Mission
The Lacuna Giving Circle is a democratic philanthropic fund that supports organizations serving the Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community in California.
The word ‘Lacuna’ refers to a gap or an unfilled space, and in our case, we’re referring to the sizable gap between need and support for AAPI social justice organizations. Nationally, AAPI organizations receive less than 0.2% of all foundation dollars. We want to change that.
Our members are LGBTQIA, and we are activists, artists, attorneys, communicators, and civil servants. Together, we have raised more than $60,000 to support immigration advocacy, the arts, domestic violence-prevention, and healthcare access.
We also organize events to spotlight pressing issues in the community. Our events have included panels on immigration policy, philanthropic giving, and book readings, including one by Pulitzer-Prize winning author Viet Thanh Nguyen.
HISTORY
In 2012, a circle of friends in San Francisco and Los Angeles formed the Lacuna Giving Circle. The founders envisioned a vehicle to fund important AAPI causes, and the creation of a community of supportive friends and allies.
lacuna members
Kyson Bunthuwong
Kyson Bunthuwong is Development and Partnerships Director at Philanthropy Together, an initiative aiming to democratize and diversify philanthropy through the power of giving circles. Previously, he was a consultant at CCS Fundraising, where he led capital campaign projects for cultural, religious, safety net, and healthcare institutions across California. He has held development and marketing roles at myAgro and Village Enterprise, two NGOs addressing extreme poverty in West and East Africa, and he got his career started at Taproot Foundation working on corporate social responsibility and the pro bono movement. As a Bay Area native and former NCAA Division 1 gymnast, he continues to serve the local athletic community as a board member of The Big C Society and a nonprofit gymnastics gym in Emeryville. He graduated from UC Berkeley with a B.A. in International Political Economy.
chris chou
Christopher Chou is a graduate of Stanford Law School and completed a Ph.D. in Economics at Stanford University. He is the Senior Regulatory and Product Counsel at curbFlow. Previously, he was associate at the San Francisco Office of Perkins Coie LLP, working in the office's Environmental, Energy & Resources practice and focusing on environmental and land use counseling and litigation for development projects. In law school, Christopher was active in the public interest community, clerking at Asian Americans Advancing Justice - Asian Law Caucus, Public Advocates, and the San Francisco City Attorney. He also worked on several land use cases in the Stanford Environmental Law Clinic and served as the treasurer for the Stanford Public Interest Law Foundation. Christopher was born in Detroit, Michigan. He attended Northwestern University where he graduated with a B.A., majoring in Political Science and Mathematics. Chris is a founding member of Lacuna.
Jonathan jae-an crisman
Jonathan Jae-an Crisman is an artist and urban scholar whose work considers the intersections between culture, politics, and place. He is the author of Urban Humanities: New Practices for Reimagining the City, with Dana Cuff, Anastasia Loukaitou-Sideris, Todd Presner, and Maite Zubiaurre, and work from his collaborative art practice has been shown at the Los Angeles Contemporary Archive, the Los Angeles Forum for Architecture and Urban Design, the West Bund Biennial of Arts and Architecture, and the Reykjavík Arts Festival. He holds degrees in urban planning, architecture, and geography from USC, MIT, and UCLA and is currently Assistant Professor of Public & Applied Humanities at the University of Arizona, where he directs the Studio for Shared Futures and holds courtesy appointments in the School of Geography and Development and the School of Landscape Architecture and Planning. He also co-founded QNA, a Los Angeles-based collective which gives a platform to queer API artists and creators.
carlo de la cruz
Carlo De La Cruz is a program officer at Sequoia Climate Fund, where he supports grantmaking to decarbonize the global economy and build broad support for the climate movement. Before joining Sequoia, Carlo helped lead Sierra Club’s clean energy and clean transportation work in California as deputy regional director, working with frontline and impacted communities. He has also worked statewide on sustainable economic development policy and transit-oriented housing at the Milken Institute’s California Center and for the Association of Bay Area Governments. A double graduate of the University of California, Berkeley, Carlo received his Master in City Planning and B.A. in Asian American studies and history of art. Carlo has lived the last 16 years in California as a car-free resident, exploring cities and new neighborhoods on bike and trying out local transit options wherever he goes.
jc de vera
JC De Vera is a Director at Hirsch Philanthropy Partners, where he partners with philanthropists to mobilize resources and develop impactful solutions to issues ranging from basic needs to democracy. JC previously served as the Nurturing Equity Movements Fellow at the San Francisco Foundation, where he led the Rapid Response Fund for Movement Building, granting over $1M to grassroots organizations in the Bay Area advancing racial and economic equity. He has advanced policy change through community engagement and communications as Policy Fellow for Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti’s Office of Immigrant Affairs and Communications Manager at The Greenlining Institute, a leading racial and economic justice policy tank. He previously served as Co-Chair for the Bay Area chapter of Emerging Practitioners in Philanthropy and Chairperson for Lacuna Giving Circle. He currently serves as Secretary on the Board of Directors for The Greenlining Institute. JC is an alum of the Justice Funders Harmony Initiative, New Leaders Council San Francisco, and Front Line Leaders Academy. A proud Double Bruin, he holds a B.A. in Sociology and Asian American Studies from UCLA and a Master’s in Public Policy from the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs.
