When Barinaga and Goodman discussed their goal with an officer
from the East Bay Community Foundation, where the couple had established a
donor-advised fund, the officer referred them to Give2Asia, a San Francisco
nonprofit founded by the Asia Foundation. Give2Asia, whose staff helps scope out
programs in 17 countries and assists with the logistics and follow-up of
gifts, was seeking a sponsor for Kampuchean Action for Primary Education, an
organization that gives scholarships to Cambodian girls to attend local public
schools, paying for tuition and uniform costs, as well as compensating the
family for the lost labor. The scholarships seemed the perfect solution. At a
cost of $20,000 a year, the price of tuition at a prep school, Barinaga and
Goodman are funding scholarships for 100 girls.
TOP VIEW
If we want to give money to causes abroad, we have to comply with a host of IRS
regulations, and ensure our money does not fall into the hands of terrorists.
Still, charitable rewards abound, whether we go through intermediaries or become
globe-trotting envoys ourselves. |
CosmoPhilanthropists
International philanthropy is on the upswing:
Foundation giving from the United States to overseas programs rose 76 percent
between 1998 and 2002 to $3.1 billion, according to the Foundation Center in New
York. A full one-third of that increase comes from the Gates and Ford
foundations, but that means many other givers also sought out those neglected or
abused in foreign lands. Robert Buchanan, director of international programs at
the Council on Foundations, attributes the increase, in part, to the profile of
new givers: “The accumulation of wealth that has given rise to so many family
foundations in recent years has come from the high-tech sector,” he says. “These
people tend to have more of an international outlook. They studied abroad,
served in the Peace Corps, traveled overseas. They are more aware of economic
globalization.”
|
