20 Ways to Donate in Support of Asian Communities
This list isn’t comprehensive, but it might be a good place to start.
Photo Illustration by The Daily Beast/Scouted/Getty Images
Recently there has been an increase in xenophobia, hate crimes, and racism directed towards Asian communities in this country. There are numerous things you can do to support Asian communities, but one effective way is to donate. We’ve pulled together a list of organizations, and a little bit about what each one does, to help guide your donations. If you’re looking for an organization that helps businesses impacted by COVID-19, one that provides legal aid, or offers educational services, they can be found here, among plenty of others.
The AAPI Women Lead and #ImReady Movement, “aims to strengthen the progressive political and social platforms of Asian and Pacific Islander communities in the US through the leadership of self-identified AAPI women and girls.” Their goal “is to challenge and help end the intersections of violence against and within our communities.”
Donate to the AAPI Women Lead I’m Ready Movement
Founded in 1991, Asian Americans Advancing Justice’s mission is to “advance civil and human rights for Asian Americans and to build and promote a fair and equitable society for all.”
Donate to Asian Americans Advancing Justice
Founded in 2018, the Asian American Feminist Collective seeks to “address the multi-dimensional ways Asian/American people confront systems of power at the intersection of race, gender, class, sexuality, religion, disability, migration history and citizenship and immigration status.”
Donate to the Asian American Feminist Collective
The Asian American Journalists Association aims “to bring together journalists and media professionals to advance diversity in newsrooms and ensure fair and accurate coverage of communities of color.”
Donate to the Asian American Journalists Association
Founded in 1974, the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund focuses on “critical issues affecting Asian Americans including immigrant rights, voting rights and democracy, economic justice for workers, educational equity, housing and environmental justice, and the elimination of anti-Asian violence, police misconduct, and human trafficking.”
Donate to the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund
Asian Mental Health Collective seeks to “normalize and de-stigmatize mental health within the Asian community,” by making mental health “easily available, approachable, and accessible to Asia communities worldwide.”
Donate to the Asian Mental Health Collective
The Asian Mental Health Project aims to “educate and empower Asian communities in seeking mental healthcare.” Their website offers different resources and they hope to provide live events and community engagement opportunities catered to the needs of its audience in the future.
Donate to the Asian Mental Health Project
The Asian Pacific Fund’s mission is “to strengthen the Asian and Pacific Islander community in the Bay Area by increasing philanthropy and supporting the organizations that serve our most vulnerable community members.”
Donate to the Asian Pacific Fund COVID-19 Recovery Fund
Since 2002, the mission of the Asian Prisoner Support Committee has been “to provide direct support to Asian and Pacific Islander (API) prisoners and to raise awareness about the growing number of APIs being imprisoned, detained, and deported.” They lead programs in prisons, organize anti-deportation campaigns, provide resources to “lifers,” and develop culturally relevant reentry programs.
Donate to the Asian Prisoner Support Committee
Founded in 1986 by Asian working class women alarmed by the spike of hate violence on Aisan communities, CAAAV Organizing Asian Communities continues to “work to build grassroots community power across diverse poor and working class Asian immigrant and refugee communities in NYC.” They “organize Asian communities to fight for institutional change” and “participate in a broader movement towards racial, gender, and economic justice.”
Donate to CAAAV Organizing Asian Communities
Empowering Pacific Islander Communities “advances social justice by engaging Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander communities through culturally relevant advocacy, research, and leadership development,” in order to “build Pacific Islander political power, increase knowledge and knowledge of Pacific Islanders, and build Pacific Islander leaders.”
Donate to Empowering Pacific Islander Communities
Freedom, Inc. is a “Black and Southeast Asian non-profit organization that works with low-to-no income communities of color.” Their mission is “to achieve social justice through coupling direct services with leadership development and community organizing that will bring about social, political, cultural, and economic change resulting in the end of violence against women, gender non-conforming and transgender folks, and children within communities of color.”
Founded in April of 2020, Hate Is a Virus is “a nonprofit community of mobilizers and amplifiers that exists to dismantle racism and hate.” Over the past year, the group has raised $30k to help out essential BIPOC community organizations across the nation and works to run virtual educational events as well in order to “educate and activate AAPI to stand for justice and equality in solidarity with other communities.”
The National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum is working towards building “collective power with AAPI women and girls to gain full agency over our lives, our families, and our communities.” Projects include Anti-Asian Harassment and violence campaigns, as well as fighting for equal pay for AAPI women.
Donate to the National Asian Pacific Women’s Forum
Founded in 1994, the National Korean American Service & Education Consortium aims to “to organize Korean and Asian Americans to achieve social, economic, and racial justice,” by “expanding Korean and Asian American grassroots and voting power, developing and supporting a new generation of youth and immigrant leaders, and solidifying itself as a robust and sustainable movement organization.”
Donate to National Korean American Service & Education Consortium
Founded in 1973, OCA – Asian Pacific American Advocates is dedicated to “advancing the social, political, and economic well-being of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPIs)” by fighting for immigration reform, advocating for more inclusive and accessible education systems, uplifting AAPI voices, promoting fair treatment and eliminationof discrimination, stereotyping, and hate crimes, as well as offering professional development programs that empower AAPIs instead of leaving them behind.
Donate to OCA—Asian Pacific American Advocates
Red Canary Song is a grassroots collective of Asian & migrant sex workers. They hope to end police raids and deportations, establish labor rights in their workplaces, and to foster respect and dignity for all sex workers and migrant workers.
Save Our Chinatowns is “a grassroots initiative passionate about supporting Chinatown communities in the Bay Area through art, conversation, and shared love of food.” Their goal is “to build on our efforts in creating art and culture focused initiatives to benefit our beloved Chinatowns.”
Stop AAPI Hate hopes to serve as a leading aggregator of anti-Asian hate incidents, offer resources for impacted community members, advocate for policies that reinforce human and civil rights protections, and support community-based safety measures and restorative justice efforts.
#TheyCantBurnUsAll is “a movement to activate all Asians and allies to stand up and fight back against hate crimes and racism. “While the Sisan diaspora is incredibly diverse,” their mission reads, “Asians are generally treated the same. More than ever, there is a great need for unity and support among our communities.”
Donate to They Can’t Burn Us All
Welcome to Chinatown is “a grassroots initiative to support Chinatown businesses and amplify community voices.” They work to “generate much needed momentum to preserve one of New York City's most vibrant neighborhoods.”
