AMERICAN EXPRESS FOUNDATION, HONG KONG

Sourcing and Due Diligence

OBJECTIVE

• The American Express Foundation wished to develop a community relations program in Hong Kong in 2002 in which local American Express employees would vote on an area of focus. From a “slate” of causes developed with assistance from The Asia Foundation, employees chose care for the elderly. The Asia Foundation then advised on identifying a suitable project and local grantee. American Express required that the project provide significant American Express staff volunteering opportunities, and set a limit on the grant amount to a specific ceiling, plus The Asia Foundation’s costs.

APPROACH

• The Asia Foundation and the American Express Foundation jointly prepared a Scope of Work for The Asia Foundation under which The Asia Foundation:
  a) advised and assisted additions and revisions to the American Express employee survey on cause preferences;
  b) identified and evaluated four potential grant recipients according to agreed-upon criteria; and
  c) conducted a financial and management compliance due diligence of the short-listed candidates.

PROGRESS

• After The Asia Foundation provided its report and findings to American Express, the American Express Foundation then asked The Asia Foundation to oversee the grant negotiations between the local partner and American Express because of several initial points of difference between the two, particularly the volume and type of staff volunteer services that could be provided.
• The Asia Foundation staff successfully negotiated that issue, and in the end the American Express Foundation made a $75,000 grant and staff volunteer arrangements with the Senior Citizens Home Safety Association.
• American Express was especially grateful for The Asia Foundation’s help in tailoring the project so that not only were staff volunteering opportunities provided, but also special skills training for those volunteers.

IMPACT

• In 2003, the Social Welfare Department of the Hong Kong Government gave its Gold Medal for Business-NGO partnerships to the American Express-Senior Citizens Home Safety Association project.

Volunteers work at the call center of the Senior Citizen Home Safety Association, supported by the American Express Foundation.

* These activities were conducted in support of The Asia Foundation’s affiliate, Give2Asia.