THE BUSINESS TIMES WEEKEND SATURDAY/SUNDAY, AUGUST 21 - 22, 2010

BEACONS OF PHILANTHROPY | 11

How best to give

Mary Ann Tsao, who runs her familys Tsao Foundation, on the art of giving. By Teh Shi Ning

HILANTHROPY may involve giving away family wealth, but the families behind many of Asias successful businesses are starting to see how such giving can yield even richer gains. As a great-grandchild of the Hong Kong founder of a shipping company that grew into Singapore-based investment, industries and real-estate IMC Group, Mary Ann Tsao can testify to this. Better known for her work on aged care and ageing issues as president of the Tsao Foundation, the fourth-generation Tsao thinks business families cannot be about business alone. Not all family members will be involved in the business, she says. Philanthropy is a good way for the family to stay engaged. It provides a platform for families of privilege to meet on a regular basis to think and act on something greater than themselves. So while the Tsao Foundation was set up by her grandmother with a specific mandate to serve the elderly, as a family the Tsaos are now looking how their philanthropic activities can reflect the larger familys varied interests, says Dr Tsao. While her own children are still young, Dr Tsaos niece now works with a social enterprise in China selling stylish knits made of yak-fibre, sourced direct from Tibetan herders to help sustain their way of life and alleviate poverty a very different mode of giving from that of Tsao Foundation, but giving all the same. Philanthropy and activities that serve the public good can also be a good platform for reinforcing to the next generation what it means to be a Tsao, and how, clearly, its not just about us, Dr Tsao says. Uniquely for family businesses, this can also help overcome the third-generation curse said to befall many such enterprises, and pass on key values. This is how family philanthropy is promoted by the Family Business Network Pacific Asia, which her brother Frederick Tsao leads and of which Dr Tsao herself is a director. It was after her grandfather died that her grandmother, Tsao Ng Yu Shun, at the age of 86, decided to set up a foundation here to serve the elderly and asked Dr Tsao to return from the US to run it. But the seeds were sown earlier when, as a medical student, Dr Tsao worked in poor and deprived neighbourhoods in New York. You start to appreciate this notion of injustice. That many families who struggle are good, decent people, but born with the wrong spoon in their mouth, she says. That pushed her towards clinical practice rather than research, and a misdirected application narrowed that further to a social medicine programme teaching medicine in the context of community development a mistake she is thankful for in retrospect.

I dont think like a regular doctor which is on one hand not so helpful because I dont know how other doctors think but its helpful for my work to have that broader world-view. Medicine really should be about restoring peoples well being, not just fixing broken bodies, she says. Which is what the operational Tsao Foundation does. Its goal is to help people grow old well to help them help themselves master their own ageing journey through educational efforts and training support, says Dr Tsao. If and when they fall ill and grow frail, the Tsao Foundation provides health and social care support services too. Though its endowment is relatively modest, the foundation has developed niche expertise, investing early in areas such as home-care for the elderly via mobile clinics. Its community-based Hua Mei Community Health Services also now include outpatient geriatric care, acupuncture and TCM services and overall care management services, supported in part by donations. Running her own medical practice in the US, before giving it up in 1993, equipped Dr Tsao with useful business savvy. After all, a non-profit cannot run on good intentions alone. She recalls one plaque in a hospital that read: $3.88 no money, no mission, a reminder of the paltry but vital sum with which its founding nuns started. The notion was that you cant just wear your heart on your sleeve and not think about the practicalities. Your mission has to be very focused, very pure youre there to support an under-served cause. But you also have to try to reach that goal by being more savvy in how you sustain in the long term, she says.

ARTHUR LEE

TAKE UP THE CHALLENGE I would like to see more wealthy individuals take a bold step and say, let's give it a good shot, put some resources into this, and find out how best to give, says Dr Tsao
ganisations in this area has decreased in the past few years, Dr Tsao says, in part because government involvement has stepped up. Which might not be a bad thing, as she thinks it is crucial to use the work we do to influence greater change, whether by government, businesses, or other philanthropic organisations. Advocacy is a key part of philanthropy. We look at using the work we do to talk about issues, to talk about the negative impact of ageism on society, the plight of the poor elderly, the disabled elderly, the single elderly and give a voice to those who have no voice on their own, Dr Tsao says. There is room for more giving though, both in aged care and the larger social sector here, she says. Its not for a lack of desire that people are not giving, more a lack of access to information or lack of time, which can be remedied as more intermediaries step up to facilitate giving. Says Dr Tsao: I would like to see more wealthy individuals take a bold step and say, let's give it a good shot, put some resources into this, and find out how best to give.

Never been bored

Giving itself can no longer be the goal. Increasingly, donors need to know why they are giving, who they are giving to, how the funds will be used, and what impact will result, she says. Systematic giving also allows the giver to see his gifts impact and motivate him to do more. Beyond money, engaged donors are also more likely to give more of their own energy, thought, influence, and generally get more involved, she says. Dr Tsao has never been bored in her 17 years at the foundation. If anything, one can get burnt out because it is distressing to see the level of need and inequity day after day, and it is exhausting to work at this year after year and yet see how slow we are in addressing these issues, she says. Not that things have been stagnant. Singapores rapidly ageing population has raised awareness of the need to help the elderly live independently and stay vibrant members of society in their old age. The blossoming number of non-profit or-

At HSBC Private Bank, we have seen how strategic philanthrophy can help families instill core values and create a strong identity that binds generations of the family together. Collective decision-making, reinforcing stewardship, educating and connecting family members to the broader society are all part of the legacy of giving.
Nancie Dupier, Chief Executive, HSBC Private Bank Singapore

tshining@sph.com.sg

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