Building Asian American Infrastructure — Where to Give
In a sea of post-Atlanta content, a list of organizations working directly with communities across the U.S. from a social justice consultant
I’m a communications and organizational consultant who has worked for or with social justice organizations of many different types since I myself was in an Asian American youth arts program in NYC in the 90s. Most of these groups work directly with directly affected communities and/or reach Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders who are in areas with less infrastructure, funding or attention. This means your donations and support may go directly to AAPIs who may also be the most absent from online conversations, content, and resources, and most vulnerable to racist violence.
Please contact me if you’d like to add an organization you have worked with. The list is organized into the following sections:
- National (including with local chapters)
- South/Southeast
- Southwest
- Northeast
- New York
- Philadelphia/New Jersey
- Mid-Atlantic
- Midwest
- California
- Bay Area
- Southern California
- Northwest
- Canada
Asian Americans Advancing Justice (AAAJ) Community Statement for individual and organizational sign-on
Database of established social justice APIA organizations from AAPI Fund
Very comprehensive resource list (with lists inside of it) by @Sasponella @Minstantramen including related local donation links, FAQ and data, mutual aid, volunteer opportunities an upcoming events.
Asian Women in Business’ list of Asian and Asian American Organizations by state
Giving Tuesday list (2014) from the blog Reappropriate
National (Donate to Local Chapters Where Possible)
Asian Americans Advancing Justice (AAAJ): dedicated to advancing APIA civil rights; note that there are six separate chapters of AAAJ that each do amazing work on their own. Donations should be directed to specific chapters. You can donate to Georgia chapter directly here.
Asian American Legal Defense & Education Fund (AALDEF) (New York and national) is dedicated to protecting and advocating for legal and civil rights of Asian Americans.
National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum (NAPAWF)’s 14 chapters across the U.S. work to build a movement to advance social justice, ending violence against women, reproductive justice and immigrant and refugee rights for AAPI women and girls.
Forward Together (formerly Asian Communities for Reproductive Justice) (located in CA, NM, and OR and national)
GABRIELA USA is the first overseas chapter of the Philippine-based organization, extending the Filipino women’s mass movement to the U.S., waging gender and reproductive justice campaigns, and other national and international economic and political issues.
Asian American Journalists Association (AAJA)(local chapters) is at the forefront of change in the journalism industry, working towards the visibility and inclusion of AAPI journalists in newsroom leadership, and towards equitable and accurate coverage. You can also donate directly to the AAPI Journalists Therapy Relief Fund.
South Asian Journalists Association (SAJA) serves as a network for education, inspiration and training for South-Asian journalists in America and those covering South Asia and South Asian diaspora.
Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in Philanthropy (AAPIP) has 11 regional chapters and each is a center for place-based AAPI advocacy, information sharing, leadership development and network building.
Asian Americans Advancing Justice (AAAJ)(local chapters)
NAKASEC (locations in Los Angeles and Virginia) works with immigrant and people of color community in the nation, towards expanding Korean and Asian American voting power, cultivating youth and immigrant leaders, and growing a robust and sustainable movement organization
Southeast Asia Resource Action Center (SEARAC) is the only national civil rights organization devoted to uplifting Cambodian, Laotian, and Vietnamese American communities.
Asian American Federation was established in 1989, with the mission to raise the influence and well-being of the pan-Asian American community through research, policy advocacy, public awareness, and nonprofit support.
Detention Watch Network works to abolish immigration detention as part of broader struggles against racialized oppression.
Council on American-Islamic Relations (local chapters) has offices in cities across the country, representing the diversity of the American Muslim community and is the largest civil liberties organization of its type.
The Sikh Coalition (based in New York and national) was founded as an emergency response to post-9/11 hate crimes and works towards a world where Sikhs, and other religious minorities in America, may freely and safely practice their faith.
NQAPIA (national) is a federation of local LGBT AAPI organizations across the country, building grassroots organizing capacity, developing leadership, and challenging homophobia, racism, and anti-immigrant bias.
SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Justice Coalition (based in Atlanta, GA and national) mission is to strengthen and amplify the collective voices of indigenous women and women of color for reproductive justice through network and capacity building, arts and culture, organizing, and education.
Asian Women’s Giving Circle (based in New York and national) is an all-volunteer group of Asian American women in New York City who pool resources to fund arts and culture projects led by Asian American women artists and community groups.
Kundiman (based New York and national) creates an affirming and rigorous space for Asian American writers to explore, through art, the unique challenges that face the new and ever changing diaspora, proactively addressing the legacy we will leave for our future.
Asian American Feminist Collective engages diverse multi-ethnic and diasporic Asian Pacifc Islander identities through events, resources, spaces for identity exploration, political education, community building, and advocacy.
South/Southeast
Southeast Asian Coalition (SEAC) (North Carolina) exists to amplify a voice for the quickly growing Asian American population in the Carolinas by cultivating grassroots power.
