hong Kong Jockey Club CEO Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges. (Photo courtesy of Michael Knief)

“All these brilliant people in very diverse cultural contexts come up with new innovations, and then we can capture and spread those innovations,” said Kopp after participating in a panel discussion on nurturing the leaders of tomorrow. “It creates this kind of ever-improving network, and it’s super energizing to be part of.” 

The future of philanthropy in a changing global landscape 

The launch of the Commission on Asian Philanthropy was another highlight at the forum. The commission brings together influential philanthropic organizations as founding commissioners, including the China Soong Ching Ling Foundation, The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust, IDEAS Dompet Dhuafa Republika, King Khalid Foundation, The Nippon Foundation, Piramal Foundation, Rainmatter Foundation, Tanoto Foundation, Tata Consultancy Services and Tencent Charity Foundation. The organizations will collaborate to professionalize the sector and define the scope and opportunity of Asian giving. The commission aims to release a report in 2027 that outlines transformative ideas as action items. 

“The commission will play a key role in building and sharing knowledge that is truly relevant to the Asian context,” says HKJC CEO and IoP director Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges. “I see it as a breakthrough. We will still work and share globally, but we feel the Asian perspective in philanthropy and giving needs a little bit more focus.” 

establish an "in Asia, for Asia" ecosystem to advance the professionalisation of the philanthropic sector in the region and unleash Asian philanthropy's full potential for social good.

Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges, the Club's CEO and IoP Director, delivered the forum's closing address, echoing insights from forum speakers and underlining the importance of the Commission on Asian Philanthropy. "To fully leverage the collaborative power of philanthropy in Asia, this morning we launched the Commission on Asian Philanthropy. Convened by IoP and the Asia Philanthropy Congress and bringing 10 leading Asian foundations together, it aims to build an "in Asia, for Asia" ecosystem and to expand the capacity of Asian practitioners. Crucially, it is committed to staying plural. There will be no one-size-fits-all. Rather, the intention is to learn from, and share, the rich diversity of Asian philanthropy."

The overarching theme of PBC 2024 was "Delivering impactful philanthropy in the real world". As an aid to discussions, the IoP shared two specially commissioned reports: "Examining Trust and Measurement in Asian Philanthropy," a joint publication by IoP and McKinsey & Company; and "High-Impact Philanthropy: Giving Better across Asia and the World," produced by the Bridgespan Group. IoP also shared a special supplement on impact measurement produced in collaboration with the Stanford Social Innovation Review.

The Club's support for the PBC Forum, like all of its charity and community initiatives, is made possible by its unique integrated business model through which racing and wagering generate tax contributions, charity support and employment opportunities for the community.