Philanthropy leaders decry lack of support for Asian community

Nearly 500 philanthropy leaders, mostlyfrom foundations, signed a letter Friday calling on grant makers to increase their support of nonprofits that benefit Asian people and put efforts to combat anti-asian racism squarely in the broader fight for racial justice.

“To make progress, we will redouble our support of multiracial coalitions to combat systemic racism and ensure that our own country embraces us for who we are and not as perpetual outsiders,” the letter states.

The letter was circulated by Asian Americans/pacific Islanders in Philanthropy, which also released a study outlining the paucity of philanthropic support for Asian American communities. The letter and the study follow a year of increasing violence directed against Asian Americans and the killing of eight people, including six Asian American women, in Atlanta this month.

The group released the letter on the eve of the #Stopasianhate Day of Action and Healing, a virtual protest of anti-asian violence and discrimination.

From March 2020 to the end of last year, more than 2,800 incidents had been documented of Anti-asian violence, verbal harassment and civil-rights violations such as refusal of service at a business establishment, according to Stop AAPI Hate, which collects such data.

“Death should not be the marker of when we take action. We need to engage long before that,” said Mariko Silver, president of the Henry Luce Foundation and one of the letter’s signers.