VAYLA New Orleans (NOLA) emerged to combat systemic and environmental racism in New Orleans East during the post-Katrina reconstruction, working with leaders of this historic Vietnamese refugee community and fellow community members.
Women With a Vision (NOLA) was founded in 1989 by a grassroots collective of Black women in response to the spread of HIV/AIDS in communities of color, and now works in the area of Sex Worker Rights, Drug Policy Reform, HIV Positive Women’s Advocacy and Reproductive Justice.
Southerners on New Ground (SONG) is a regional Queer Liberation organization made up of Black people, people of color, immigrants, working class and rural and small town LGBTQ people –united together in the struggle for dignity and justice for all people.
Southwest
New Mexico Asian Family Center is the only organization in the state providing culturally tailored programs and services to support the development of a Pan AAPI community that advocates for and supports itself.
National Asian American Pacific Islander Mental Health Association (NAAPIMHA) (Denver, CO) connects public policies and social justice issues with mental health, and provides trainings and resources.
Chinook Fund (CO)(philanthropy) supports community organizations working on issues of racial, social and economic justice in the state of Colorado.
Northeast
Alternatives for Community and Environment (ACE) (Roxbury, Massachusetts) builds the power of communities of color and low-income communities in MA to eradicate environmental racism and classism and create healthy, sustainable communities.
Chinese Progressive Association-Boston is a grassroots community organization which works for full equality and empowerment of the Chinese community in the Greater Boston area and beyond. Our activities seek to improve the living and working conditions of Chinese Americans and to involve ordinary community members in making decisions that affect our lives.
New York
Adhikaar is a New York-based nonprofit organizing Nepali-speaking community to promote human rights and social justice for all.
AALDEF The Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund, a national organization founded in 1974, protects and promotes the civil rights of Asian Americans.
APICHA Apicha Community Health Center’s mission is to improve the health of our community and to increase access to comprehensive primary care, preventative health services, mental health, and supportive services.
CAAAV Organizing Asian Communities works with diverse poor and working class Asian immigrant and refugee communities in NYC.
Chaaya CDC builds the power, housing stability, and economic well-being of South Asian and Indo-Caribbean communities in New York City.
Chinatown Art Brigade (CAB) is an intergenerational, womxn-led collective that use art and culture to support community-led campaigns around issues of gentrification and displacement.
Coalition for Asian Children and Families (CACF) is the nation’s only pan-Asian children and families’ advocacy organization bringing together community-based organizations as well as youth and community allies to fight for equity for Asian Pacific Americans (APAs)
DRUM Desis Rising Up and Moving is a multigenerational, membership led organization of low-wage South Asian and Indo-Caribbean immigrant workers and youth in New York City.
Heart of Dinner exists to combat food insecurity and isolation within NYC’s elderly Asian American community. HoD delivers care packages of hot lunches and fresh produce every Wednesday.
Mekong NYC organizes Southeast Asian communities in the Bronx and NYC through community organizing and healing, promoting arts, culture, and language, and creating a safety net.
MinKwon Center believes fostering community action is at the heart of their work. Minkwon represents the community’s needs and demands on the local, state and federal levels of government through targeted campaigns that are organized, directed and supported by community members.
North Star Fund (philanthropy) is a regional fund that supports grassroots organizing led by communities of color building power in NYC and the Hudson Valley, including APIA grantee organizations.
Q-Wave is a grassroots organization of lesbian, bisexual, and queer women and trans women, trans men, and gender non-conforming/non-binary/trans folks of Asian and Pacific Islander descent. Q-Wave seeks to build a strong and belonging community, create awareness around social justice issues, increase queer Asian visibility, and seek to uplift marginalized voices through programming.
Red Canary Song centers basebuilding with migrant workers through a labor rights framework and mutual aid. We believe that full decriminalization is necessary for labor organizing and anti-trafficking. #RightsNotRaids #SexWorkIsWork
Sakhi for South Asian Women represents the South Asian diaspora in a survivor-led movement for gender-justice and to honor the collective and inherent power of all survivors of violence through direct services, advocacy and organizing, technical assistance, and community outreach.
Taxi Workers’ Alliance is a 21,000-member strong union of NYC yellow cab, green car, black car, livery and app-dispatched drivers, many of whom are South Asian immigrants, using organizing, direct action, legal and health services, media presence, political advocacy, and more to build the power of one the most visible and vulnerable immigrant workforces.
Ugnayan strives to reclaim and re-root to the true history of the Filipino/Filipino-American people to better understand how our local and personal issues and struggles are interconnected.
The South Asian Womxn’s Creative Collective (SAWCC) is a nonprofit arts organization dedicated to the advancement, visibility, and development of emerging and established South Asian womxn artists and creative professionals by providing a physical and virtual space to profile their creative and intellectual work across disciplines.
Philadelphia/New Jersey
Asian Americans United (Philadelphia) Since 1985, Asian Americans United exists so that people of Asian ancestry in Philadelphia exercise leadership to build their communities and unite to challenge oppression.
