By the Business & Philanthropy Forum · Published 25 September 2026 · Updated 29 September 2026

Asia’s wealthiest families still run the businesses that made them rich. A 2026 study of the world’s wealthiest families found that 95 per cent of Asian families keep control of those businesses, against 68 per cent outside Asia. Much of their giving runs through the company too: a 2023 study of the 67 wealthiest families in Southeast Asia and Hong Kong found that 94 per cent give through a corporate social responsibility programme, while only 36 per cent have set up a private foundation.

With or without a foundation, a family that gives together has to settle the same five questions:

The five rules a family agrees on

  1. Which grants need a family decision. Large grants, new causes and board seats.
  2. Who gets a vote. And how younger members earn one.
  3. How to settle a disagreement. A majority vote, everyone agreeing, or the chair decides.
  4. What the family will not fund. So it is easier to decline requests from friends.
  5. When to review the rules. As the family grows and changes.

In short: Family governance in philanthropy means deciding who holds the vote, how the next generation earns one, what is written down, and how disagreements are resolved. Across Southeast Asia and Hong Kong the giving usually grows out of an operating business, so the practical work is giving the family’s philanthropy the same clarity the company already has.

Most of this giving still runs through the business

The business is where most of this giving starts. The 2023 study, The Philanthropic Potential of Asia’s Rising Wealth, looked at the 67 wealthiest families in Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam and Hong Kong. Nearly all of them give through their companies, and far fewer have a foundation of their own.

How the 67 wealthiest families give
94% give through corporate social responsibility programmes94%give through corporate social responsibility programmes
36% have set up a private foundation36%have set up a private foundation
33% have set up a corporate foundation33%have set up a corporate foundation
Share of the 67 wealthiest families in Southeast Asia and Hong Kong. Many use more than one route. Source: The Philanthropic Potential of Asia’s Rising Wealth, 2023.

The 2026 study, How the World’s Wealthiest Families Give, widens the view to 186 of the wealthiest families across 20 economies in Asia, Africa, Europe and the Americas. It finds the same pattern across Asia: the wealth is newer, and the family usually still holds the company.

Asia’s wealthiest families, compared with families outside Asia
AsiaOutside Asia
Still control the business that made their wealth
95%
68%
Share of wealth held by the first or second generation
94%
85%
Publicly report outputs, such as schools built
80%+
45%
“Outside Asia” is every economy outside Asia for business control, and high-income economies outside Asia for the other two. Asia’s reporting figure is “more than 80 per cent”. Source: How the World’s Wealthiest Families Give, 2026, covering 186 families in 20 economies.

Where a foundation does exist, the family is usually inside it. The 2023 study found that 70 per cent of these philanthropists, or their children, sit on the management team or the board of the foundation they fund. While the founder is active, the founder’s judgement is the governance. That is why rules 2 and 5 matter most here: agree who gets a vote before the founder steps back, and review the rules when that happens.

These foundations also tend to run things themselves. The same study found that 76 per cent of the foundations linked to the 67 families run their own programmes, and that 79 per cent of the grant-only foundations sit in Singapore and Hong Kong. A family that runs its own programmes makes operational decisions constantly, which is why rule 1 comes first: decide which of those decisions need the family, and leave the rest to the people running the programme.

How their foundations work
51% run their own programmes only25% run programmes and also make grants21% only make grants to other organisations3% not stated in the study
  • 51% run their own programmes only
  • 25% run programmes and also make grants
  • 21% only make grants to other organisations
  • 3% not stated in the study
Foundations linked to the 67 families. The study reports 76 per cent running their own programmes, including the 25 per cent that also make grants, and 21 per cent making grants only. Source: The Philanthropic Potential of Asia’s Rising Wealth, 2023.

When the family has no foundation

Governance is usually explained as though a foundation already exists. For most of the families in the study it does not, and the giving runs through the company’s own programmes.

Tikam Jain, a real estate leader, gives this way with his family. Nearly a decade ago he and his brother saw that economic pressure was making it harder for rural households to keep their cows, and that the animals were often left to wander. The family built shelters that give the cows food, care and medical attention.

The benefits reach beyond the animals. The shelters supply cow dung to local farmers, who had found organic fertiliser hard to afford, and they have created employment and improved access to healthcare in the surrounding communities. Jain does not see himself as a philanthropist, and he is involved in every stage from planning to execution.

His plans reach across generations. Continuing his father’s legacy, he intends to partner with institutions of higher learning on scholarships and financial aid. After he retires, he aims to set up a foundation for the families of construction workers affected by accidents at work, so that their children can continue their education until they are self-reliant. He expects his own children and their families to take the work forward.

Here the giving came first and the formal structure is planned to follow. A family in that position still needs the five rules above, even before a foundation exists, starting with rules 1 and 4: which grants need a family decision, and what the family will not fund.

Three ways families decide, and what each one costs

Rules 2 and 3, who gets a vote and how a disagreement is settled, usually take one of three shapes.

One decision-maker

The founder chooses, and the family is informed. Decisions are fast and consistent. The arrangement holds only while that person is active, and the next generation gets little practice in choosing.

Everyone together

The family decides as a group, by vote or by consensus. Every branch is heard and commitments hold across generations. The cost is time, and the tendency to settle on the causes nobody objects to.

