By day, our China Philanthropy bloggers double as the staff of Social Venture Group.
Grace Chiang
Grace is the co-founder and Managing Director of Social Venture Group (SVG). Grace and her team have provided due diligence and consulting services to dozens of foundations, corporations and individuals resulting in funding for non-profit projects. Under Grace's leadership, SVG successfully ran capital campaigns that doubled the capacity of China's only orphanage for the blind, established a counseling center after the Sichuan earthquake, and arranged teacher training for one of China's leading schools for autistic children. Grace explains that what really excites her about SVG is “seeing how a little bit of strategic giving can do a long way, and seeing lives changed around me all the time.” In addition to her work with SVG, Grace sits on the advisory boards for several foundations as a China specialist. In her spare time she loves taking pictures, especially of food, and catching up on one of a thousand or so blogs she subscribes to.
Leo Zhang
Leo, SVG’s co-founder got his street cred as a stock analyst working on Mainland and Hong Kong markets for Polarities Securities Co., Ltd. He is a Financial Risk Management Charter holder and a member of the Global Association of Risk Professionals (GARP), as well as, a member of the CFA (Charter Financial Analyst) Institution and a CFA level III candidate. Leo is excited to work in the nonprofit sector because, he says, “I get to use my career to bless people with need in China.” Leo, who comes from Zhejiang Province has a Bachelor’s degree in Mathematics from Fudan University. Leo is matriculating to Wharton Business School in the fall. Leo reserves a special place in our hearts as one of two left handed people on the team and the only Chinese lefty we know.
Nora Gao
Nora is a native of Shanghai where Social Venture Group is based. Before joining the team, she worked for a Fortune 500 company as a Senior Strategy Analyst. Her work experience includes private equity fundraising, M&A initiatives, and serving as a company representative to outside parties. Nora received her Bachelor's degree in International Business and Management from Shanghai University. Nora currently serves as our Director. Nora explains one of the most rewarding parts of her job as being able to actually experience the effects of charitable donations on lives of Chinese in need. When Nora is not jet setting for SVG, she likes to visit art galleries although she claims to have no artistic talent of her own (we don’t believe her though!)
Renee Jia
Before joining SVG, Renee worked in the area of education and training. As our Business Manager, Renee is very detail oriented and keeps us all organized. She is an active volunteer in several nonprofit organizations in Shanghai and appreciates the fact that working with SVG gives her the opportunity to be a part of a larger community in China. Renee comes from Henan Province and received her Bachelor's Degree in Economics from Shanghai University of Finance and Economics. On the team, she’s known as the sweet one and the one with the best Chinese. Thank goodness one of us can speak Chinese.
Georgia Sparling
Georgia moved to China after graduating from Brown University in 2005 with a degree in English (i.e. she couldn’t speak any Chinese.) In her post-collegiate years she studied Chinese, worked as customer liaison in a small fashion company, and freelanced for publications in China and abroad. As our Communications Manager , Georgia writes and jazzes up our writing with her editing. She loves the fact that her writing can be part of increasing awareness of the needs of people in China. Her volunteer experience in China includes joining a physical therapy team to an orphanage in Henan province as well as working with the homeless in Shanghai. Georgia is a native of the U.S and is the other lefty on the team, which explains why she thinks her novel-in-progress is going to win the Pulitzer Prize (a famous award in the US for writers).
Zoey Liu
Zoey is a native of northeastern China and a graduate of Shanghai International Studies University and Fudan University. After working at a multinational firm for three years we spirited her away with promises of big bonuses and the glamor of the nonprofit world. Mwahahaha. Zoey enjoys traveling and origami. She is passionate about advocating for the import ance of NGOs in society and for helping more people embrace philanthropy as a regular part of their lives. On the SVG team, Zoey serves as our Project Manager.
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