A $250 million initiative launched on Monday by conspicuous Asian-American business leaders in order to support Asian American and Pacific Islander causes, pledging to manufacture national infrastructure for a community that faced an increasing number of racial attacks. The foundation will invest its initial funding in an effort to support the AAPI community in three areas: education, anti-hate programs, and data & research.
According to the foundation, well-known companies such as Walmart Inc, UBS Group AG, Coca-Cola Co, Citigroup Inc, NBA, and Amazon.com Inc have contributed $125 million. The foundation’s board headed by Li Lu, founder of hedge fund Himalaya Capital, including billionaires such as Joseph Tsai, co-founder of Alibaba Group Holding and Jerry Yang, the co-founder of Yahoo contributed another $125 million.
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An online event on Tuesday would be conducted by former presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush, and Bill Clinton.
The agenda of the organization is to fill the gaps between AAPI community organizations, which receive less than 0.5% from charitable foundations.
The board of organization includes Peng Zhao, CEO of Citadel LLC’s market-making division Citadel Securities, Sheila Lirio Marcelo, founder of Care.com, Joseph Bae, co-president of private equity firm KKR & Co and Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO of the Anti-Defamation League.
Sonal Shah, a former official of the Obama administration will serve as the president of the foundation and hold a board seat. In an interview, she said that the foundation counteracts the “model minority myth” that Asian Americans are successful and do not need assistance. Only 1.5% of U.S. corporate officers are of Asian descent, and many Asian Americans are facing discrimination, marginalization, and poverty.
“We want our communities to be observed,” Shah said. “We want to make sure they have a voice.”
Also, the foundation prepared an advisory board of prominent AAPI members who help promote its work, including actor Daniel Dae Kim, former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, and CNN hosts Lisa Ling and Fareed Zakaria.