Korean American Community Foundation

The Korean American Community Foundation is the flagship philanthropic grantmaking institution and nonprofit capacity building incubator dedicated to serving Korean American and broader Asian American communities throughout the New York metropolitan area. Founded in 2002 by a group of Korean American professionals, civic organizers, and community advocates who recognized that persistent model minority stereotypes obscured deep-seated economic hardship and systemic underfunding in immigrant neighborhoods, the foundation has invested tens of millions of dollars into grassroots frontline organizations across New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut. Through strategic resource mobilization, collaborative community partnerships, and civic engagement, the foundation strengthens the Asian American nonprofit ecosystem and fosters lasting economic self-sufficiency for vulnerable immigrant households.

The foundation’s cornerstone community grantmaking initiative utilizes an innovative participatory philanthropy model that democratizes charitable giving. Each year, the Community Grants Committee, composed of dozens of trained community volunteers and subject matter experts, conducts thorough site visits, evaluates community needs, and performs detailed financial reviews to evaluate funding proposals. The foundation awards multi-year general operating grants and program subsidies to grassroots organizations working across core priority areas: economic self-sufficiency, physical and mental health wellness, senior eldercare, domestic violence prevention, and youth empowerment. By providing flexible, unrestricted multi-year funding, the foundation allows frontline leaders to respond nimbly to urgent community crises, hire skilled bilingual staff, and expand life-changing direct services to underserved immigrant populations.

Capacity building and leadership development form an essential second pillar of the foundation’s strategic impact. Recognizing that small, community-rooted nonprofits often lack back-office infrastructure, the foundation runs the intensive 12-Month Capacity Building Fellowship and the Chi Family Fellowship. These signature programs provide executive directors and senior board members with customized executive coaching, financial management instruction, fundraising strategy development, and board governance training that build enduring organizational resilience. In addition, the foundation publishes authoritative data reports and demographic studies that educate policymakers, institutional funders, and corporate partners about the true socioeconomic realities, language access barriers, and poverty levels among Asian Americans across the region.

The foundation also cultivates a widespread culture of giving and next-generation philanthropic leadership across the Korean American diaspora. Through giving circles, Associate Board initiatives, and annual community giving summits, the organization engages young professionals, donors, and family foundations in collective giving. These collaborative efforts ensure sustained philanthropic resources flow directly to high-impact community agencies addressing systemic poverty, elder isolation, domestic violence, and immigrant integration across the tri-state region.

Nonprofit organizations seeking funding can review grant guidelines and submit letters of inquiry during open grant cycles through the foundation's online portal. Community leaders, volunteers, and donors can advance the mission by applying to serve on the Community Grants Committee, participating in educational symposiums, or contributing tax-deductible financial donations to sustain transformational grantmaking across the region.