Donors of Chinese Descent Vastly Increase Philanthropy

Major philanthropic gifts by Chinese Americans have surged nearly fivefold to almost $500 million in recent years, with most of the money going to higher education, a new study has found.

Philanthropy by donors in China also soared as the nation’s roaring economy produced more billionaires than in the U.S. and helped fuel a 430 percent increase in a decade in the number of registered charitable foundations in China—5,545 in 2016, the study reported. In 2014, Chinese philanthropic giving reached $16.7 billion.

“Chinese and Chinese American Philanthropy” is the first academic effort to examine the size, motivation and impact of giving by Chinese and Chinese Americans in the U.S. and China. The research, by the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs, the Long U.S.-China Institute at UC Irvine and the nonprofit Asian Americans Advancing Justice-Los Angeles, was released Wednesday.