Global Chinese Philanthropy Research and Training Program

Online via Zoom webinar

Thursday, June 8 at 5:00-6:30 PM（Pacific Time）
Friday, June 9 at 8:00-9:30 AM（Beijing Time）

The goal of the Global Chinese Philanthropy Research and Training Program is to integrate networking building, research, and training to bridge intellectual inquiry and professional practice in the field of Global Chinese Philanthropy. The program also seeks to foster passion and interest in volunteerism, stimulate innovative research ideas, and encourage the sharing of best practices related to Global Chinese Philanthropy.

The 2023 Global Chinese Philanthropy Panel Discussion will feature philanthropists, scholars, and practitioners who will discuss and share their experiences from a variety of perspectives. Please note that a closed-group discussion and members-only workshop for registered GCP Training Program participants will follow the panel, from 6:30-8:00 PM（Pacific Time）/ 9:30-11:00 AM（Beijing Time）.

• Chair：Professor Min Zhou, UCLA Asia Pacific Center
• Moderator：Dr. Marina Tan Harper, UC Davis
• Panelists：
  • Mr. Leo Chu, Chairman of the Morning Light Foundation
  • Ms. Vivian Long, Executive Director of the Long Family Foundation
  • Mr. Peter Ng, CEO of Chinatown Service Center（CSC）Los Angeles
  • Professor Jiangang Zhu, Nankai University

Leo Chu is Chairman of the Morning Light Foundation, a non-profit organization which has built over 25 elementary schools in China and has sponsored scholarships for 16 years. Mr. Chu is also a Chinese American entrepreneur with decades of business experience in Los Angeles. Mr. Chu and his wife immigrated from Hong Kong to the United States in 1975. They started an apparel company, California Ivy, Inc. that became one of Los Angeles’s largest private clothing companies and was later sold to a Fortune 500 company. Around 1994, Mr. Chu started investments in California casinos and has continued to do so to this day. Shortly after, Mr. Chu became the owner of Hollywood Park Casino and Crystal Park Casino, as well as the co-owner of Lucky Derby Casino. These achievements earned him distinction as the first and only Asian American to own casinos in California. Mr. Chu contributes to his community by serving on the board of the Special Olympics, a Council Board member of the Viterbi School of Engineering at the University of Southern California since 2001, and an Ambassador for USC International Health in the Keck School of Medicine. Mr. Chu is also a Council Board member with the USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center and the USC Leonard Davis School of Gerontology, as well as a former Leadership Board member of the Keck School of Medicine and an Honorary Trojan of the USC Alumni Association. He sits on the Cal Poly Pomona International Education Advisory Board, is the President of the California State University Dominguez Hills Business School Advisory Board, and is a Trustee of the Otis College of Arts and Design.

Dr. Marina Tan Harper has been Senior Director for International Development at UC Davis since 2016. In this role, she has customized giving platforms for alumni, parents, and friends of UC Davis to give from abroad：Asia, Europe, Latin America, and Canada. Understanding local giving traditions, propensity to give, affinity, connectedness, and readiness of varied constituents on the ground, she knows this is not one-size-fits fundraising. Marina was also the Founding Director of the Development Office at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. During her tenure from 2005-2014, $500 million of private support was raised, she made a deep and transformational impact on students, faculty, and the university through public support with the naming of：Wee Kim Wee School, Rajaratnam School, Lee Kong Chian School, Lien Ying Chow Drive, Tan Chin Tuan Lecture Theatre, Toh Kian Chui Annex, Margaret Lien Centre for Professional Success, and Sembcorp Marine Lab. Marina Harper earned her PhD in Philanthropic Studies from the Lilly Family School of Philanthropy, Indiana University. Her research is focused on diasporic Chinese philanthropy.

Vivian Long is the Executive Director for the Long Family Foundation, an intergenerational, private nonprofit organization that funds religious, educational, cultural, and research endeavors. Vivian works closely with members of the family and values-aligned nonprofit leaders to promote the Foundation’s core principles of faith, compassion, and commitment to strengthen future generations’ philanthropy. Vivian received both her MPA and BA from New York University. She currently serves on the boards of Asian American Futures, China Institute and Asia Society Southern California and the Generosity Commission’s Faith and Giving Task Force.

Peter Ng is Chief Executive Officer of Chinatown Service Center（CSC）Los Angeles. As an immigrant himself and someone who cared about advocating for immigrants' needs, Peter first joined Chinatown Service Center’s Board of Directors in 2007 and became Board President in November 2011. He was then appointed Interim Executive Director in October 2013 and has served as CEO since 2014. The Chinatown Service Center began as a small group of community volunteers who recognized the need to address the problems of Chinese immigrants, and in 1971, CSC became an established nonprofit organization that now assists over 30,000 unique clients each year through 150,000 touch points, providing services such as healthcare, financial planning, and as well as care for youth. Chinatown Service Center's mission is to provide outstanding services and advocacy that promote better quality of life and equal opportunity for immigrants and other communities. Mr. Ng also serves at the Cathay Bank Community Advisory Board and the Asian Pacific Islanders Small Business Coalition Board, and remains very active in the Chinese community. He served as President of the Los Angeles Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association（CCBA）in 2008-2009, as World Eng Association President from 2007-2015, and as President of the United Taishan Association of Southern California from 2001-2004. He was appointed Commissioner of the Oversea Community Affair Council of Republic of China（Taiwan）from 2009-2015, and currently serves as Advisor for numerous organizations.

Dr. Min Zhou is Distinguished Professor of Sociology and Asian American Studies, Walter and Shirley Wang Endowed Chair in US-China Relations and Communications, and Director of the Asia Pacific Center at the University of California, Los Angeles. She is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Dr. Zhou’s main research areas are in migration & development, race and ethnicity, Chinese diaspora, and the sociology of Asia and Asian America. She has published widely in these areas, including the award-winning book The Asian American Achievement Paradox （with Lee, 2015）, The Rise of the New Second Generation （with Bankston, 2016）, Contemporary Chinese Diasporas （ed., 2017）, and Beyond Economic Migration：Historical, Social, and Political Factors in US Immigration （eds., with Mahmud, 2023）. She is the recipient of the 2017 Distinguished Career Award of the American Sociological Association（ASA）Section on International Migration and the 2020 Contribution to the Field Award of the ASA Section on Asia and Asian America.

Dr. Jiangang Zhu is a leading scholar, educator, and advocate in the fields of Chinese civil society and Chinese indigenous philanthropy. He is based at Nankai University in Tianjin, where he serves as an anthropology and sociology professor in the Department of Sociology and as Director of the Center on Philanthropy. Earlier in his career he was a member of the faculty at the School of Sociology and Anthropology at Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou, where he also served as Executive Dean of the Research School of Philanthropy. He has been a HYI（the Harvard-Yenching Institute）Visiting Scholar at Harvard University（2007-2008）and a Fulbright Scholar at the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy（2014-2015）. He has published extensively in Chinese and English, and his major publications are Between the Family and the State：Ethnography of the Civil Associations and Community Movements in a Shanghai Linong Neighborhood （Beijing：Social Science Academic Press, 2010）and Power of Action：Case Studies of Private Volunteer Organizations （Beijing：The Commercial Press, 2008）.

This workshop is part of the Global Chinese Philanthropy Research and Training Program and made possible with the support of the Cyrus Tang Foundation.

Download file: 2023-Global-Chinese-Philanthropy-Panel-Discussion-Flyer-2v-iyq.pdf

Sponsor（s）: Asia Pacific Center, Center for Chinese Studies