There is a growing trend in Asia of governments and the private sector coming together to address social needs, and our latest study spotlights these “public-private partnerships for social good.” With 88% of top business leaders in Asia believing such partnerships will become even more common over the next five years, it is more important than ever to understand what they are and how they work.

We conducted an in-depth analysis of 20 notable PPPs for social good spanning 11 Asian economies and 9 sectors to find out. Our report showcases why this trend is taking root, what best-in-class PPPs for social good look like, and how they maximize impact.

Read on to learn more about the 6 strategies that enable public-private partnerships for social good to achieve greater impact, how they can prepare for sustainability, and how they can navigate risks.

Read the press release here, and download the full report below.

This report consolidates findings and maps the current social innovations landscape in higher education institutions across several East Asia economies, including Malaysia, the Philippines, Indonesia, Vietnam and South Korea. Higher education institutions are seen as critical incubators of social innovation and can help develop solutions to complex local problems. The study employs a mixed methods approach in gathering data: using desktop research, an online survey, interviews and focus groups with stakeholders from the higher education ecosystem. The report concludes with recommendations at the practice, institutional and systemic levels for all economies examined. Read it here.

Wang Xing, Founder of Meituan, gives big. Wang recently donated over US$2 billion worth of shares in the food-delivery giant to his philanthropic foundation. Meituan said the funds will go towards education and scientific research. Wang’s donation is in line with the recent trend of Chinese tech billionaires substantially increasing their philanthropic giving. Continue reading in The Wall Street Journal →

Companies in Asia set up Covid-19 inoculation programs for employees and their families. In India, companies including HCL, Bajaj Auto and Samsung India have launched employee vaccination campaigns. Japanese companies are also stepping up and inoculating employees, which will help the government double the number of daily vaccinations to 1 million. Companies in Southeast Asia rolled out similar initiatives in the second quarter of this year.

Terry Gou, Founder of Foxconn, pledges US$228 million to purchase 5 million Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines as Taiwan sees a spike in Covid-19 infections. The donation is expected to also cover the cost of transportation, cold chain logistics and storage, distribution, and administration. Continue reading in Taiwan News →

92% of youth-led enterprises in the Asia Pacific negatively impacted by Covid-19, according to Youth Co:Lab. The organization—co-created by UNDP and Citi Foundation—recently launched their report, “How Young Entrepreneurs in Asia-Pacific Responded to COVID-19.” It discloses how lockdowns, shrinking demand, supply chain disruptions and a credit crunch challenged these enterprises. They responded by pivoting business strategy, launching new products and services, and transforming business models. The report also showcases over 40 innovative youth-led solutions aiding the region’s Covid-19 recovery.

Japan’s impact investing market has potential to grow to ¥2.64 trillion (approximately US$24 billion). The Global Steering Group for Impact Investment (GSG-NAB) Japan recently launched their report, “The Current State and Challenges of Impact Investing in Japan.” It highlights trends in impact investing—including growing interest from corporates and the issuance of Japan’s first sustainability-linked bond—and forecasts market size. This is encouraging news as there is much room for growth; according to CAPS’ study Business for Good, only 9% of social enterprises in Japan receive private investment.

Asian philanthropists pool US$1.5 million to contribute 600,000 doses towards COVAX global Covid-19 vaccine target. Singapore-based Asia Philanthropy Circle raised this funding from 10 philanthropists and philanthropic organizations. Their pooled donation will be matched by a public charity through Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, bringing total funding to US$3 million. Continue reading on Asia Philanthropy Circle’s website →

Have a story to share? Contact us at research@caps.org.

Amid an oxygen shortage in India, businesses and NGOs are stepping in to aid India’s Covid-19 fight. Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani is supplying oxygen from Reliance’s refineries in Jamnagar to Maharashtra at no cost. Indian tech startups Zomato and Paytm have launched donation drives on their platforms to help provide oxygen concentrators. NGOs Hemkunt Foundation and Khalsa Aid India are helping source and distribute oxygen cylinders. NGO Red Crescent Society is leading an initiative to distribute oxygen cylinders through mosques in the Mumbai metropolitan region. Other actors are also stepping in: Star Special Air Gases Private Limited, a gas plant in Manesar, is refilling oxygen cylinders for free. As cases and deaths surge across the country, the government recently announced that spending by corporates for setting up makeshift hospitals and temporary Covid-19 care facilities will qualify as CSR activities under the companies law.

