Tim Chai is a freshman in the Huntsman Program in International Studies and Business, a joint-degree program between the Wharton School and College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Pennsylvania. He is majoring in Finance, Operations and Information Management, and International Studies with a specialization in Chinese (although at this rate it may as well be Chinglish) and a minor in International Development. He is highly interested in the intersection of business and the social sector, specifically in how the private sector can better target philanthropy in education. Besides Givology, Tim is involved with the Wharton Social Impact Conference, Penn’s International Affairs Association, the Wharton Retail Club, the Financial Literacy Community Project, the Wharton Alliance and is a tour guide for the admissions office. He also enjoys embarrassing himself on a daily basis, thinking he can dance (seriously, play some Shakira around him), running from left to right on the treadmill (because he can’t walk in a straight line), wiping out because of rain, wet leaves and snow, and accidentally hugging random people around campus who look like his friends.
Interests: Education, social entrepreneurship, philanthrocapitalism, private sector-driven social wealth
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Updates
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19 MAR 2011
From Civil War to Peace - Tea Leaf Trust Bringing Education to Sri Lanka
The island of Sri Lanka is the world's fourth largest producer of tea, and the industry still remains one of the main sources of foreign exchange for the country. Affecting more than one million Sri Lankans, the majority of the workforce, where the minimum working age is twelve, are young women. These young women are subject to some of worst conditions imaginable, socially and economically, and many of their children are sucked into this cycle of poverty because there are very few opportunities out. Enter Tea Leaf Trust, whose mission statement is to “improve opportunities and promote ethnic cohesion through education.” In Sri Lanka, education, particularly English language skills are prized. For children on the tea estates, there is a severe lack of opportunity to learn these skills, if any at all. However, English is key to gaining employment off the estates and easing their family’s poverty. Beyond teaching English, what’s really cool about Tea Leaf Trust’s program is that it... -
08 MAR 2011
Adventures in Madrid Part 2 - Dreaming Out Loud
Continuing with Givology's adventures in Madrid, this blog post is about another amazing organization we met through Ford Focus called Dreaming Out Loud. The spirit behind Dreaming Out Loud was a long-time coming. Founder Christopher Bradshaw’s first foray into the world of social change came while in the third grade following a move to a new town. A few months after he arrived, a new playground was completed and children were presumably "free" to play. Except that tags had been banned without input from the children! Feeling that this was an affront to all that made childhood valuable, he mounted a campaign to boycott the playground for his and his friends’ rights. Soon his class was making picket-signs and staging a sit-in at the sandbox. After an entire recess period besieging the playground for what they felt was right, the third grade activists were victorious. The adults reinstated tags with a few adjusted rules. Twenty years later that same passion and spirit is... -
06 MAR 2011
Givology in Madrid - Meeting More than Me Foundation
As we announced last months, Givology was named a finalist for the Ford Focus Competition. As part of this designation, we were given $10,000 for high-impact education projects throughout the world and invited to the Ford Focus Global Test Drive initiative in Madrid! A few weeks ago, Givology's CEO Joyce and Chief Development Officer Catherine flew into Madrid to take the new 2012 Ford Focus out for a spin on a private test track before anyone else in the world. Among other things, Givology was given the award "smartest driver" while in Madrid (Ford created video around this - we'll be launching it on our site very soon), spoke to social media celebrities and bloggers, and raced down professional obstacle courses with professional drivers. The most meaningful aspect, however, was meeting some incredible organizations who are doing great things within the social sector and hearing their incredible stories. For the next few days, we will be sharing the stories from t...