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PHILANTHROPY may involvegiving away family wealth,but the
families behindmany of Asias successfulbusinesses are starting
to
see how such giving can yield even richergains.
As a great-grandchild of the HongKongfounder of a shipping
company thatgrewinto Singapore-based investment, in-dustries and
real-estate IMC Group, MaryAnn Tsao can testify to this.
Better known for her work on agedcare and ageing issues as
president of theTsao Foundation, the fourth-generation
Tsao thinks business families cannot beabout business alone.
Not all family members will be in-volvedin the business, she
says. Philan-thropy is a good way for the family to stayengaged. It
provides a platform for fami-lies of privilege to meet on a regular
basisto think and act on something greaterthan themselves.
So while the Tsao Foundation was setup by her grandmother with a
specificmandate to serve the elderly, as a familythe Tsaos are now
looking how their phil-anthropic activities can reflect the
largerfamilys varied interests, says Dr Tsao.
While her own children are still young,Dr Tsaos niece now works
with a socialenterprise in China selling stylish knitsmade of
yak-fibre,sourced direct fromTi-betan herders to help sustain their
way of
life and alleviate poverty a very differentmode of givingfrom
thatof Tsao Founda-tion, but giving all the same.
Philanthropy and activities that servethe public good can also
be a good plat-form for reinforcing to the next genera-tion what it
means to be a Tsao, and how,clearly, its not just about us, Dr
Tsaosays.
Uniquely for family businesses, thiscan alsohelp overcome the
third-genera-tion cursesaidto befallmanysuchenter-prises, and pass
on key values. This ishow family philanthropy is promoted bythe
Family Business Network Pacific Asia, which her brother Frederick
Tsao leadsand of which Dr Tsao herself is a director.
It was after her grandfather died thather grandmother, Tsao Ng
Yu Shun, atthe age of 86, decided to set up a founda-
tion here to serve the elderly and askedDr Tsao to return from
the US to run it.But the seeds were sown earlier when,
as a medical student, Dr Tsao worked inpoor and deprived
neighbourhoods inNewYork. You start to appreciatethisno-tion of
injustice. That many families whostruggle are good, decent people,
butborn with the wrong spoon in theirmouth, she says.
That pushed her towards clinical prac-tice rather than
research,and a misdirect-ed application narrowed that further to
asocial medicine programme teachingmedicine inthe context of
communityde-velopment a mistake she is thankful forin
retrospect.
I dont think like a regular doctor which is on one hand not so
helpful be-cause I dont know how other doctorsthink but its helpful
for my work tohave that broader world-view. Medicinereally should
be about restoring peopleswell being, not just fixing broken
bodies,she says.
Which is what the operational TsaoFoundation does. Its goal is
to help peo-ple grow old well to help them helpthemselves master
their own ageing jour-ney through educationalefforts and train-ing
support, says Dr Tsao. If and whenthey fall ill and grow frail, the
Tsao Foun-dation provides health and social caresupport services
too.
Though its endowment is relativelymodest, the foundation has
developedniche expertise, investing early in areassuch as home-care
for the elderly via mo-bile clinics. Its community-based HuaMei
Community Health Services alsonow include outpatientgeriatriccare,
acu-puncture and TCM services and overallcare management services,
supported inpart by donations.
Running her own medical practice inthe US, before giving it up
in 1993,equipped Dr Tsao with useful businesssavvy. After all, a
non-profit cannot runon good intentions alone.
She recalls one plaque in a hospitalthat read: $3.88 no money,
no mis-sion, a reminder of the paltry but vitalsum with which its
founding nuns start-ed. The notion was that you cant just wear your
heart on your sleeve and notthink about the practicalities. Your
mis-sion has to be very focused, very pure youre there to support
an under-servedcause. But you also have to try to reachthat goal by
being more savvy in how yousustain in the long term, she says.
Never been boredGivingitself can no longerbe thegoal.
In-creasingly, donors need to know whythey are giving, who they are
giving to,how the funds will be used, and what im-pact will result,
she says. Systematic giv-ingalsoallowsthe giver to seehis gifts
im-pact and motivate him to do more. Be- yond money, engaged donors
are alsomore likelyto give more oftheirown ener-gy, thought,
influence, and generally getmore involved, she says.
Dr Tsao has never been bored in her17 years at the foundation.
If anything,one can get burnt out because it is dis-tressing to see
the level of need and ineq-uity day after day, and it is exhausting
towork at this year after year and yet seehow slow we are in
addressing these is-sues, she says.
Not that things have been stagnant.Singapores rapidly ageing
populationhas raised awareness of the need to helpthe elderly live
independently and stay vi-brant members of society in their old
age.The blossoming number of non-profit or-
ganisations in this area has decreased inthe past few years, Dr
Tsao says, in partbecause government involvement hasstepped up.
Which might not be a badthing,as shethinksit is crucial to
usethework we do to influence greater change, whether by
government, businesses, orother philanthropic organisations.
Advocacy is a keypart of philanthropy.We look at using the work
we do to talkabout issues, to talk about the negativeimpact of
ageism on society, the plight ofthe poor elderly, the disabled
elderly, thesingle elderly and give a voice to thosewho haveno
voice ontheir own,Dr Tsaosays.
There is room for more giving though,both inaged care andthe
largersocial sec-tor here,shesays.Itsnot for a lackof de-sire that
people are not giving, more alack of access to information or lack
oftime,whichcan be remediedas morein-termediaries step up to
facilitate giving.
SaysDr Tsao:Iwould liketo see morewealthy individuals take a
bold step andsay, let's give it a good shot, put some re-sources
into this, andfind out how best [email protected]
Mary Ann Tsao, who runs her familys TsaoFoundation, on the art
of giving. By Teh Shi Ning
How best to give
Brought to you by
At HSBC Private Bank,
we have seen howstrategic philanthrophycan help families
instillcore values andcreate a strong identitythat binds
generationsof the family
together.Collectivedecision-making,reinforcing
stewardship,educating andconnecting familymembers to the
broader society areall part of the legacyof giving.Nancie
Dupier, Chief Executive,HSBC Private Bank Singapore
11|BEACONS OF PHILANTHROPYTHE BUSINESSTIMES WEEKEND
SATURDAY/SUNDAY, AUGUST 21- 22, 2010
ARTHUR LEE
TAKE UP THE CHALLENGEI would like to see more wealthy
individuals take a bold step and say, let's give it a goodshot, put
some resources into this, and find out how best to give, says Dr
Tsao
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