Korean Team Learns From AFP Chapter YIP Program

Mr. Yong Woo Kim (second from left) talks to the class at Tortolita Middle School, while Dr. Kyu-taik Sung (left), Pat Bjorhovde and Nancy Jones listen.

AFP’s Youth in Philanthropy program has generated great interest in Korea. In late October 2009, the AFP Southern Arizona Chapter’s youth in philanthropy committee and AFP YIP Coordinator Pat Bjorhovde hosted three members of the Korean American Giving Research Institute from Seoul, Korea. Mr. Yong Woo Kim, president of the Institute; Dr. Kyu-taik Sung, adviser to the Institute; and Mr. Bum Jung Kim, researcher, spent three busy days in Tucson, Ariz., learning about how the chapter collaborates with other organizations in the city and teaches philanthropy to young people. Their visit kicked off a two-week fact-finding trip that included stops facilitated by Bjorhovde at the Johnson Center for Philanthropy at Grand Valley State University in Michigan and the Center for Philanthropy at Indiana University.

During their visit, the Koreans spent a morning at one of the chapter’s YIP program schools, Tortolita Middle School. They were able to watch as chapter member Gina Babunovic led students through an exercise and discussion to select the cause they wanted most to support. The students chose the needs of women and children, and then decided what information needed to be on the request for proposal (RFP) they were developing. They finished the morning by selecting the nonprofit organizations that serve women and children which would be invited to submit a grant proposal for funding. The students had developed a project to make their own salsa to sell in order to raise money, which would be matched by both the chapter and a local foundation, to make the gift to a deserving nonprofit. The visiting team members had many questions for the students and, in turn, they shared information about Korea and why their country needs to learn about philanthropy from America.

A Tortolita Middle School student tends a tomato plant for the salsa project.

The visitors also had the opportunity to attend a meeting of the Every Voice in Action (EVA) Foundation’s Youth Philanthropy Crew, and they met and learned a great deal during meetings with YIP Program Chair Nancy Jones, CFRE, as well as leaders with other partner organizations in Tucson. These included the Southern Arizona Women’s Foundation Unidas Youth Program, the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona’s Youth Program and the Volunteer Center of Southern Arizona’s Youth Services Program.

The purpose of the Korean American Giving Research Institute is to gather and disseminate information in Korea about how to teach young people about the values of giving and being involved in philanthropy. The long-term goal is to help change the culture in Korea to be more like that in the United States in terms of support for the nonprofit sector.