Thanks to you we have raised $335,000 in 10 days to educate our children and keep them healthy. Along with its parent organization ACCESS, the Center for Arab American Philanthropy (CAAP) was the only Arab American organization in the country competing with 21 other ethnic nonprofits in a W.K Kellogg Foundation Cultures of Giving challenge. And 395 of you stepped up, giving over $210,000 to make ACCESS and CAAP the winners of three special challenge days and qualifying us for $125,000 in prize money and matching funds – the most of any organization. What’s more, ACCESS and CAAP had the highest number of unique donors among all groups. To see the final leader board, please click here.

We always knew we had great friends and supporters – with this challenge we’ve been able to show our culture and pride nationally.

Most important, we’re all winners. W.K. Kellogg’s visionary challenge has raised more than $1.3 million among minority communities – money that is dedicated to youth programs. CAAP will carry on the spirit of this challenge by expanding our groundbreaking Teen Grant-making Initiative (TGI).

Launched this year in metro Detroit, TGI is a project by youth, for youth. It aims to inspire and grow a culture of philanthropy within our community. Right now, TGI consists of 20 dedicated, motivated teens in Dearborn and the metro Detroit area. With resources from the Kellogg challenge this will become a national program! Please click here to find out more about TGI.

Photo courtesy jcbonbon

A new report by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, “Cultures of Giving: Energizing and Expanding Philanthropy by and for Communities of Color,” documents a philanthropic shift in America toward “identity-based philanthropy.” A sector that was once exclusively elite and homogeneously white is becoming ever more democratic, diverse and rooted in community. The report chronicles the beginnings of CAAP as a leader in establishing Arab Americans as strategic philanthropists and  community builders.

From 2005-2008 the W.K. Kellogg Foundation (WKKF) granted funds to ACCESS as part of its Cultures of Giving program, for the purpose of establishing the Center for Arab American Philanthropy (CAAP), the only organization of its kind to engage Arab Americans in strategic philanthropy. Arab Americans have experienced a population increase of almost 40 percent since 2000, swelling to 3.5 million. Maha Freij, founder of CAAP, says that the Arab American community, which has a buying power of more than $100 billion (“Cultures of Giving, p. 5) “is an untapped donor resource, but we’re becoming more sophisticated in our approaches to it.” With the WKKF funds, ACCESS was also able to strengthen capacity-building assistance for member organizations of NNAAC, the National Network for Arab American Communities.

Manal Saab, CAAP Advisory Board member and 2010 recipient of the prestigious Russell G. Mawby Award for Philanthropy, is also featured in the report. She says, “as an immigrant, you want that American dream, you want to claim one or two stitches of the fabric that makes this society so great. But you have to make sure it’s passed on by doing your part. To hold your rightful place as an American citizen is to give back.”

The full report is available for download here. Read more about CAAP and our board member Manal Saab on pages 37 & 63.

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