MARCUS TRAN DEGNAN
Marcus Tran Degnan works as a grant writer and prospect researcher at the Partnership for Los Angeles Schools, one of the largest in-district turnaround organizations in the nation. Prior to his current role, he worked in development at Equality California and conducted Title XI sexual assault policy research for UCLA’s Center for the Study for Women. Originally hailing from the swamplands of Central Florida, moving from coast to coast has afforded Marcus a wide exposure to a variety of social impact opportunities with a particular focus on Asian Pacific Islander (API) communities. Currently, he serves as the Steering Committee Chair for Asian Pacific Islander Equality-Los Angeles (API Equality-LA) and as Board Secretary to Viet Rainbow Orange County (VROC). Marcus holds a B.A. in English from the University of Florida and an M.A. in Asian American Studies from UCLA.
JAmes huynh
James Huỳnh (he/him/his) is the son of Vietnamese refugees who come from Huế, Việt Nam. James is an incoming assistant professor of anti-racist health policy in the Department of Health Management & Policy at the University of Michigan and currently a PhD candidate in Community Health Sciences at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health. His scholarly and activist commitments are to addressing the health impacts of racial capitalism, heterosexism, and patriarchy among queer and trans Asian/Americans. He focuses on community well-being, family and kinship, and grassroots organizing as paths to transforming systems of power. Prior to graduate school, James was a Fulbright Fellow in Việt Nam. James also serves as the Research Committee Co-Chair for Viet Rainbow of Orange County (VROC), a grassroots organization that builds community and mobilizes intergenerationally primarily with LGBTQ+ Vietnamese Americans and their loved ones through research, education, and advocacy. He previously served as VROC’s board chair. James earned his MA in Asian American Studies and MPH in Community Health Sciences from UCLA and a BA in Human Biology from Stanford University.
KEVIN LO
Kevin is an immigration attorney at Asian Americans Advancing Justice - Asian Law Caucus, where he represents low-income people facing deportation. Prior to joining the Caucus, he worked on counter-terrorism human rights issues with Reprieve in London, assisted LGBTQ refugees and asylum seekers with ORAM, and led labor campaigns in Southeast Asia and the American South with the United Auto Workers. Kevin grew up in San Francisco’s Chinatown, and after graduating from UC Berkeley, he received a law degree from Stanford Law School.
duc luu
Duc is the founder of CauseProgress Communications, a communications and media relations business based in San Francisco. His clients include public sector unions, civil rights law firms, and safety net health centers. Previously, he was the Communications Manager at Public Advocates Inc. where he led digital communications and press outreach for housing and education justice campaigns across California. Prior to that role, Duc led marketing and development strategy at the Asian Pacific Fund. Duc graduated from the University of Wisconsin–Madison with a BBA in Marketing.
paul ocampo
Paul Ocampo started at Advancing Justice – Asian Law Caucus as the Development Coordinator and is currently the Development Director. He remains committed to the work of social justice. In 2006, he assisted Maxine Hong Kingston in editing an anthology of writings by veterans titled Veterans of War, Veterans of Peace. While attending graduate school in Arizona, he co-wrote a petition responding to SB 1070 and other anti-immigrant legislation and demanding universities in Arizona maintain the classroom as safe spaces for all students. He also codirected a reading titled Out of Silence that featured Afghan women’s poems and essays found on the Afghan Women’s Writing Project. He comes to Advancing Justice – Asian Law Caucus with a broad experience in education and the non-profit sector. Paul was born in the Philippines and came to the U.S. at the age of eleven. He earned a B.A. in English at U.C. Berkeley, an M.A. in Asian American Studies at UCLA, and an M.F.A. in Creative Writing at Arizona State University.
VINCENT QUAN
Vincent Quan is co-executive director of J-PAL North America, a research center at MIT that aims to reduce poverty in the United States by ensuring that social policy is informed by rigorous evidence. He works closely with policymakers, nonprofit practitioners, researchers, and philanthropy to promote data-driven solutions to improve outcomes for communities across the country. Prior to his role as co-executive director, Vincent led the policy and education teams at J-PAL North America. He previously worked at the Prison Law Office, where he conducted research to improve conditions of confinement in prisons across California, and at the Legal Aid Society in New York City, where he assisted low-income New Yorkers in navigating the criminal court system. He holds a master’s in public administration from Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs and a BA in history from UC Berkeley.
david wakukawa
David is Of Counsel at Maxwell Law. He obtained his Juris Doctorate from the New York University School of Law, where he was a Robert McKay Scholar, an editor of the NYU Annual Survey of American Law, and a research assistant. He completed his undergraduate education at Stanford University, where he graduated with Honors and Distinction. Following law school, David clerked for Judge (now Justice) Sabrina McKenna of the Circuit Court of Hawaii. David represents clients in civil disputes in court and arbitration, in consumer class actions, and in defense of criminal charges before state and federal courts in California, Arizona, and New York.
LACUNA ALUMNI
MARCUS BENIGNO
JORDAN DE PERALTA
KERRY KAY
MARY KEOVISAI
WILSON KYI
CHRISTOPHER LAPINIG
DAVID KIM
HARSHA MALLAJOSYULA
KIMPO NGOI
ANTHONY OCAMPO
JASON TENGCO
DENNIS YEE
TRACY ZHU