Tencent’s Pony Ma pledges US$7.7 billion of the social-media giant’s money for social causes. This fresh bequest—19 times the company’s donations last year—will go to projects ranging from rural development to carbon neutrality. It will also go towards investing in startups, which aligns with President Xi’s blueprint for national development. Continue reading in Reuters →

Community pantries offer reprieve from Covid-19 hardships in the Philippines. What began as a humble cart with free food has grown into over 300 donation-driven pantries across the country. This multi-sector effort to provide food and essential items to those in need has become an important service as the country faces one of the worst coronavirus outbreaks in the region. However, unsubstantiated claims by local police and a government task force that these pantries are affiliated with insurgents, a practice called ‘red-tagging’, has led to concern about the safety of volunteers. Continue reading in The Washington Post →

Li Ka Shing Foundation donates HK$30 million (approximately US$4 million) to The Chinese University of Hong Kong. The donation will go towards the expansion of research facilities at the Institute of Health Sciences. The institute was officially opened 14 years ago with support from Li’s foundation, and has developed into the flagship translational biomedical research center in the region. Continue reading in The Standard →

Ride hailing company Uber and NGO HelpAge India help aid vaccination efforts with free rides. Uber’s partnership with NGO HelpAge India will provide 25,000 free rides over the coming months to facilitate the vaccination of the vulnerable and disadvantaged elderly in 19 cities. This follows an earlier initiative where Uber provided 60,000 free rides to aid India’s vaccination drive. Continue reading in The Times of India →

Have a story to share? Contact us at research@caps.org.

Our DECODED series unpacks, explains and crystallizes issues critical for social investment in Asia. DECODED draws upon CAPS’ expertise in research, and access to an extensive network of sector experts and philanthropists in 18 Asian economies. This enables us to identify emerging trends in the region. Through DECODED, we translate these concepts into bite-sized, easy-to-understand insights.

This inaugural DECODED synthesizes how the social sector across Asia has risen to the occasion in responding to Covid-19, and what comes next. We end with recommendations for philanthropists, corporates and policymakers who want to invest in helping Asia’s social sectors thrive.

Record SG$102 million (approximately US$76 million) donated on Giving.sg in past year, surpassing previous annual records. Around 600 charities received these donations, according to the National Volunteer and Philanthropy Centre (NVPC). Like last year, Giving.sg has waived the 3% transaction fee for next year, meaning charities will continue to receive the full amount of the donation. Continue reading in The Straits Times →

Grab announces US$275 million GrabForGood Fund to provide funding and vaccine support. Grab will seed the fund with US$50 million in cash and US$200 million in Grab shares. Grab Group’s CEO and Co-founder Anthony Tan, Co-founder Tan Hooi Ling, and President Ming Maa also pledged a combined US$25 million in personal contributions of Grab shares. The fund’s first initiative will provide Covid-19 vaccine support for Grab partners, followed by grants and financial support for long-term social and environmental impact benefiting communities across Southeast Asia. Continue reading in Yahoo! Finance →

San Miguel Corporation’s new food donation drive to benefit 184,000 families in lockdown areas. As coronavirus cases rise in the Philippines, the conglomerate is ramping up its food donation efforts. This follows past donations to the country’s Covid-19 response, which have totaled over PHP13 billion (approximately US$268 million) of food aid, medical equipment and other forms of assistance. Continue reading in CNN Philippines →

Corporate India plans Covid-19 vaccination drive for its employees. Major companies—including Reliance Industries, Infosys and Tata Consultancy Services—have committed to vaccinating eligible employees and their families free of cost. The government plans to qualify such expenditure as part of a company’s CSR obligations, as long as it is part of a community-based vaccination project. Continue reading in The Economic Times →

Neera Nundy, co-founder and partner at Dasra, underscores the role of family philanthropy. Nundy outlines how India can accelerate the impact of family philanthropy, the corpus of which tripled in the past year. In fostering more collaboration, family philanthropy can play a more central role—as partners to government and nonprofits—in driving more sustainable change. Continue reading in Forbes India →

Have a story to share? Contact us at research@caps.org.

This report combines economy-specific analyses of social enterprises across South East Asia, including Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. An estimated one million social enterprises exist across these economies. This report highlights the activities that social enterprises are engaged in, the range of beneficiaries, as well as their size and reach. The diverse types and sources of support social enterprises receive are also discussed. Read it here.

Individual reports can be accessed here:

• Hong Kong
• Vietnam
• Thailand
• Philippines
• Malaysia
• Singapore
• Indonesia

Korea’s Kim Bong-jin and his wife Bomi Sul are the latest to sign the Giving Pledge, vowing to donate half of their wealth. Kim Bong-jin is founder and CEO of Woowa Brothers, which created Korea’s largest food-delivery app. Kim and his wife are the first Koreans to sign the Giving Pledge, an initiative started in 2010 by billionaires Warren Buffett, Bill Gates and Melinda Gates to encourage the ultra-rich to give away most of their fortunes to philanthropy. This follows a recent announcement by Korean billionaire Kim Beom-su, who also pledged to donate over half of his wealth to charitable causes. Continue reading in Bloomberg →

I(x) Investments, co-founded by Warren Buffet’s grandson, is among those turning to Asia for impact investing. I(x) Investments has brought together more than 65 of the world’s wealthiest families from 14 countries to invest in climate and sustainability issues. The company is among those looking to Asia both to attract new impact investors and to allocate funds to. One of its biggest bets in the region is WasteFuel, a startup developing technology to convert municipal waste into jet fuel. With plans to build a US$700 million plant in the Philippines and replicate this model in other Asian countries, the startup has already received investment from several I(x) families, including Filipino billionaire Enrique Razon. Continue reading in Bloomberg →

