Community Organization Spotlight IV: Project by Project (PbP)
Part IV of our Speed Dating: Get To Know Your Local APIDA Community Orgs series, a project headed by Catherine Kim, our Diversity Liaison, and Christopher Liu, our External Community Chair.
Introduction
Speed Dating: Get To Know Your Local APIDA Community Orgs is a new initiative where we will be interviewing APIDA focused community organizations and APIDA professionals around the Los Angeles area and sharing with you all the most exciting highlights! We aim to showcase the organization to USC students, as well as ask about topics that we think are most pressing to USC students right now: ranging from work/volunteering opportunities, APIDA race relations, professional development and how COVID-19 has been affecting org/business operations. We will be posting these on the APASA website as a yearlong project, so you can look forward to them here!
Winnie Fong currently serves as the present of the LA chapter of Project by Project, where she helps manage over 6 committees and is in charge of spearheading all the projects. As a fellow USC alum (fight on!), Winnie is an urban planner with an emphasis on transit-oriented development (that balances both housing and transportation needs). Winnie also serves as an advisor for the Chinatown Community for Equitable Development on land use and planning issues.
I would like to extend a huge thank you to Winnie for taking the time out of her busy schedule to participate in this interview and share her knowledge and expertise with APASA!
APASA x PbP Q&A
Q: Hello, Winnie! It is so great to meet you, especially as a fellow Trojan! To begin our interview, can you give our readers a quick introduction of yourself?
A: Hello, everyone! My name is Winnie Fong, and I serve as this year’s president for the LA chapter of Project by Project. Specifically, I am in charge of overseeing over six functional teams within the LA Chapter Steering Committee, which includes Outreach, Fundraising, Operations, Events, Marketing, and Volunteer Management.
Mobilizing the API Community to End Homelessness Panel hosted by PbP in 2019
Q: What is PbP’s mission, and what does that look like within the broader LA community?
A: Project by Project (PbP) is a 501(c)(3) leadership development organization that empowers the Asian American community and develops the next generation of leaders through innovative philanthropy. Since its founding in 1998, PbP has supported over 40 nonprofits across our local chapters located in New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. Our innovative model strives to educate and bring awareness about pressing community social issues — and consequently, un-tap and cultivate increased financial, intellectual, and social capital to strengthen community nonprofits for long-term sustainability. By providing an intentional learning environment for our volunteers to practice leadership skills through collaborative opportunities with local nonprofits, PbP is able to develop a pipeline for young leaders to serve on boards and take greater leadership responsibility in all aspects of community and society.
Q: Can you tell us about some major projects and initiatives that are currently being launched by PbP?
A: PbP fosters civic engagement and advocacy in the Asian American community by leveraging the human capital of our volunteers to serve local community nonprofits in a three-pronged approach: (1) Awareness (2) Fundraising, and (3) Volunteerism and pro-bono consulting. This year’s campaign is on Civic and Political Empowerment, so we have partnered with the Pilipino Workers Center (PWC) to help conduct outreach on the 2020 Census and voter engagement through their Filipino Voter Engagement Program (FVEP). We are also providing pro-bono consulting services to develop a digital marketing strategy to help them engage with their community about their services and resources.
PbP partnered with OCA-GLA on an Immigration campaign (2018)
Q: So I was going through PbP’s website, and I noticed that PbP is super unique in that it partners with a different NGO each year to focus on a special project. Can you kind of talk to us about how the process of choosing these projects/partner NGOs is and the current and past projects PbP has done? (e.g. this year’s civic duty project, last year’s homelessness project)?
A: Every year, our National Board of Directors selects an issue specific to the Asian American community to drive a tailored year-long campaign to support local nonprofit organizations through capacity building. Each annual campaign theme is selected from underserved and underfunded issues, and its impact on the Asian American community. Past campaign themes included homelessness, immigration, LGBTQ, media arts, and more. Aligning with the annual theme, each of our chapters selects local nonprofit organizations to partner for a support campaign. Our team leverages its network of supporters to fundraise on behalf of the PbP and the annual campaign beneficiaries through corporate sponsorships, community grants, and direct individual donations. We also host a signature fundraising event for our organization called Plate by Plate, which is the Asian American community’s first and largest annual tasting benefit. Plate by Plate features top restaurants and beverage purveyors, attracting thousands of attendees nationwide. As part of our charitable contribution to the local communities, PbP donates a portion of the proceeds from Plate by Plate to each chapter’s respective beneficiary partners to help advance their organization’s mission and goals related to the campaign theme.
Plate by Plate Annual Tasting Benefit (2016)
Q: Given the unprecedented times, many industries have critically suffered from the impacts of COVID. How has PbP adapted to the COVID pandemic?
A: For over 20 years, local restaurants and beverages have supported our annual tasting benefit Plate by Plate, which helps us in creating awareness and fundraising for important issues. This industry has been particularly affected by COVID-19 and we are honoring their past participation by giving back by creating the Plate by Plate COVID-19 Relief Fund to help the culinary community get back on its feet and on the road to rebuilding their businesses.
Q: Moving on to a more personal note, can you tell us about your individual journey and how you got to your current position at PbP?
A: I joined PbP in 2017 as a member of the Outreach team. I was later promoted to the Non-Profit Panel Manager in 2018, and Outreach Director
in 2018 before becoming the Chapter President in 2020. My experience at PbP has allowed me to build leadership skills and self-confidence which later translated to being promoted to Principal at my consulting firm in urban planning here in Los Angeles. Being a leader for a non-profit organization also helped increased my network within the API community to create a bigger impact beyond PbP.
Q: Going off of that, what do you think is the most difficult part of your job? For instance, what was a challenge you encountered and had to overcome?
A: The biggest challenge is retention of volunteers as there is no paid staff in our organization. All of the volunteers, including my position, is 100% volunteer. We understand that some times our work and personal lives may impact how much time and effort we put in our volunteer work. Volunteers sign on as a Steering Committee member for one-year and dedicate roughly 10-20 hours per month in volunteering work.
Q: Are there any upcoming opportunities for students to volunteer, collaborate, or intern at PbP?
A: There are a few public events we are hosting this year including the PWC Election Town Hall we are hosting on October 11 and our PbP Virtual Gala on October 17. We will start our recruitment process in November and December to start our next year with a new campaign theme and beneficiary partner.