Asian Arts Initiative (Philadelphia) uses art as a vehicle to explore the diverse experiences of all communities which include Asian Americans.
SEAMAAC is one of the oldest and largest refugee-founded agencies in the region with a 80% bi/multi-lingual staff serving an estimate 18 language communities. SEAMAAC provides hunger relief, direct services, education, hip hop and other youth programs and mutual aid.
VietLead (Philadelphia and S. Jersey) develops leadership in the Vietnamese community in solidarity with other communities of color towards improving health, increasing self-determination, and strengthening political power.
Mid-Atlantic
NAKASEC Virginia meets immediate needs while building community power among Asian Americans, low-income folks, working class people, immigrants, people of color, LGBTQ individuals, and others.
Midwest
Hana Center’s (Chicago, IL) mission is to empower Korean American and multiethnic immigrant communities through social services, education, culture, and community organizing to advance human rights.
Theater Mu (Saint Paul, MN) produces great performances born of arts, equity, and justice from the heart of the Asian American experience.
Freedom, Inc. (Madison, WI) is a Black and Southeast Asian non-profit social justice organization offering direct services, leadership development and community organizing.
Cia Siab (La Cross, WI) provides direct services for Hmoob women and children in the La Crosse area. Hmoob Youth Culture Program is designed with the revitalization of Hmoob language and culture in mind.
Asian American Organizing Project (AAOP) (St. Paul, MN) is committed to the principle of affecting long-term social change that cultivates the development of the individual, the family, the organization, and the community in Minnesota.
The Coalition of Asian American Leaders (CAAL)(St. Paul, MN) brings leaders from across sectors, generations, and ethnicities together.
Asian Women United of Minnesota (AWUM) (Twin Cities, MN) serves Asian families and all domestic violence victims throughout the state, working towards every individual’s right to a life of peace, wholeness, and happiness, free from emotional, physical, verbal or sexual abuse.
California
Bay Area
APEN (Asian Pacific Environmental Network) (Oakland, Richmond) is leading a transition away from an extractive economy based on profit and pollution and toward local, healthy, and life-sustaining economies that benefit everyone. APEN’s work focuses on Asian immigrant and refugee communities.
Asian Women’s Shelter (AWS) was founded in 1988 for survivors of domestic violence and human trafficking, especially those who are immigrant or refugee women, children, LGBTQ+/GNB, and/or youth. The survivors we work with every day embody courage, hope, and incredible determination.
AYPAL builds the power of Oakland’s low-income Asian & Pacific Islander immigrant and refugee families to be leaders for school reform and neighborhood change.
The Chinese Progressive Association-San Francisco builds the collective power of the low income and working class immigrant Chinese community and other oppressed communities to demand better living and working conditions and justice for all.
Chinese for Affirmative Action (CAA) is a progressive voice in and on behalf of the broader Asian American and Pacific Islander community and advocates for systemic change.
Asian Prisoner Support Committee (APSC) (Oakland) provides direct support to Asian and Pacific Islander (API) prisoners and to raise awareness about the growing number of APIs being imprisoned, detained, and deported.
The California Immigrant Policy Center (CIPC) is a constituent-based statewide immigrant rights organization with offices in Los Angeles, Sacramento, San Diego and Oakland. It is the premier immigrant rights institution in the state.
Southern California
Koreatown Immigrant Workers Alliance (KIWA) works with LA Koreatown’s Latinx and Korean (im)migrant workers in low-wage industries for dignity and respect, and works together in a broad, multi-ethnic coalition with other communities to realize a vision of a just Los Angeles
Korean Resource Center (Los Angeles, CA and SoCal) uses a holistic approach, integrating services, education, culture, organizing, and coalition building among low-income, immigrants, AAPIs and other communities of color in Southern California.
Khmer Girls in Action (Long Beach, CA) is building a progressive and sustainable Long Beach community that works for gender, racial and economic justice led by Southeast Asian young women.
API Equality-LA empowers Asian & Pacific Islander communities to achieve LGBTQ, racial, and social justice.
The Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA)(Los Angeles, CA) works with immigrants to push for policies that promote freedom of movement, human rights, and the civic action.
The California Immigrant Policy Center (CIPC) is a constituent-based statewide immigrant rights organization with offices in Los Angeles, Sacramento, San Diego and Oakland. It is the premier immigrant rights institution in the state.
Northwest
Massage Parlor Outreach Project 女工互助小组 (Seattle, WA) provides outreach support for Asian immigrant massage workers in Chinatown ID, connecting workers with resources and information about workers and immigrant rights, and seeking to build community.
Asian Pacific American Network of Oregon (APANO) unites Asians and Pacific Islanders to build power, develop leaders, and advance equity through organizing, advocacy, community development, and cultural work.
Canada
Butterfly Asian Migrant and Sex Workers Network (Ontario) was formed by sex workers, social workers, legal and health professionals. It provides support to, and advocates for, the rights of Asian and migrant sex workers.
