Letter from the Chairperson
Dear Friends,
The first decade of the 21st century is the new golden age of philanthropy. Last year, U.S. charitable giving exceeded $260 billion with nearly 77% of donations coming from individuals and nine out of ten households making a contribution. On an inflation-adjusted basis, Warren Buffet’s $37 billion pledge was double the lifetime total of two giant philanthropists of the past, Andrew Carnegie and John D. Rockefeller, put together. The Nobel Peace Prize made a shift away from convention by awarding Mohammad Yunus, who worked to promote peace indirectly through economic uplifting of the masses. The Bangladeshi economist and banker developed the concept of microcredit and, over the past 30 years, his Grameen bank has issued $5.1 billion in loans to 5.3 billion borrowers.
It is no wonder then, that Persian philanthropy is in a crescendo. In the past few years, some $125 million have been donated to private foundations, universities and public charities by a dozen families alone. Imagine what the number would be if one accounts for all the donations made by Iranian Americans in the same timeframe. Just a year after the initial meeting of our founders in New York City in 2005, Meadowood Social Venture Fund has become the world’s largest independent endowment dedicated to Persian philanthropy. Proceeds from Meadowood SVF subsidize PARSA Community Foundation’s operations as well as provide seed funding for grant making to qualified nonprofits.
PARSA’s dream is to become the Persian United Way : a trusted and enduring institution with grassroots support that tends to the needs of the community with scale, prudence and heart. The nascent Persian community is faced with multiple challenges of keeping its children connected to their Persian heritage, taking care of its aging parents and asserting a positive Persian identity in America. These needs exhibit themselves in the form of requests for community centers to benefit the youth and elderly, Iranian studies programs at universities to include Persian language classes, accurate and adequate representation in the arts, and so on.
Meeting these needs requires an enormous amount of resources. As an example, ten community centers to be built in various cities in the U.S. in the next ten years could easily call for $100 million of investment. The only way to support such campaigns is through sustainable and concerted efforts on the part of every member of the Persian community, each giving whatever time and funds they can spare. United Way started in 1887 with $27,000 and finished last year with 1,326 chapters and almost $4 billion raised. It has had 120 years to develop and serve its communities – PARSA, just one, but we are full of hope.
In 2007, PARSA will award grants once on Norooz and once on Mehregan. Please note that the first deadline for submitting grant proposals is February 15 and kindly get the word out to your favorite charities. Keep a look out for philanthropy workshops which we are facilitating with the help of volunteers around the U.S. Expand PARSA’s marketplace, a great convening point for grant seekers, donors and volunteers to learn more about each others’ efforts and collaborate. Consider simplifying your giving and get community recognition by setting up a donor advised fund at PARSA. Build awareness for good deeds of Persian community members by distributing this newsletter and inviting friends and family to sign up. Your every action counts.
Persians have a great tradition of philanthropy which the diaspora is redefining in our new homes. With cooperation, imagination and hard work, we can take care of our own and strengthen our good name. If not now, then when; if not us, then who?
With warmest regards,
Noosheen Hashemi