Tata STRIVE and Wipro GE Healthcare partner up to bridge healthcare skill gap in India. As part of the CSR partnership, Wipro GE Healthcare will design, develop and implement industry-relevant training to help underprivileged students achieve gainful employment. Tata STRIVE, the skills development CSR initiative of the Tata Community Initiatives Trust, will provide the candidates loans upon qualifying for the course. The partnership aims to skill 6,200 candidates over a period of three years. Continue reading in The CSR Journal →

IKEA partners with local social enterprise Rags2Riches in the Philippines. The Swedish multi-national company is opening its first store in the Philippines and tapping the services of Rags2Riches for a three-year partnership. Rags2Riches, a social enterprise which employs female artisans from low-income communities to create sustainable fashion and home products, will be providing sewing services in IKEA’s Philippines store. As highlighted in CAPS’ study, Business for Good: Maximizing the Value of Social Enterprises in Asia, procuring from social enterprises like this is a win-win strategy that can advance sustainable consumption as well as provide the funding and capacity building support social enterprises need to grow. Continue reading in BusinessWorld →

The GiveIndia Fundraising Challenge 2021, India’s biggest fundraising event, is helping NGOs raise crores in funds. Nearly 200 nonprofits have already raised over Rs 2 crores (approximately US$275,000) since the challenge began on February 1. The challenge will run till March 28 and is expected to raise more than Rs 15 crore (approximately US$2 million) by then. Since the timing coincides with the end of the financial year, NGOs typically leverage tax savings donors would get for donating to them to appeal for funds. Continue reading in the Business Standard →

Have a story to share? Contact us at research@caps.org.

BRAC, the world’s largest NGO, rethinks its future. As Covid-19 continues to restrict its ability to work outside of Bangladesh, BRAC is aiming to expand its partnerships and engage more in advocacy work to scale its impact. The NGO’s shift to focus on capacity building and policy shines light on what the future of development work may look like after Covid-19. Others in the space, such as Oxfam, also foresee a shift to a partnership model rather than a direct delivery model. Continue reading in Devex →

Companies ranging from global brands to small businesses are offering pandemic aid to Thailand’s migrant workers. After the country’s recent spike in coronavirus cases, companies have stepped up to provide immediate supplies for migrant workers, who are mostly from Myanmar. CP Foods, Thai Union Group, and Osotspa have donated food and drink supplies, alongside global brands like PepsiCo and Mars. True Corp also joined the effort by donating mobile phone SIM cards to provide internet access for the migrant worker community. Continue reading in Reuters →

For Indian companies, spending on vaccine campaigns will count as CSR. The Ministry of Corporate Affairs declared that expenditure by Indian companies on awareness campaigns around the Covid-19 vaccination rollout could be counted towards their mandated CSR. Corporate spending on vaccine research and development as well as medical devices will also qualify. With these new changes, corporates are now lobbying for the vaccination of employees to also be included under the umbrella of CSR spending. Continue reading in India CSR →

Chinese philanthropy takes new shape amidst the Covid-19 pandemic. During the first half of 2020, Chinese philanthropists contributed more than US$2.82 billion to fight Covid-19. According to the report, Pandemic Philanthropy: Exploring Chinese Donors’ Embrace of Covid-19 R&D Funding, the pandemic spurred a shift in philanthropic giving from providing physical goods to focusing on research and development. This report discusses this welcome trend of investing in longer-terms needs, as well as other notable shifts in Chinese philanthropy during the pandemic. Continue reading in The Nonprofit Times →

The Philippines’ PLDT is bridging the digital divide in education’s new normal. In 2016, Smart Communications, a subsidiary of PLDT, launched “School-in-a-Bag”, a portable digital classroom designed to facilitate learning in remote areas using mobile technology. Each kit contains a laptop for the teacher, 20 tablets for students that can access interactive apps offline, and a Smart LTE pocket WiFi for teachers to download additional content. As kids rely even more on digital technology to continue learning in the pandemic, PLDT has donated an additional 86 digital classroom kits to the Department of Education this school year. Since its launch, the “School-in-a-Bag” kits have reached 80,000 students and 2,000 teachers across the Philippines. Continue reading in the Manila Standard →

The Jennifer Yu Cheng Girls Impact Foundation was recently launched to educate and empower schoolgirls in Greater China to become leaders in a digitalized economy. The new charity was launched by Jennifer Yu Cheng, executive director of Chow Tai Fook and wife of Adrian Cheng, executive vice-chairman and chief executive of New World Development. The foundation will partner with NGOs and other institutions to extend scholarships to teenage girls in underprivileged communities, starting with China’s Guizhou province. The foundation will also work to empower girls in Hong Kong with improved tech skills and wider exposure to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) programs. Continue reading in the South China Morning Post →

Azim Premji sells shares worth Rs 9,000 crore in buyback, benefitting his two philanthropic trusts. The Azim Premji Trust and Azim Premji Philanthropic Initiatives will earn Rs 7,807 crore (over US$1 billion) from this, making them one of the largest charitable trusts in the region. Both organizations focus on education, nutrition, and issues related to vulnerable groups including street children, people with disabilities, and survivors of domestic violence. Continue reading in the Times of India →

Have a story to share? Contact us at research@caps.org.