The Fudan Fuzhong Overseas Foundation held its fourth annual fundraising luncheon at Nero D'Avola, New York on March 6, 2010. More than 50 alumni and friends joined the event and showed their support. It was a great opportunity for the participants to stay connected with old friends, or make new ones.
Vincent Ng, Director at China Education Initiative (CEI), delivered the keynote speech. Established in 2008 under the auspices of the Ford Foundation, Princeton University, and Tsinghua University, CEI is an innovative non-profit organization taking a unique approach to eliminating educational inequity in China by enlisting the US and China's most promising future leaders in the effort.
Following the keynote speech, Minhua Zhang ('00), director of fundraising, and five other Executive Committee members reported key achievements and financial results of the previous calendar year, and outlined new initiatives for the upcoming year. Since 2007, the foundation has established three scholarship programs, including "Social Contribution Award", "Performing Arts Award", and "Give-A-Hand Scholarship". A total of thirteen scholarships were awarded through these programs in the past year. Despite the economic downturn, the foundation raised more than US$33,000 to support these programs, through collective efforts of all the foundation members in 2009.
As with last year, the event was a great success. Over US$8,000 were received and pledged during the marketing of this event. The Foundation would like to thank the generous donation from each and every friend and alumni of the school. If you wish to get more information about the Foundation, make a donation, or shop to help, please visit www.fdfzalumni.org.