For Funders

34¢ of every $100.

In 2023, AANHPI communities received 0.34% of institutional philanthropic funding in the United States, or approximately 34 cents of every $100 awarded.

Across more than three decades of tracking, that share has never exceeded 0.60%.*

Behind that number are organizations doing important work in communities across the country. Some have long histories with institutional philanthropy. Others are encountering it for the first time. And many are at different stages of building the organizational structures that larger or more complex funding may require.

That creates an opportunity to invest not only in strong community work, but in the organizations behind it.

Read AAPIP’s 2025 AANHPI Funding Snapshot

Strong community work and funding readiness are not always the same thing.

An organization can have trusted leadership, strong community relationships, an effective program, and deep knowledge of the people it serves while still developing some of the organizational infrastructure associated with institutional funding.

That is particularly important when working with organizations that have had less experience with institutional philanthropy.

The question does not have to be simply:

Is this organization ready?

A more useful question can be:

What would help this organization become better prepared for the funding it wants to pursue and manage?

That creates room for capacity building to become part of the investment rather than something organizations are expected to complete before the relationship begins.

Supporting current grantees.

A grant can create new opportunities for an organization. It can also introduce new responsibilities.

As organizations receive larger or more complex funding, their administrative and organizational needs may change.

I work with funders to provide organization-level support that helps current grantees strengthen what they need to manage funding and prepare for what comes next.

This can be especially valuable when a funder wants to provide capacity-building support but does not want to assume that every organization in a portfolio needs the same thing.

Capacity support should respond to the organization, not just the category of organization.

Supporting prospective grantees.

Funders may also encounter organizations whose work strongly aligns with their priorities but that could benefit from additional preparation before pursuing a particular type or scale of funding.

That can become an opportunity for development rather than the end of the conversation.

I work with funders to support prospective grantees in strengthening their funding readiness and organizational foundation so they are better prepared to pursue future opportunities.

This can also help funders interested in developing relationships with community-rooted organizations that may be newer to institutional philanthropy.

There is no promise of a future award.

The investment is in helping more organizations become prepared to compete for opportunities when the right ones arise.

Capacity building works better when it is specific.

Organizations do not all need the same support.

Their goals are different. Their programs are different. Their funding histories are different. And the funding they are preparing to manage may be very different.

I work with organizations individually and within funder-supported cohorts to identify practical priorities and provide support appropriate to where they are going next.

Engagements may include:

The underlying assessment and consulting process is tailored to the engagement and the organizations participating.

Before the Ask™ for funders.

Before the Ask™ provides a structured starting point for organizations preparing for institutional funding.

Funders can incorporate Before the Ask™ into capacity-building initiatives for current grantees, prospective grantees, or cohorts of community-rooted organizations.

The assessment helps begin the conversation. The value comes from what happens afterward: helping participating organizations determine what deserves attention now and what can come later.

For funders, it provides a way to make capacity-building investments more responsive to the organizations receiving them.

Built for development, not selection.

Before the Ask™ is a developmental self-assessment.

It is not designed to predict which organizations will receive funding, determine which organizations deserve investment, or replace a funder’s due diligence process.

That distinction is intentional.

Organizations should be able to identify areas where they want support without treating the process as another application they need to pass.

The purpose is to identify opportunities for growth and guide support, not create another barrier to funding.

A different way to think about capacity investment.

Capacity-building dollars are most useful when they help an organization strengthen something connected to where it is actually going.

That might happen before an organization receives its first institutional grant.

It might happen while a current grantee prepares to manage larger funding.

Or it might happen when an organization is growing and needs its internal structure to grow alongside its programs.

The objective is not to make every organization look the same.

It is to help organizations build what they need to pursue, manage, and sustain the opportunities that make sense for them.

Engagements are built around your portfolio.

Every engagement is scoped individually based on the funder’s goals and the organizations being supported.

Scope may vary based on:

We can begin with a defined group of organizations or discuss what type of capacity-building engagement would best support your goals.

Invest in the organization behind the work.

If you are supporting community-rooted organizations and want capacity-building resources to help them prepare for, manage, and grow with funding, I would welcome the conversation.

*Source: Asian Americans/Pacific Islanders in Philanthropy (AAPIP), 2025 AANHPI Funding Snapshot.