Asian Americans and, in particular, Hispanics send billions of dollars in "remittances" back to their home countries to help family members and to help build housing, schools, churches and hospitals.
African Americans have always given generously to their churches and to civil rights organizations. Black fraternities and sororities raise money for scholarships and other community services.
Jeong H. Kim, who sold Yurie Systems for $1 billion, has donated millions to education.
(Courtesy Of Jeong Kim)
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There are also deep traditions of informal philanthropy to help out needy family and friends.
But, say researchers, many are still relative newcomers to organized philanthropy, the custom of giving money to nonprofits in exchange for tax deductions and recognition beyond the immediate community.
"You have strong traditions of giving in diverse communities that have never really been brought into the mainstream of organized philanthropy," said Henry A. J. Ramos, a principal in Mauer Kunst Consulting, a New York company that advises nonprofit groups on ethnic giving.
Until recently, say the experts, many "mainstream" charitable organizations haven't made much of an effort to raise funds from ethnically and racially diverse populations.
One reason, said Diana Newman, author of "Opening Doors," a book for nonprofits on how to attract money from more-diverse donors, is the misperception that such people -- except for some Asians -- are more likely to be recipients of charity than participants in philanthropy.
Not true, she says.
"That old theory -- if it were ever true -- is not true today," Newman said. "There are a good many people in those communities who are perfectly capable and, in fact, are philanthropic already."
Alexine Clement Jackson, 68, takes inspiration for her philanthropy from her great-grandfather, an illiterate ex-slave who managed to buy land in North Carolina for a farm -- but first donated part of the land for a school and a church. "The whole notion of giving back has been a part of my family," said Jackson, who, together with her husband, well-known urologist Aaron Jackson, donates about $30,000 a year to various charitable causes.