Separate budgets

Each member or branch directs an agreed amount. The next generation learns by choosing and is accountable for the result. The family gives up some concentration, since the total spreads across more causes.

A common arrangement combines them: a shared pool for the causes the family is known for, and smaller separate budgets that let individual members build their own record. Choosing the causes themselves is covered in what strategic philanthropy looks like for families.

Write the rules before the first disagreement

Governance documents are worth the least when everyone agrees, and the most when they do not. Private bank guidance on family dynamics and philanthropy sets out what a family should settle in writing: board roles and responsibilities, a conflict-of-interest policy, and written decision-making processes that suit the family rather than the template.

The same guidance gives an example of an eligibility rule: a policy might require that any family member wishing to join the foundation board reaches a set age, such as 21, and holds expertise in one part of the foundation’s mission.

Here are the five rules from the top of this article, in more detail.

  1. Which grants need a family decisionNot every grant needs a family discussion. Set rules for the bigger ones: any grant above an amount the family agrees on, supporting a new cause, choosing who sits on the board, and any grant to a charity linked to a relative or to the family business.
  2. Who gets a vote, and how to earn oneA family can set simple conditions, such as a minimum age, a fixed term, time given to the family’s giving, or knowledge of the cause. Younger members then earn a seat, rather than receiving one automatically.
  3. How to settle a disagreementChoose one method in advance: a majority vote, everyone agreeing, or the chair making the final call when votes are tied. Agree on it while everyone is on good terms.
  4. What the family will not fundA short list of causes the family does not support. It makes it much easier to decline when a friend or business contact asks for a donation.
  5. When to review the rulesFamilies change as children grow up and new members join. Look at the rules again every few years so they still fit.

How one Hong Kong family made its foundation an heir

Li Ka-shing set up his foundation in Hong Kong in 1980. Years later he told his family over dinner that he had a third child: the foundation was his “third son.” In a 2005 interview he explained the reasoning. Chinese tradition passes wealth from one generation to the next, and treating the foundation as an heir let him allocate more of his assets to it.

He set rules around that decision. Neither members of the family nor the foundation’s board may gain from their positions. Whenever he makes a donation, he tops the foundation up by at least the same amount, so its funds can sustain grants well into the future. He told his two sons, in jest, to get along with their new brother. In 2018, after retiring from his businesses, he said he would eventually hand the foundation to both of them.

His arrangement settles two of the five rules early. Rule 2, who gets a vote, is answered: both sons, in time. And the hardest case under rule 1, a grant that could benefit the family, is ruled out entirely.

Bring the next generation in before the handover

This is where rule 2 does its work: how younger members earn a vote, and how early they start.

Professor Omid Aschari, whose coaching clients include ultra-high-net-worth family offices, is clear on timing: on questions of legacy and succession, older generations cannot afford to be passive, because “the foundation must be built long before those moments arise.” In the same interview he recalls a client, the successor to a large Asian family business, who had spent years, perhaps a decade, trying to meet the expectations of others.

The foundation must be built long before those moments arise.

Professor Omid Aschari, Business & Philanthropy Forum interview

A 2026 paper on family business succession describes the family’s giving as the lower-stakes place to practise: when next-generation members take part in grant decisions, review impact reports and meet partners, “they’re building decision-making skills” before the company requires them. The same paper names three habits that work against it:

  • Tokenism. A seat at the table without genuine authority.
  • Insufficient preparation. Grant-making responsibility handed over without the family history or any method for assessing a charity.
  • Disconnected governance. Giving run on rules that contradict how the business is governed.

Giving can start in childhood, and the causes need not stay the same from one generation to the next. Hillary Tjioe, one of Asia’s next-generation philanthropists featured by the Forum, began giving as a child with her parents, distributing books, toys and stationery to orphanages. Her own focus now is mental health, wildlife conservation and environmental sustainability.

Where the next generation wants causes of its own, the separate-budget model gives them room inside the family’s giving. How next-generation philanthropists in Asia approach giving covers that route in more detail.

Questions about deciding together

What is family governance, and how does it work?

It is the set of rules a family uses to decide its giving. They cover who gets a vote and how younger members earn one, how the family settles disagreements, and which causes it will not fund. The rules can fit on a single page, and a family does not need a foundation to have them.

Can you give an example of family governance?

Private bank guidance gives one example: nobody joins the foundation board before the age of 21, and only once they bring skills the foundation can use. Li Ka-shing’s foundation in Hong Kong has a rule of its own. Family members and board members may not benefit personally from their roles.

Who runs a family foundation?

In the region’s wealthiest families, the family usually runs it directly. A 2023 study of Southeast Asia and Hong Kong found that 70 per cent of philanthropists, or their children, sit on the board or management team of the foundation they fund.

What is governance in a family office?

Family office governance covers the family’s wealth as a whole, including who makes investment and spending decisions. When a family gives through its family office, the rules for its giving often sit alongside those.

What is the difference between a private foundation and a family foundation?

A family foundation is a private foundation funded and run by one family. Family members sit on its board and decide where its grants go.

Sources

The Business & Philanthropy Forum 2026 runs 6 to 7 November at Shangri-La Singapore.

Two days with the families, family offices and foundations making these decisions, rather than reading about them afterwards. Reserve a place, or read the interviews first.