The Ashinaga Foundation is a Movement of Individuals

87% of Ashinaga’s Donations come from Individuals

The Ashinaga movement began over 55 years ago after founder and President Yoshiomi Tamai lost his mother in a traffic accident in 1963. President Tamai and other activists began advocating for a revision of the national traffic regulations as well as supporting bereaved students across Japan. Since the first street fundraising campaign in 1967, Ashinaga has been collecting funds from individuals to funds its activities and assist students who have lost one or both parents with financial support. 

Since the beginning of our fundraising activities, Ashinaga has been able to mobilize over 750,000 volunteers, allowing to keep fundraising costs low and reaching every major city in Japan. 

Donation Source

• Individuals: 87%
• Corporate: 6%
• Organizations: 5%
• Others: 2%

 

Financial contributions to the Ashinaga Foundation are mostly from individuals (87%), companies (6%) and organizations(5%). Of the individual supporters, 84% of donors contribute offline (bank transfers etc.) and 16% of donors are online (visit the donation page). Among the organizations, most of the funding comes from the Ashinaga Student Fundraising Association, an independent group of Ashinaga students who organize the bokin street fundraising to support the Ashinaga Foundation. 

 

Read about the 2020 bokin cancellation

Ashinaga-san

Ashinaga-san is the name given to our regular anonymous donors. In the spirit of the book Daddy-Long-Legs by Jean Webster (Japanese title Ashinaga Oji-san), these donors humbly support the emotional wellbeing and education of orphaned children and young people on a monthly or annual basis.

Bokin – Street Fundraising 

Bokin, or Japanese-style street fundraising, has been a core component of Ashinaga since its inception. For two weekends every spring and fall, more than 10,000 Ashinaga students congregate at 200 central points across Japan. The students raise awareness through sharing their personal histories with passers-by, as well as relating statistics regarding orphans. People then graciously place any amount of money—be it ¥1, ¥1,000, or more—in the boxes students are holding.

 

The funds raised at bokin go directly to a cause of the students’ choice. One year, for example, in response to the earthquake in the Kumamoto region of Japan, students directed all the money they collected to the region’s recovery.

Since 2016, the students have made the monumental commitment to donate half of all funds raised to help support the education of orphaned students across Sub-Saharan Africa.