Philanthropist James Chen was recently profiled on HSBC Private Banking’s website, in an interview and video which explored his work and moonshot approach to philanthropy.
The profile focused on James’ ‘moonshot’ approach to philanthropy. Unlike traditional approaches, a moonshot approach requires the development of domain expertise, and a commitment of resources and time to deeply understand the sector and the issues it is facing.
This approach also requires taking risks, something that James believes today’s philanthropists are in a unique position to do in order to create real social change. Through leveraging their wealth, the high net worth community are able to fund high-risk, out-of-the-box ideas in the search for scalable solutions. James believes that unlike governments or private companies, private philanthropists are uniquely capable of privatising failure and socialising success.
The piece also covered James’ philanthropic journey, from being inspired by his father’s approach to giving, to his deep passion for tackling poor vision and the establishment of his NGOs, Vision for a Nation and Clearly.
As the article explored, James has taken a moonshot approach towards his work in vision over the last 17 years. Through his approach to Vision for a Nation, the campaign has achieved their goal of ensuring that every person in Rwanda has access to affordable vision care, a program he is now expanding to Ghana.
James’ message for modern philanthropists is clear: moonshot philanthropy has the potential to change the world, and high net worth individuals must use their unique circumstances to take risks to achieve ambitious goals and make change.
Read more here.