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

The Grant Inquiry Process


First: Determine if grant support from the Foundation is available by thoroughly reviewing the grant guidelines posted on our Foundation’s website. At the bottom of the grants page is a regularly updated section reporting unallocated funds still available for the next grant funding cycle.

Second: If support is available and your organization and project conform to our eligibility guidelines; submit a cover sheet and a letter of inquiry about the work being proposed. Send it by email, mail or by FAX to the Foundation’s office address:

Ping & Amy Chao Family Foundation
800 High Street, Suite 408
Palo Alto, CA   94301
FAX:     (650) 323-2179
E-mail:  grants@chaofoundation.org

Third: The Foundation requests that your organization joins the East Villagers Non-Profit Community.  Please list your organization, related projects, and project proposal on East Villagers.

Letter of Inquiry: Cover Sheet

In order to expedite a letter of inquiry it is important that it include a cover sheet with the following information:

  1. Information regarding who will carry out the work
  2. Name of your organization (and commonly used abbreviation, if applicable)
  3. Name of parent organization, if any
  4. Name of chief executive officer or person holding similar position
  5. Organization’s address (and mailing address if different)
  6. Organization’s phone number, fax number, and e-mail address, if any
  7. Name and title of the principal contact person, if different from the above
  8. Address (and mailing address if different), phone number, and fax number of principal contact
  9. E-mail address of principal contact
  10. Web address, if any

Letter of Inquiry: Content

There is no specific format, but letters of inquiry are required to provide the following information:

Name or topic of the proposed project or work to be done
A brief statement (two or three sentences) of the purpose and nature of the proposed work
How the project relates to an aspect of the Foundation’s mission and strategy
Geographic area or country where the work will take place
Time period for which funding is requested
Amount of funding requested from the Foundation and total cost (estimates are acceptable).

Third: The Foundation’s Response

We will send you an acknowledgment that your letter of inquiry was received, and we will direct it to the appropriate staff and board members for review. If it is decided that there is no prospect of Foundation funding, we will notify you. Please allow up to eight weeks for the Foundation to reply.

If the Foundation decides that your project may qualify for a grant, we will contact you to discuss next steps and request further information which may include a formal grant proposal. In general, the foundation will only consider 1 grant application per project per year. If your organization is seeking multiple fund distributions for a project in one year, please state that in your letter of inquiry and grant proposal instead of submitting multiple letters or proposals for our various grant review cycles each year.

All materials submitted in the grant application process will not be returned to applicants. The Foundation sometimes submits inquiries or proposals to confidential outside review.