August 10, 2006	Thursday	Rajab 14, 1427

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ISLAMABAD, Aug 9: Philanthropists in the Pakistani diaspora in the US are giving more in charity after the 9/11 but their contribution to causes back home has remained static, according to a study done for the Aga Khan Foundation.

The study conducted by the Pakistan Centre for Philanthropy (PCP) says the 500,000-member community gives about $250 million in cash and kind every year, 40 per cent of which goes to causes in Pakistan.

A “chronic lack of trust” in the civic sector in Pakistan rather than the post-9/11 policies of the US was said to have made the Pakistani-Americans to divert their charity away from their home country.

The PCP research found that 80 per cent of them believe that Pakistani organisations “are inefficient as well as dishonest” and 70 per cent consider them to be ineffective and inattentive to the most pressing problems in Pakistan.

Pakistanis living in America have become extremely careful and vigilant in terms of who they give due to the post 9/11 policies of the US. But, this does not mean that they have decreased or stopped their giving, says the study.

They face practical difficulties in giving to the causes in Pakistan including unclear US regulations about charitable giving abroad and a lack of convenient mechanisms to transfer funds to Pakistan.

There is also a dearth of reliable mechanism to monitor the performance of the organisations and a lack of opportunities to interact directly with organisations and their workers.

“The third barrier is that there is very little information available to Pakistani-Americans about philanthropic organisations in Pakistan,” the survey observes.

It has also recorded some interesting facts. It says the Pakistani-Americans are more generous as they donate 3.5 per cent of their incomes to charitable works compared to the average US household contribution of 2.7 per cent of their household income.

Every Pakistani-American household gives goods and money worth $2,500 per year in addition to contributing around 435 hours per year of volunteer time.

The community invest 43.5 million hours or the equivalent to 25,000 full time paid jobs of $750 million. Thus its charity in cash, kind and volunteered time amounts to $1 billion.