City to launch database to link donors to charities
Hong Kong is set to launch a database that will connect donors with charity projects, as the city strengthens its ability to assist family offices in their philanthropic efforts.
The project was announced yesterday at the annual Wealth for Good in Hong Kong Summit, which brought together the global heads of ultra-rich family offices and their advisers.
“Impact Link”, or iLink, will come under the Hong Kong Academy for Wealth Legacy and will initially focus on healthcare, early biotech research, poverty alleviation and youth empowerment projects.
The project would serve as a comprehensive database, displaying charities in need of support, Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po said during a gala dinner yesterday.
“By enabling meaningful connections between these projects and potential donors, we hope to expand transformative philanthropic ventures,” he said. “And, in doing so, [we will] reinforce our role as a global philanthropic hub for family offices.
“It underscores Hong Kong’s determination to harness its strengths and resources to drive positive change on a global scale, to assist family offices in using ‘wealth for good’.”
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Fondation de France Asia, the Institute of Philanthropy empowered by the Hong Kong Jockey Club and the Yidan Prize Foundation were among some of the charities that had joined iLink so far, Chan said. The University of Hong Kong and the Chinese University of Hong Kong will take up advisory roles on life sciencerelated projects.
The summit was expected to bring together more than 400 key decision makers and professionals from leading family offices, according to the government, significantly larger than the 100 guests it hosted at the inaugural event last year.
They will be here “to learn more about Hong Kong, about why Hong Kong is the preeminent choice” for their family offices, Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu said at a welcome dinner on Tuesday. Hong Kong provides the ideal environment for family offices to thrive, he added.
Lee hosted guests that included UBS CEO Sergio Ermotti and the LGT chairman, Prince Maximilian of Liechtenstein, at a six-course dinner at Sky100 at the International Commerce Centre. The dinner was followed by a dragon dance performance.
“This is the Year of the Dragon,” Lee said. “It means vibrancy, it means energy, it means prosperity, and it means that we are getting together for the overall good of mankind.”
The Hong Kong government is sparing no efforts to bolster the city’s role as a family office hub, with competition from other regional financial hubs intensifying. The stakes have increased over the years, with the city overcoming a recession during the pandemic even as foreign capital and talent fled to other alternatives for higher returns.
These efforts are yielding early results. FamilyOfficeHK, the agency spearheading the initiative, had helped nearly 60 family offices set up shop in Hong Kong over the past year, Lee said, adding to an estimated pool of 2,703 single-family offices in the city. Another 100 had indicated their interest in expanding their presence in Hong Kong, he added.
Yesterday’s programme included a full-day conference at the Grand Hyatt Hong Kong hotel in Wan Chai, which ran under the theme of “growing with certainty amid growing uncertainty”. Other major topics included green technology, luxury, philanthropy and wealth legacy.
“You have to establish a platform now, a conduit now, a road now, to access China – and Hong Kong is the premier hub for global family offices,” Adrian Cheng, CEO of New World Development, said during a panel discussion. “To establish your family office here is also a commitment that you want to look into China in the next five to 10 or 15 years.”