About CAAF
Championing success through
compassion and leadership.
We bridge the gap between dreams and reality for aspiring Asian American professionals, providing the resources and support they need to thrive.
Who We Are
Building Pathways for the Next Generation.
The Chinese American Aid Foundation is a nonprofit organization dedicated to creating educational, professional, and leadership opportunities for Asian American youth. Through scholarships, career exploration, mentorship, and community-centered programs, we help students build confidence, gain experience, and prepare for meaningful futures.
CAAF connects students with meaningful opportunities to build experience, strengthen their skills, and prepare for what comes next. Working alongside professional and community partners, we support high school and undergraduate students across New York.
Message From the President
Welcome to the Chinese American Aid Foundation. Building on more than two decades of service, our work now focuses on expanding educational, professional, and leadership opportunities for Asian American youth. Through scholarships, paid internships, mentorship, workshops, and community-based programs, we help students build confidence, gain meaningful experience, and prepare for the future. Together with our partners, supporters, and families, we are creating stronger pathways to opportunity and investing in the next generation of leaders across our community.
Our Values
What Guides Our Work.
Our Vision
Strategic Partnerships, Lasting Impact.
To collaborate with established organizations that share a record of service and effectiveness, expanding our ability to create meaningful opportunities for Asian American youth. Through strategic partnerships, we seek to strengthen awareness, preserve Asian heritage, cultivate future leaders, and support the continued growth of Asian American communities.
Our Leadership
A Board Built on Medicine, Law, Business, and Service.
CAAF is guided by a dedicated board of professionals who bring the expertise, perspective, and commitment needed to strengthen our programs, build meaningful partnerships, and expand opportunities for Asian American youth.
Our History
A Legacy of Service Since 2003
China AIDs Fund is founded
Founded in New York to support humanitarian, health, and educational work for children and communities affected by HIV and AIDS in China.
First gala, first grants
The inaugural gala at the Mandarin Oriental drew over 450 guests, hosted by Kaity Tong and Ti-Hua Chang, and honored Dr. David Ho alongside Ambassadors Liu Biwei and Eric Hotung, with New York Hospital Queens and Beth Israel Medical Center recognized as institutional honorees. The funds it raised went straight out: a documentary on the reality of HIV and AIDS in China produced with Sesame Workshop, a study with the Chi Heng Foundation into the needs of AIDS orphans, support services for at least 600 patients in Henan, and direct help for families in Shangcai County.
Partnerships across the provinces
Grants ran through the National Population and Family Planning Commission, the Chinese American Planning Council, the Chinese Association of STD/AIDS Prevention & Control, the Yunnan Red Cross, and the Liang Shan Yi Women & Children Development Center — reaching Henan, Yunnan, Sichuan, Beijing, Xishuangbanna and Kunming. The 2007 gala at the Pierre honored Dr. Peter Piot, founding head of UNAIDS, alongside Henry C. Lee and Ambassador Zhou Wenzhong.
The first Henan children's center
The Henan HIV Children Project began that winter, in a province where infection had spread through unregulated commercial blood donation during the 1990s. The first center opened in Shangcai with full-time staff, a library, four computer stations with broadband, and indoor and outdoor activity space. A luncheon hosted by James Pi at Tun Shing House, attended by more than forty business leaders and physicians, raised the money for it.
The junior board raises its own funds
CAF's young members ran a youth tennis tournament at the Long Island Country Club, with the proceeds going to the International Pen Pal Program they had started themselves.
A second center, and Liang Shan
The second Henan center opened in Shenqiu. Work began in Liangshan Prefecture in Sichuan — the largest Yi settlement in China, carrying one of the country's heaviest HIV burdens, with around 8,000 children orphaned by 2011. That year's gala at the Pierre honored John Liu, Charles Wang and Jeffrey Wu, with the Association of Chinese American Physicians as institutional honoree.
Ten years, and the first libraries
The tenth anniversary gala returned to the Mandarin Oriental, honoring Ambassador Gaoxiong Sun, Dr. Wilson Ko and Dr. Xiaoming Zhang, with the Mount Sinai Health Network recognized alongside them. The same year, working with the Shanghai Sunrise Library, the foundation opened a library in Zhuhe, Sichuan. In August the junior board raised more than $10,000 at a fundraiser in Christopher Morley Park.
Eight libraries, five provinces
Four more libraries followed in 2014, and by 2018 the foundation was supporting eight across Anhui, Henan, Yunnan, Sichuan and Shanxi. Each holds more than 4,000 books and can host 200 to 300 children, in daily use.
Taiwan Baseball Program
A $20,000 donation to Taiwan's Indigenous Baseball Team, whose players commute from rural communities to urban schools and had lost government funding for food and housing. The program covers nutrition, equipment, and transport subsidies, with academic tutoring arranged through local schools and businesses.
Chinese American Aid Foundation
Two decades of that work now carries into a renewed focus at home, expanding educational, professional, and leadership opportunities for Asian American youth in New York.
Invest in future leaders.
Your contribution supports student scholarships, paid internships, educational workshops, and leadership development.
Never miss a deadline.
We’ll send you updates and announcements about upcoming events, scholarships, and internship opportunities — so you hear about them with time to act.