• Giving Better, Together

      ASIAN AMERICAN IMPACT FUND

    • WHAT WE DO

      The Asian American Impact Fund is a giving circle that is part of the Asian American Pacific Islanders in Philanthropy (AAPIP) national network.

       

      Our mission is to improve the lives of under-resourced Asian American/Pacific Islanders in the tri-state area. We do this by providing financial and strategic advisory support to small and emerging organizations that are experimenting with innovative approaches to solving some of our community’s greatest challenges. We believe in taking risks on untested projects that have a direct impact today and the potential to achieve sustainable impact over time.

      Building Community


      We're a group of Asian American professionals from a wide range of sectors who regularly meet up in New York City to swap ideas, share inspiration, and learn more about challenges and opportunities for the local API community.  

      Identifying Potential


      We seek to identify high potential ideas that can make a meaningful difference in our local community.  Through a simple and thoughtful due diligence process, we aim to deepen our understanding potential solutions so that we can get behind the very best.

      Funding & Supporting Impact


      We provide general operating support to 1-2 organizations per year, in order to focus our attention and support in a way that provides maximum flexibility to our grantees.   Non-API organizations can also apply for funding for projects that specifically benefit the API community. 
       
      We believe our members’ knowledge, skills, and networks are as powerful as the dollars that we provide. We look for opportunities to engage our membership, leverage our capabilities, and collaborate to achieve our shared goals.

    • WHAT WE FUND

      We provide general operating support grants of $5-10K to small and emerging organizations that are experimenting with innovative approaches to solving the API's community’s greatest challenges.

      Criteria for Grantees

       

      • 501(c)3 or have a 501(c)3 fiscal sponsor
      • Organization serves under-resourced populations within the API community in the tri-state area (NY, NJ, CT). If the overall organization serves the broader community, funding is for a project focused on the API community.
      • Project could produce meaningful impact with the grant size
      • Organizational budget of <$1M
      • Strong leadership
      • Grants cannot be made for memberships, benefits, special events or other purposes where some portion of the gift is not tax-deductible.

      Note: We do not fund arts-focused projects; however, we encourage Asian American women artists to review opportunities with the Asian Women Giving Circle.

       

      Application Process

       

      • Brief online application:  Open to any organization who applies via this website for the regular grant cycle. 
      • Site visit and interview:  Up to 5 applicants will be selected for a visit and interview by members of the Asian American Impact Fund.
        Note: Due to COVID, a site visit & interview may be replaced by a virtual/phone interview.
      • Final selection:  Asian American Impact Fund members will vote to select final grantee(s).

       

      Grant recipients are required to fill out a brief report-back form and host a site visit for AAIF members during or after the implementation of their project.

       

    • WHO WE ARE

      Members

      Members commit to donating a minimum of $365/ year to the Fund and participate in the grantmaking process.

      We welcome both new members and donors (people who want to contribute but are not able to participate). There is no minimum to donate, and donors will receive updates on how their contribution was used.

       

      All contributions are tax deductible.

    • OUR PARTNERS

      AAPIP (Asian Americans/Pacific Islanders in Philanthropy) is a national member-supported philanthropic advocacy organization dedicated to advancing philanthropy and Asian American/Pacific Islander (AAPI) communities.

      We're part of the AAPIP national network of giving circles.

      North Star Fund is New York's community foundation supporting grassroots groups leading the movement for equality, economic justice and peace.

      We operate as a donor advised fund at North Star Fund. Contributions to our fund are tax deductible.

    • JOIN US

    • GET INVOLVED

      Interested in joining or donating?  Send us a note!  We'd love to tell you more about the group and to invite you to the next meet up.  

      Submit

    • DONATE

      Click the button below to go to our donation page supported by our host organization, North Star Fund.

       

    • OUR IMPACT

      "I was so inspired and touched by the AAIF site visit to Sapna NYC [2013 AAIF grantee]. One of the great things about being part of this giving circle is seeing the impact that our giving has on these emerging, grassroots organizations that do transformative work with under-invested communities. It gives me an opportunity to learn from experts who are doing work on the ground, and to feel more connected to the different communities in New York City.

       

      Sapna NYC is a small but mighty. You can tell how much care, love, and commitment the Board and staff pour into their work. The Board members are active and care about empowering South Asian immigrant women and their families, many of whom do not speak English and are very isolated as new immigrants. We had an opportunity to meet with their members in the Community Health Workers program who participate in and who are leaders in their programs.

       

      I was personally so inspired by these 3 women and to hear their stories of how they become involved with Sapna, their resilience, and how they continue to encourage other women in their communities to take care and empower themselves. Many of these women have spent their entire lives caring for others, so for me, it was an act of courage to seek opportunities to just focus on themselves as individuals, and not just as extensions of their husbands or families.

       

      It made me feel really good to hear that our contribution and support matter. Our dollars helped to support the continued and growing need of crucial services (especially mental health services) for South Asian immigrant women. I am so glad that I found AAIF."

      -Amy, AAIF member as of 2014

       

      GRANTEES

      AAIF is proud to have supported the following organizations:

       

      2021 GRANTEES

      • Laal NYC: strives to provide resources for Bangladeshi womxn in the Bronx so that they can live healthy, engaged, joyful lives. 2021 grant supports their Mental Health Initiative, which will survey 300 Bengali womxn in the Norwood, Bronx area about their mental health, generate a detailed report based on this novel data, disseminate brochures with resources to the community, and compensate a mental health counselor for womxn who signal a strong need when surveyed.
      • Chinese-American Sunshine House: provides mental health services and programming to the Chinese community in Brooklyn during this critically stressful time in American history. 2021 grant is towards general operating support for this organization

       

      2020 GRANTEES

       

      September Anti-Racism Grant

      • Chinese American Family Alliance for Mental Health (CAFAMH): works to prioritize mental health as an important issue worth addressing within the Chinese American community; 2020 grant supports workshops teaching first generation college students about white supremacy, Asian American activism throughout history, critical race theory, and racial solidarity.
      • Mekong NYC: works to improve the quality of the Southeast Asian community in the Bronx; 2020 grant supports recorded know-your-rights workshops for nail salon workers and owners, teaching them about racism, microaggressions, how to de-escalate situations at work, and how to handle anti-asian sentiment.

