Asian family philanthropy is ‘a lot more hands-on’—and more corporate—than the West

Asia’s richest families approach philanthropy in much the same way they approach business: Managing things directly and keeping a close eye on outputs, rather than just writing the checks.

That’s one of the conclusions from a new report from the Bridgespan Group, a U.S.-based philanthropy advisory group, released at the Philanthropy for Better Cities Forum in Hong Kong on Sept.

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Asia’s family fortunes are still younger than the rest of the world’s.

About 94% of the Asian families Bridgespan studied are in their first or second generation of wealth, versus 85% of families in high-income economies elsewhere.

Around as many are still in control of the businesses that made them rich, compared with 68% outside the region.

That continued ownership shapes how Asian families give.

Business-linked giving dominates in Asia, used by 95% of wealthy families in the region’s middle-income economies and 80% in its high-income ones.

Elsewhere, just 28% of high-income families give through their businesses.

Most Western families instead choose to set up their own foundation: Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, for example, chose to set up their own foundations rather than give through Microsoft or Berkshire Hathaway .

“The level of control that families expect to have over their giving—because they’re still so used to having that level of control over the corporate—is definitely a lot more hands-on,” says Gwendolyn Lim, head of Southeast Asia at Bridgespan and an author of the report.

She traces the habit to the conglomerate era, when Asia’s tycoons built sprawling groups by spotting “gaps in the market” and grew comfortable running operations that had nothing to do with each other.

When they turned to philanthropy, they saw similar gaps, such as non-profits lacking the capacity to do good work or governments unwilling to step in to take action.

The result was the “operating foundation” that both funded and managed charitable projects.