Anu Chitrapu, Senior Vice President and Executive at Bank of America and co-chair of the 2026 Asian Community Fund “Rising Together” Gala, discusses the mission of the Asian Community Fund and the importance of supporting AAPI communities across Massachusetts.
The third annual gala will take place on Friday, October 2, 2026, at the Westin Copley Place in Boston, bringing together business, civic, philanthropic and community leaders to celebrate AAPI leadership and support organizations serving communities across the Commonwealth.
This year’s gala will honor Julie Kim, President & CEO of Takeda, with the Paul W. Lee AAPI Leadership Award, and Anantha P. Chandrakasan, MIT Provost, Vannevar Bush Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, and former Dean of the MIT School of Engineering, with the Helen Chin Schlichte Community Builder Award.
Chitrapu brings extensive experience in business, entrepreneurship and community leadership. In addition to her role at Bank of America, she founded Nyrvaana, a social enterprise that works to divert fabric from landfills while creating employment opportunities for disadvantaged women. She also created “You Can Be,” a book encouraging young girls to pursue any career by showcasing accomplished women role models who look like them.
She served as President of TiE Boston from 2020 to 2022 and serves on the Board of Advisors for the Museum of Science, Boston, as well as the advisory board of Direct Action for Women Now. She is also active with several Boston-area nonprofits, including the American India Foundation. Chitrapu holds an MBA from MIT Sloan School of Management.
The 2026 gala is co-chaired by Anu Chitrapu, Rushika Fernandopulle of Liza Health, and Chinh Pham of Greenberg Traurig, LLP. Past honorees Geeta Aiyer, Bob Rivers, Yvonne Hao and Reshma Kewalramani will serve as honorary co-chairs.
Founded in 2020 at the Boston Foundation, the Asian Community Fund is the first and only philanthropic fund in Massachusetts dedicated exclusively to supporting Asian American and Pacific Islander communities. ACF works to increase AAPI visibility, strengthen community organizations, foster partnerships and build a stronger advocacy voice across the Commonwealth.
ACF recently awarded a record $635,000 to 59 nonprofit organizations, bringing its total investment since 2022 to $2.4 million across 135 community-based organizations. Supported organizations address issues including legal services, advocacy, food insecurity, economic stability, community well-being and belonging.
The “Rising Together” Gala combines recognition of AAPI leaders with cultural performances, cuisine and storytelling. Last year’s gala raised more than $800,000 for ACF programs and grantmaking.
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Video Summary
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The Asian Community Fund (ACF), a part of the Boston Foundation, is the only philanthropic fund in Massachusetts dedicated to supporting the AAPI community. Through grants and initiatives, ACF empowers Asian-founded small businesses, non-profits, and arts and culture organizations to foster community growth and preserve cultural heritage.
The Asian Community Fund is part of the Boston Foundation and it's the first and only philanthropic
fund dedicated to supporting the AAPI community in Massachusetts. ACF supports Asian-founded
small businesses. We support non-profits that are targeted to Asian causes and art and culture
around the Asian community. Our annual gala is coming up on Friday, October 2nd, and we are
honoring Julie Kim, CEO of Takeda, and Anantha Chandrakasan, Provost of MIT at the gala.
Welcome to Indian Union News. Our guest today is Anu Chitrappu. She is a senior executive at Bank
of America and member of Asian Community Fund Steering Committee. She is also co-chair of ACF
gala this year. We are going to talk to her about mission of the ACF. Anu, welcome to our studio.
Thank you. Thank you for having me here.
Sure. Anu, give us an overview of Asian Community Fund and its mission.
Yeah, sure. So the Asian Community Fund is part of the Boston Foundation and it was established
about five years back. We all know this, but the Asian American and Pacific Islander community
called the AAPI community, a lot of people refer to it as the AAPI community.
The needs of the community here at current times has actually increased and we need an organization
that supports and helps build this community. So ACF was founded for that reason. Our focus
from ACF really is to serve as a catalyst, specifically in three areas within the AAPI
community. The first one is we want to support the Asian founded small businesses and we have...
Like mom and pop type of business.
Yeah, the smaller. We are not talking like the large tech companies or entrepreneurship on that
scale, but more the smaller businesses. These businesses do need support and we have a program,
it's called the Asian Business Empowerment Council, ABAC. In today's environment, I think
the AAPI community needs a lot of support and which is why we created this fund. It's about
five years old. And Boston Foundation is one of the oldest in the country?
