Jump to content

The Asia Foundation

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Asia Foundation
Formation1954
TypeNonprofit organization
HeadquartersSan Francisco, California, United States
President and CEO
Laurel Miller
Revenue$104,324,731[1] (2019)
Expenses$104,757,151[1] (2019)
Websiteasiafoundation.org

The Asia Foundation (TAF) is a nonprofit international development organization focused on improving lives across Asia.[2] Its programs operate in various sectors, including governance, women's empowerment and gender equality, inclusive economic growth, environmental and climate action, and regional and international cooperation.[citation needed] One of the Foundation's notable initiatives is the "Let's Read" program, which provides a free digital library in local languages to support students, educators, and community leaders in over 20 countries. The Asia Foundation is headquartered in San Francisco, California, and operates as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. It collaborates with a range of public and private partners and receives funding from various sources, including agencies, foundations, corporations, and individual donors.[1] The Foundation was established in 1954 by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to conduct cultural and educational[failed verification] activities on behalf of the United States government in ways that were not available to official U.S. agencies.[3][text–source integrity?]

Global presence

[edit]

The Asia Foundation operates at both country and regional levels through its offices in the Asia-Pacific region. The Foundation's staff work on a range of development challenges specific to each location. In addition to its offices in Asia, the organization maintains offices in San Francisco, California, and Washington, D.C.

History

[edit]

"The Asia Foundation (TAF) was established in 1954 to undertake cultural and educational activities on behalf of the United States Government in ways not open to official U.S. agencies."[4] The Asia Foundation is an outgrowth of the Committee for a Free Asia, which was founded by the U.S. government in 1951.[5] CIA funding and support of the Committee for a Free Asia and the Asia Foundation were assigned the CIA code name "Project DTPILLAR".[6]

In 1954, the Committee for a Free Asia was renamed the Asia Foundation (TAF) and incorporated in California[7] as a private, nominally non-governmental organization devoted to promoting democracy, rule of law, and market-based development in post-war Asia.

Among the original founding officers of the board were presidents/chairmen of corporations including T.S. Peterson, CEO of Standard Oil of California (now Chevron), Brayton Wilbur, president of Wilbur-Ellis Co., and J.D. Zellerbach, chairman of the Crown Zellerbach Corporation; four university presidents including Grayson Kirk from Columbia, J.E. Wallace Sterling of Stanford, and Raymond Allen from UCLA; prominent attorneys including Turner McBaine and A. Crawford Greene; Pulitzer Prize-winning writer James Michener; Paul Hoffman, the first administrator of the Marshall Plan in Europe; and several major figures in foreign affairs.

In 1966, Ramparts revealed that the CIA was covertly funding a number of organizations, including the Asia Foundation.[4] A commission authorized by President Johnson and led by Secretary of State Rusk determined that the Asia Foundation should be preserved and overtly funded by the US government. Following this change, The Asia Foundation was classified as a private, nonprofit, nongovernmental organization under the section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code.[8] The foundation began to restructure its programming, shifting away from its earlier goals of "building democratic institutions and encouraging the development of democratic leadership" toward an emphasis on Asian development as a whole (CRS 1983).

On 1 February 2023, Laurel E. Miller took over as president of the Foundation. She previously directed the Asia program at the International Crisis Group.[9]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b c "FY2019 Form 990 Public Disclosure" (PDF). Asia Foundation. Retrieved 29 March 2022.
  2. ^ "The Asia Foundation: Improving Lives, Expanding Opportunities". Funds for NGOs. 19 September 2013. Retrieved 19 February 2019.
  3. ^ Stonor Saunders, Frances (2000). The Cultural Cold War. The New Press. p. 193.
  4. ^ a b "Doc. 132: Memorandum from the Central Intelligence Agency to the 303 Committee". Foreign Relations of the United States, 1964–1968, Volume X, National Security Policy. US Department of State. 22 June 1966. Retrieved 2 September 2017.
  5. ^ "Routing and Record Sheet: Committee for a Free Asia" (PDF). Central Intelligence Agency. Archived from the original (PDF) on 22 January 2017.
  6. ^ "DTPILLAR". Internet Archive.
  7. ^ Congressional Research Service (February 1983). "The Asia Foundation: Past, Present and Future" (PDF). Central Intelligence Agency. Archived from the original (PDF) on 18 January 2017.
  8. ^ "Tax Exempt Document" (PDF). asiafoundation.org. Retrieved 29 August 2023.
  9. ^ Rogin, Josh (9 June 2010). "Arnold to lead the Asia Foundation". Foreign Policy. Retrieved 19 February 2019.
[edit]
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Asia_Foundation&oldid=1286089310"