Support Activists In NYC And Partner Today With The Asian Women Giving Circle

Wednesday, March 30, 2011



I've talked about the Asian Women Giving Circle before and today I got sent in an e-mail about their current fundraising campaign and just wanted to say that you too can help be a part of this organization which only looks to serve the APIA community.

We, the Asian Women Giving Circle, have arrived at the most important time of year, when we are reviewing grant proposals and raising those dollars to fund the wonderful projects we get to learn about. The Asian American women activists and artists who write to us are inspiring and powerful. They are harnessing immense personal and community strength to get their stories about oppression, injustice, hope, community solutions, and individual survivors out to a greater public. And we, at the Giving Circle, have the enormous privilege to fund a handful of them.

We received 33 applications, asking for a total of $450,000. We will be able to fund only a small fraction of the projects requesting funding, many of which are both very worthy and really interesting. Just a few of the projects under review right now are - a documentary film about a South Asian woman's family's multi-generational domestic violence legacy; a spoken word performance piece about three Asian American women in conversation with female religious icons around the themes of religious tolerance and 9/11; a mother/ daughter multi-platform conversation around the recent Tiger Mommy drama including stand up comics, an open mic and a panel discussion; an after-school empowerment program for South Asian girls using writing and visual arts to explore identity; and a documentary about biracial sisters who overcame prejudice (during the era of the Chinese Exclusion Act) to become a jazz vocal group in the 1930s and 40s.

You can see that our potential grants docket for 2011 is diverse and bursting with creativity; and that these potential grantees are all dealing with potent and important social issues of our day around race, immigration and gender - all set within our own New York City, and all led by Asian American women who use the tools of Art to further their Activism.

This is your chance to support projects that activate the social imagination to spur new and provocative ways to understand complex social issues. Please join us in our efforts to fund this inspirational work by making a donation to our grant making "pot." All donors have the opportunity to vote on a ballot of finalists.

We are hoping to raise and give away $100,000 this year, and all donations must be received by Friday, April 8th to count towards this year's grant making. Please add your voice to ours in support of amazing work being done in our Asian American communities. To make an on-line contribution, click here. Or visit our website for mailing options.

Thank you for your time and I hope you will join us!

With all of our best wishes,

2011 Asian Women Giving Circle Steering Committee