The Ping and Amy Chao Family Foundation was founded in California’s Silicon Valley in 2005 by Ping Chao and his wife Amy Chao. It was established exclusively for charitable purposes. The foundation aims to fund and nurture initiatives improving the health and well-being of children and youth in economically disadvantaged regions throughout the world; promoting the spirit of philanthropy and developing awareness of non-profit practices and opportunities for service for the younger generation of China and the greater Chinese Diaspora.  Read in Chinese

Grant Eligibility & Funding Guidelines


Eligibility Guidelines

To be considered for a grant, your organization or project must address, assist or benefit:

  1. children or youth living in developing regions of the world;
  2. children or youth from economically disadvantaged families or people groups;
  3. the study and support of environmental protection or environmentally friendly technology;
  4. the study and promotion of business ethics, philanthropy and community service in developing countries, particularly in Greater China or among overseas Chinese communities;
  5. the collaboration between American and Chinese universities; or
  6. the development of charitable organizations (within the meaning of Section 501(c)(3) of the Code) serving, operated in or organized by members of Asian-American communities.
  7. Grants are not made to individuals or for the benefit of political candidates, causes or purposes including lobbying or otherwise attempting to influence legislation or the outcome of any public election, or to carry on any voter registration drive.

Foreign Applicants: In order for the Foundation to make grants to any charitable organization or group not registered in the United States (US), the Board must determine that the foreign organization applying for a grant would qualify as a public charity in the US. Please contact the Foundation at grants@chaofoundation.org for details on applying for an equivalency affadavit which authenticates an organization’s non-profit standing in the US.

Funding Guidelines

To be considered for a grant, your organization or project must:

  1. Be classified as a public charity and tax exempt under 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code.
  2. Be primarily independent from government support. We seldom make grants to public agencies or organizations receiving more than 50 percent of their income from government funding.
  3. In rare instances, an organization that is ineligible by these criteria may be invited by the Foundation to submit a proposal for a specific project. This might include an organization that is not classified as a 501(c)(3), or a public agency that is conducting a discrete, privately-funded project. These instances are exceptional, and occur only when it has been determined by staff that no other eligible non-profit organization is able to carry out the project.
  4. Organization must make East Villagers (www.eastvillagers.org) as the choice of online community for the project, posting all updates and communication among team members throughout the program.
  5. Your organization staff must be registered on the East Villagers Non-Profit Community.  We request that you list your organization, your past and present projects, and project proposal by using the organization, project, and blog features.
  6. The organization will use the East Villagers Non-Profit Community to connect their members.  We require the organization to include a training session in their program schedule to train all program members to use the platform and to request all their members to share their experiences via blog throughout the program. Each member is required to write one blog entry by the end of the program.  Member blogs, organization page updates, financial/implementation/evaluation reports, photos, and videos will be our means of grant oversight and evaluation for future funding consideration.
  7. All project presentation, promotional material, and training need to mention East Villagers (and its logo) as choice of online community and Chao Foundation (and its logo) as sole sponsor or major sponsor.
  8. All publicity and/or media need to mention East Villagers (and its logo) as choice of online community and Chao Foundation (and its logo) as sole sponsor or major sponsor.

Thank you for your attention. Chao Foundation will be happy to assist you and your organization to make this as easy and simple as possible. We hope this effort will enrich your programs and the partnership between your organization and Chao Foundation. If you have any questions about whether or not your organization is eligible, please contact us by email at grants@chaofoundation.org.