       

      September Regular Grant

      • Community Inclusion & Development Alliance (CIDA): serves individuals with disabilities and the families who care for them; 2020 grant supports the continuation of their Volunteer Advocacy Project, which empowers Asian American mothers of individuals with disabilities to advocate for their family and to develop a close community with each other.
      • Southeast Asian Defense Project: fights against the wrongful deportation of Southeast Asian refugees; 2020 grant is going towards general support for the organization.

       

      May COVID-19 Rapid Response Grantees

      • Think!Chinatown: works within the Chinatown community to design and build projects that generate and connect resources to the neighborhood; 2020 grant supported advocation for the fair distribution of relief funds to Chinatown businesses and facilitate the rollout of such funds to ensure that Chinatown entities are benefiting.
      • Womankind: works with survivors of gender-based violence to rise above trauma and build a path to healing; 2020 grant supported their 24/7 emergency shelters for API survivors of domestic abuse during this uncertain time.

       

      2019 GRANTEE

      • Project New Yorker: Dedicated to empowering low-income immigrant women and girls, predominantly of Bangladeshi descent, through technological skills training; 2019 grant supported their existing Tech 101 program for Bengali speaking immigrant women in Jamaica, Queens, which teaches students foundational computer skills, internet navigation as it pertains to managing daily life, and basic tools for project management relevant for the modern workplace.

       

      2018 GRANTEES

      • Chinatown Youth Initiatives: Seeks to empower New York City youth with the knowledge and skills necessary to address the needs of Chinatown, Asian Americans, and other underrepresented communities; 2018 grant supported the Chinatown Literacy Project (CLP), a weekend adult ESL program that offers Chinese-speaking English language learners personalized instruction free of charge. 
      • Gòngmíng Collective for Language Justice: A group of New York-City based individuals from the Chinese diaspora who aim to shift the power dynamics of language by building interpretation, translation, language capacity development, and community spaces in Chinese languages grounded in social justice values and community empowerment; 2018 grant supported the Language Justice Workshop Series where people with varying levels of English and Chinese proficiency engage in active skill-sharing and cultural exchange to build out their capacity to support community building, interpretation, and translation needs.
      • Japanese American Social Services, Inc. (JASSI): Seeks to improve the quality of life for people living in the New York metropolitan area by providing quality social services at the local community level; 2018 grant supported the Senior Safety Check Line, a program to provide reassurance telephone calls, social support, and safety checks for homebound seniors. 

       

      2016 GRANTEES

      • Mentari: Seeks to mentor and empower survivors of violence, abuse, exploitation and trafficking, so that they are able to reintegrate into the community and live independently; 2016 grant supported a culinary arts program for survivors of human trafficking and domestic violence.
      • Jahajee Sisters: A movement-building organization, led by Indo-Caribbean women, committed to achieving gender justice through dialogue, arts, leadership development and grassroots organizing; 2016 grant supported the Young Women's Leadership Institute's efforts to provide political education and skill-building in gender justice analysis for Indo-Caribbean young women.
      • Ugnayan: A grassroots organization that unites young people of Filipino heritage to transform society through critical education, community research and grassroots collective action; 2016 grant supported their campaign to end institutionalized bullying through partnerships with young people and parents.
      • CAAAV: Seeks to build grassroots community power across diverse poor and working class Asian immigrant and refugee communities in New York City; 2016 grant supported the Chinatown Tenants Union Program, which works to preserve affordable housing and curb displacement by organizing immigrant residents.

       

      2015 GRANTEES

      • Flushing Workers Center: Founded in 2012 by a group of immigrant and young workers to bring all workers together to fight for better working and living conditions in the area; 2015 grant supported a worker-led investigation of how conditions have changed in the nail salon industry.
      • RAISE (Revolutionizing Asian American Immigrant Stories on the East Coast): RAISE is the first pan-Asian undocumented youth-led group on the East Coast; 2015 grant provided space and access to mental health care for undocumented Asian American young adults.

       

      2014 GRANTEES

      • Adhikaar: The Nepali community's 4-1-1; 2014 grant provided general operating support.
      • Sakhi for South Asian Women: Seeks to end violence against women in the South Asian community; 2014 grant supported day camp for 11-13 year old daughters of survivors of domestic violence.

       

      2013 GRANTEES

      • Sapna NYC: Works with underserved, low income South Asian immigrant women in the Bronx and Queens; 2013 grant supported their ASHA program, which uses a holistic approach to empowering women and improving lives through health education, financial literacy training, ESL, and access to economic opportunities.
      • Damayan Migrant Workers Association: Organizes low-wage Filipino workers to fight for their rights; 2013 grant supported a mentoring program for trafficked workers.

    • UPCOMING EVENTS

      GRANTEE PARTNER EVENTS

      • No upcoming events

       

      AAIF GRANTMAKING SCHEDULE (for 2022)

      • Application Due: Friday, April 1, 2022, 11:59PM
      • Grant Announcement: Late May, 2022

    • APPLY FOR FUNDING

      Our application cycle is now open!

      If you have any questions, please email us at aaimpactfund@gmail.com.

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