Yes, absolutely. Many people know about the Boston Foundation Fund and this is a five-year-old
program. Think of it as a program specifically for AAPI within the umbrella of the Boston
Foundation. And if I ask you to summarize the mission of ACF in one sentence, what will be that?
I would say support the AAPI community. We are sort of holistically addressing the support that
the community needs. Now in current climate here in the US, I think a little bit political
involvement is also necessary, but your fund is not in political area?
No, we are not.
Anu, the grants by ACF have become very popular and needed. At least I've seen in the Indian
American community, everybody's looking forward, everybody's waiting for who's going to get the
grant this year. So you can talk a little bit more about the grants, how many grants will be put in
the process? And like, for example, how much the fund gave last year?
Sure. So to date, we have disbursed about $2.4 million in grants.
In five years?
In the last few years. And specifically this year, I believe it's around $650,000
that's been disbursed. Many of the non-profits that seek to support the Indian or South Asian
community have actually received grants from us. For example, Saheli has received grants.
Thai Boston for its youth program has received grants. We also have in the arts and culture,
remember I told you there are like three areas, so it's not just the business area,
you can think of Thai Boston as one of those. Saheli is in the second category, which is the
non-profits that help South Asian communities. And in that third category of arts and culture,
we have funded organizations like Setu.
The theater.
Yeah, theater. We've also supported small, really small theater non-profits like Off Kendrick.
And all of this helps, you know, not only like capitalize the growth and support of the community,
but it also helps keep our arts and culture alive and thriving.
Anu, ACF has also started lately having this annual gala.
Yeah.
And honoring prominent individuals from the Asian American community.
This year's gala is on October 2nd.
Yeah.
If you can talk about that as a co-chair of the gala.
Yes, sure. Yes, I'm actually very excited about the October 2nd gala.
This is our third gala. In the past, the first year, we honored Geeta Iyer for her
contributions and accomplishments. Last year, we honored Dr. Reshma Kevalramani again.
From Vertex.
Yes, CEO of Vertex. And again, you know, for her accomplishments and her support of the community
also. This year, we are honoring Dr. Ananta Chandrakasan, who is the provost of MIT.
And we always pick two honorees because we want to make sure it's a very inclusive, you know,
inclusive gala. So every year, we honor one person from the South Asian community and one
from Asian community. So this year, Julie Kim, who just got named CEO of Takeda,
is receiving the honor also. So we have two honorees.
Oh, excellent. Yes.
The nice part about this is we don't look at this, you know, just like a fundraising gala.
This is actually the celebration of our community. So we are celebrating the nominees, of course,
but we are also celebrating the community as a whole. And, you know, being in that room on the
day of the gala, I can tell you both years now, I'll use last year as an example, there were about
700 people in the room. And, you know, I really felt the power of the room. During that gala,
there's like 700 plus people, most of them, you know, look like you, you understand you,
there is like a really strong bond between the 700 people. And this is where I felt that
collectively, our voice is actually very, very powerful. And you can see that in the room,
the power of that collective voice.
Now, who are the other co-chairs of this year's gala?
We have two more co-chairs. The first one is Rushika Fernandopoulos, he's an entrepreneur.
And then we have Chin Pham, who is a legal professional. And both of them, you know, bring
some great skills to just the planning and execution of the gala. And we are very lucky
to have the support, of course, of the staff of ACF. And I do want to mention here, you know,
our executive director, Daniel Kim has, I mean, this is what she is passionate about.
And you can see that.
And Paul Lee has also played a...
Paul, yes, Paul and Helen are the founders of ACF. And, you know, I cannot do enough justice
by just talking about them. When you meet Paul, or when you meet Helen...
I have met Paul many times.
So you know exactly what I mean. And, you know, my involvement with ACF
really started with Paul. The first time Paul explained to me what his vision was,
this was about three years back before our first gala. As soon as he explained his vision,
and I saw what it was, I was in. And he said, you know, I know you're busy. I said, no, forget all
that. Nobody is so busy that we can't support such a clear and such a needed and great cause.
Anu, thank you so much and all the best for the gala. I will see you there.
Yes, thank you. And I hope many of you will be there at the gala.
