The AVPN Global Conference 2025 in Hong Kong (9 – 11 September) hosted a vital session, “Faith and Giving: Catalysing Impact, Inspiring Resilience,” featuring Patsian Low, Deputy CEO and Chief of Markets at AVPN, and Aditya Natraj, CEO of Piramal Foundation. The discussion focused on what it takes to unlock the vast, yet often siloed, potential of faith-aligned capital. The Asia Pacific region is home to the majority of the world’s religious groups. This presents a major and urgent opportunity. Research from Saïd Business School estimates the region’s four largest religious groups hold USD 5 trillion in net assets, yet less than 3% of this capital is currently directed towards impact.
What can faith do to help us close some of the very big gaps that we’re still seeing in this region?
Patsian Low opened the session by asking how faith can help close the significant gaps observed across the Asia Pacific. Aditya Natraj noted that faith is derived from a sense of belief, universal values, and embedded social systems. Common principles such as Zakat, Seva (service), and the tenet to “love your neighbour as much as yourself” underpin generosity across faiths. However, speakers identified an “almost shame” in openly discussing this intrinsic, non-cognitive driver within philanthropic environments that often demand metrics and quantifiable data. Low acknowledged this reluctance, noting that questioning the impact of faith-driven giving can feel intensely personal, akin to questioning one’s faith itself, leading to an avoidance of the topic.
Everything cannot be solved with cognition
Natraj contended that to address massive challenges, such as the SDG gap of USD 4 trillion, the sector must acknowledge drivers that lie “beyond cognition”. Not all impactful actions are rational. He offered an example from the Krishna Jayanti festival in Bombay. During the dahi handi competition, local communities form human pyramids. In his community, 250 young people came together to form a pyramid that went five stories high. This community-led initiative fostered youth development, teamwork, and resilience through “social architecture”. Remarkably, the event operated with zero cost of overheads, relying on spontaneous local contributions. This contrasts sharply with corporate-sponsored youth leadership camps. This represents the tension between the professionalising drive of modern philanthropy—which focuses on scalability, aggregation, impact metrics, and institutionalisation—and the power of locally embedded community activities. Low reflected on this dynamic, referencing how in Singapore, Zakat is often distributed via a national institution, yet it happens alongside the personal intention when exercising the gift.
We live in these disconnected worlds
The path forward, Natraj argued, is dialogue. Excluding any population, including faith-based organisations (FBOs), from the conversation stunts growth. The key is to create “safe spaces” where faith is understood rather than challenged. This cross-learning allows FBOs to gain professional skills in areas like blended finance and impact orientation, while professional philanthropy benefits from the profound community insights offered by faith-driven initiatives. Low affirmed that the sector is already moving in the right direction, with FBOs like the Tzu Chi Foundation already seeing the value of joining the AVPN ecosystem. The collective goal for the ecosystem is to embrace this dialogue opportunity with courage, ensuring that faith-aligned capital fulfils its promise of catalysing impact. Low further points out that such dialogues are best held with neutral platforms that connect unlikely partners and allies around common issues, like AVPN.
The audience raised critical questions concerning the balance between universal values and specific religious strictures, the potential for conflict when professionalising faith-aligned giving, and the paramount need for accountability and transparency. These questions highlight the complexity and importance of this work, which is why the dialogue cannot end here.
For those interested in exploring these topics further and opening dialogue channels that unlock capital, the AVPN Faith & Giving page provides ongoing resources and opportunities for collaboration.
