Joy EWS

For the interview assignment, I decided to interview my father who is one of the founders of the social enterprise  Sodata Analytics Foundation Association, where I am interning at. He is also a businessman and philanthropist. 1) How did you come up with this idea of starting Sodata? While I was studying at Chicago Booth Business School AXP EMBA, I was able to connect with other graduates, and we all had a conviction to make an impact in the society. We started this non profit social venture for impacting on social enterprises through making a positive market influence on the corporate philanthropy culture by way of our data analytics and promotions, and through our efforts in crowdfunding platform for social enterprises in need.    As far as philanthropy is concerned, either individually or corporately, it tends to be hindered by the deep rooted Asian culture. When the news of people like Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg announced their donation of their entire wealth, ...

I continue to analyze the data that I collected over the past several months. I started categorizing the companies by industry and looked at if there are any donating behavior trend based on the type of industry. Surprisingly, there is a correlation. I ranked the top 10 industry that donated the most in 2015 and 2016. Even though the particular order varied from 2015 to 2016, the general rank is: banks, real estate, oil, gold, insurance, software, gas, vehicle, and hotel/leisure. I also started looking at how psychological factors play a role in business leaders' decision to donate to further encourage corporate philanthropy.  Social exchange theory , or “cost-benefit analysis” :  we help others if we weigh the costs and benefits and the benefits outweigh the costs  (in this case, the benefits could be companies' image, impression, appeal to its audience, a way to attract more profit)  Businesses get more out of it than the money they donate. After all, the...

Through collecting data and doing some initial analyzing, I found that there is an upward trend for donating activity. The percent of all the publicly listed companies in the main board of the hk stock exchange that donate increased around 8% from 2013 to 2016. Furthermore, 44.13% to 52.12% of the listed companies donate. In which around 16%-21% donate 0-500,000 HKD = 64090 USD. 5%-7% donate around 64090 to 128181 USD. 12% to 14% donate 128181 to 640906 USD. 10%-12% donate 640906 USD+. It is very interesting to put the donation amount into percent and look at it as a whole. I will continue to do more analyzation and collection of data. I am also meeting with Ms Price to look at the statistics more in depth. Looking forward!

My original plan for my signature is to collect and analyze data of US businesses donating activity. However, I cannot find the exact donation amount because US businesses are not required to release this information. I tried researching in depth but still I cannot find a lot of information. I only found a general trend and very general data that I cannot really work in depth with. So, I changed my mind. Instead of doing US businesses, I will continue what I started during the summer at my internship and collect data of Hong Kong businesses donation amount. There is a large database where I can find companies' annual report and find their annual donation. I then put these data into a large excel sheet. Since the currency is Hong Kong Dollar and the names/categories are given in Chinese, I will also translate into english and change the currency to USD. For the past several weeks, I have been collecting the data (see picture below). I will then start analyzing by categories/industri...

Sept: Find general information about US businesses' donation trends over time Start exporting this information to an excel Find a mentor Oct: Start finding specific companies' donations amount Research at least 10 companies and put the data in the excel Nov: Find 10 companies information Start analyzing data Research on psychological factors behind social philanthropy Dec: Find 10 companies information Continue analyzing data Talk to a Hong Kong company during Christmas break Research on psychological factors behind social philanthropy Jan: Find 10 companies information Analyze Research on psychological factors behind social philanthropy Feb: Find 10 companies information Analyze Find potential local companies to talk with Mar: Find 10 companies information Finalize the data base / analyation Summarize psychological findings Apr: Publicize the database Approach at least one local business May: Share my project with the community

Hello! My name is Joy. My Signature project this year is about encouraging social philanthropy from businesses. I believe that it is through their generous donation that will help the underprivileged and make an impact in the world. My first encounter of “poverty” came from a school service trip to Cambodia I joined in 7th grade. We stayed in a remote village to teach kids English. These children, who had literally nothing, were so excited to learn in broken tents which they called “classrooms”. They came to class eagerly every day with broad smiles on their faces which contrasted starkly with their scrawny and undernourished bodies. My heart sank as I saw how harsh their living conditions were, yet their eyes were gleamed with hopes every morning when they saw me, as if I would be the one who could lift them out of absolute poverty. I was thirteen years old. I didn’t know what I could do. But I knew that I had a conviction to help the underprivileged, to make an impact in the commu...