Tanoto Foundation is a privately funded non-profit organisation founded by Indonesian entrepreneur Sukanto Tanoto and his wife Tinah Bingei Tanoto. The Foundation focuses mainly on poverty alleviation, funding and developing programs aimed at improving access and quality to education, empowering rural and under-privileged communities to be self-sufficient, and enhancing rural quality of life. The Foundation operates in countries in which Tanoto has business presence.
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History & Background
Following the pioneering success of his plywood business and subsequent diversified businesses in resource manufacturing in Indonesia such as palm oil, self-made billionaire Sukanto Tanoto and his wife Tinah Bingei funded the construction of a kindergarten and elementary school in Besitang, North Sumatra in 1981. This marked the Tanoto Foundation's first philanthropic act. Subsequent philanthropic activities were mostly aimed at improving education amenities and infrastructure in rural impoverished regions in Sumatra.
The Tanoto Foundation was later formally incorporated as a non-profit charitable organisation in 2001. Largely focused on poverty alleviation, the Foundation deploys a three-prong strategy in "Education", "Empowerment" and "Enhancement" in programs across Indonesia, Singapore and China, countries in which the Tanotos have business operations. In Indonesia, the Foundation is known to be one of the major disbursers of scholarships.
Members of the Foundation's Board of Trustees include co-founders Sukanto Tanoto and Tinah Bingei Tanoto, and their children Andre Tanoto, Imelda Tanoto, Belinda Tanoto and Anderson Tanoto. Bey Soo Khiang has been Chairman of the Tanoto Foundation's Board of Governance since 2011.
The Tanoto Foundation is privately funded by the family of Sukanto Tanoto.
Activities in Indonesia
The Tanoto Foundation is one of the more prominent disbursers of scholarships in Indonesia, to fund the college and graduate education of students from more than 35 universities from across the country.
The Foundation supports and facilitates rural education development in the country. Its Pelita Pendidikan program involves the building, rebuilding and development of school infrastructure and amenities, provision of education resources, and improving educators' competence and teaching pedagogy. This program also extends to early childhood development and infrastructure.
Partnering University of Indonesia, the Tanoto Foundation helped launch the Tanoto Entrepreneurship Series, which are regularly held seminars that invite successful entrepreneurs as speakers.
The Foundation worked with institutions such as Prasetiya Mulya Business School and PPM to build the Tanoto Library for lecturers and students.
Singapore
In Singapore, the Tanoto Foundation's efforts have largely been involved tertiary education scholarship disbursements, education infrastructure development, art and cultural development, and medical research funding.
In 2005, the Foundation funded the construction of the Tanoto Library at the INSEAD campus in Singapore.
In 2007, the Foundation helped established the Tanoto Foundation Centre for Southeast Asian Arts in Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts.
The Foundation partnered Duke-NUS Medical School, and has since 2009 donated a total S$11 million to advanced Asia-focused research in diabetes, heart diseases and Lymphoma. Professorships were conferred to leading researchers of their fields.
Since its inception, there have been over 50 Tanoto Scholarship recipients, from universities such as National University of Singapore, Nanyang Technological University and Singapore Management University. The Tanoto Scholarships also extend to medical students.
In 2011, Tanoto Foundation scholars, also known as Tanoto Scholars, initiated the program "Project Sukacita". It became an annual community service program organised by Tanoto Scholars and supported by the Foundation, in which volunteers travel to the impoverished rural areas of Pangkalan Kerinci to assist with hygiene and nutrition education, spring cleaning and other community related work.
In 2016, the Foundation sponsored the Crossing the Chasm Challenge, a "pioneer gap"-focused competition aimed at supporting social enterprises in Southeast Asia. The Challenge was co-organised by the National University of Singapore's Asia Centre for Social Entrepreneurship & Philanthropy (ACSEP) and students.
China
In China, the Tanoto Foundation has provided support to communities affected by natural disasters. It contributed to disaster relief efforts in earthquake-hit Jiujiang and Wenchuan, as well as flood-affected Jiangxi.
Others
The Foundation collaborates with the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, and in 2013, helped kick-start Southeast Asian-focused study and research. The program, called the Tanoto Initiative offers research funding, courses, exchange programs and scholarships to broaden thought leadership and business education in Asia. Indonesian universities Gadjah Mada University and University of Indonesia.