Grantee Organization: The Asia Academy of Philanthropy (AAP)

Fund Type: Project-based Fund

3-year Granting Plan: 

Table 7: Bedrock Foundation’s 3-year Granting Plan to The Asia Academy of Philanthropy

Grantee Organization Introduction

The Asia Academy of Philanthropy (AAP) was jointly initiated by a group of well-known experts, scholars, and philanthropists in China and overseas. It was established in November 2012 as an innovative philanthropy strategy research institute in China. As a member of the United Nations Global Compact (No. UNGlobal Compact19724), the AAP advocates innovation in philanthropy through “philanthropy global cooperation” and “philanthropy cross-border innovation”, and introduces world wisdom to Chinese philanthropy and Chinese wisdom to the world philanthropy, thereby promoting the well-being of mankind, and realizing the vision expected by the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development-“the balance of global social development, economic development, and environmental protection”. By constructing a philanthropy discourse system in the era of the creative economy, the AAP optimizes the philanthropy ecology; and is committed to innovative research and path construction in multiple fields such as philanthropy and high-tech, philanthropy and the new economy, philanthropy and new culture, philanthropy, and educational innovation, etc. AAP aims to become the engine of philanthropy innovation in Asia.

Grantee Project Introduction

The Bedrock Foundation plans to provide three gifts in the total amount of 100,000 US dollars to AAP between 2021-2023 for the “Clear Heart” International Philanthropic Cultural Communication and Research Program.

1. (1)General Background

The “Clear Heart” International Philanthropic Cultural Communication and Research Program (hereinafter referred to as the “Program”) was initiated by Daofeng and Angela Foundation in 2021. The Program selects outstanding applicants from philanthropy and the media industries in China and sends them to the United States to participate in a 16-week intensive professional English training, as well as a series of cross-cultural philanthropic public value courses. Besides the courses, the program requires applicants to participate in community public affairs research activities and communicate with local philanthropic organizations to explore solutions to social issues. The program provides scholarships to support the course expenses of selected students during their study period. Through the combination of course teaching and learning by doing,  the program expands the trainees’ international horizons, deepens their thinking and understanding of the deep public value of philanthropy, and cultivates the holding forces of philanthropic public value in China.

2. (2)Scholarship funding scope

The program has two semesters separately in spring and autumn each year, with 5-15 trainees in each semester, 20 trainees per year, and a total of 100 trainees are planned to be trained during the program. 

The project will offer a scholarship (16-week tuition fee) of USD 9,336 to each trainee approved by the review committee. Due to the exchange rate and other reasons, the initiators pay the scholarship directly to Georgetown University when the student enrolls in the university. In addition, the project will spend USD 1,500 per trainee to organize a series of cross-cultural philanthropic public value courses, eastern and western community public affairs comparative research activities, and communication with local philanthropic organizations, and this fee will be paid directly to the organizer of the event in the United States or other related parties as appropriate. Trainees shall bear any other expenses, including application fee, visa fee, transportation fee, living expenses in the United States, etc.

3. (3)Scholarship funding standard

Applicants are expected to have a certain degree of social experience, precipitation, in-depth reflection on current public value, philanthropy industry problems, and social pain points, eager to seek truth at the level of truth and “Tao” rather than skills, and are willing to learn from this project for China’s philanthropy cause to contribute to the development and international exchanges and cooperation, the following conditions must be met at the same time:

1. The organization the applicant currently serves is a non-profit organization or media legally registered in China, and the applicant is a full-time employee of the organization, and the organization supports the applicant to participate in this project;

2. Applicants are key leaders of their organizations or are responsible for critical positions and have influence and decision-making power for the organization’s development. Applicants from media should be editors at the senior level of the media, including traditional media and new media;

3. Applicants are expected to have social experience between 30-45 years old, bachelor degree or above, non-English major, and no experience of studying abroad in English as the main language of instruction;

4. Applicants should have basic English listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills, be good at communication and sharing and have a strong sense of teamwork;

5. Applicants and their organizations have a long-term concern about social issues, and believe that a cross-cultural perspective is helpful to the future development of this issue;

6. Applicants should commit to devoting enough study energy during the visit, live in a homestay to participate in community public activities without bringing family members and friends with them, and complete the learning tasks as required by the project.

Granting Description

The board of Bedrock Foundation has a solid Chinese philanthropic background and has an emotional connection with philanthropy in China. This is the major driving factor why Bedrock Foundation invests in this project. In addition, Bedrock Foundation is familiar with the leader of AAP and thus has trust as a base of the cooperation. The Bedrock Foundation believes that cross-cultural education activities are significant to promote the development of civil society, and the target group selected by the project will be the critical force that will influence the development of China’s third sector in the future. Therefore, the educational investment of this group is an issue worth supporting. In addition, this is also a co-funding project with Daofeng and Angela Foundation. Bedrock Foundation will learn more about designing and implementing an international education funding project from this cooperation.