Committee Against Anti-Asian Violence (CAAAV)

The Committee Against Anti-Asian Violence, also called CAAAV: Organizing Asian Communities, is a New York City-based organization that advocates for left-leaning causes like defunding the police, 1 rent cancellation, 2 and the COVID-19 pandemic-era eviction moratorium. 1 The organization organizes public housing residents. It is supported financially by large liberal foundations, including the Tides Foundation, 3 the North Star Fund, 4 and the AAPI Civic Engagement Fund. 5

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At-A-Glance

Type: Non-profit, 501(c)(3)
Issue Areas: Identity Politics (for race-based policy/activism)
Website: caaav.org
Formation:

1986

Executive Director:

Sasha Wijeyeratne

Co-Chairs of the Board:

Osman Ahmed, Daisy Chung

Location: New York, NY View on map
Tax ID: 13-3526938
Most Recent Filing: 2024
Budget (2024): Assets: $3,885,288 Revenue: $2,593,239 Expenses: $2,203,262

Contents

    Background

    CAAAV was founded as The Committee Against Anti-Asian Violence in 1986. 6 I It mobilizes Asian-American political power in New York in favor of left-leaning campaigns and has consistently claimed to represent the interests of Asian-American New Yorkers who reside in public housing. 7 It refers to “the real estate industry” as its “opposition.” 8

    Activities

    Committee Against Anti-Asian Violence produces reports, including one in 2015 that criticized the New York Public Housing Authority for failing to provide adequate services for public housing tenants who do not speak English. 9 A 1997 report accused the city’s taxi industry of racism and identified police brutality as the primary threat facing New Yorkers of Asian descent. 10

    In 2019, CAAAV claimed credit for the defeat of Amazon’s plans to build its second headquarters in Queens. 11 The organization opposes business development and new housing that it claims will harm low-income New Yorkers, while supporting expanded subsidized housing. 12

    The Committee created a 2020 voter guide in English, Chinese, and Bangla. 13

    CAAAV blamed a 2021 mass shooting in Atlanta on “white supremacy, imperialism, patriarchy, and racial capitalism.” 14

    CAAAV hosted a summer 2022 picnic that was attended by New York state Assemblywoman and then-congressional candidate Yuh-Line Niou (D). 15

    Funding

    In addition to its support from prominent grantmaking foundations, in 2019, the Committee reported receiving $119,000 in funding from government grants. 16 It received $50,000 from the Mertz Gilmore Foundation in 2019. 17

    Financial Statistics

    Total Assets

    Total Revenue

    Total Expenses

    YearTotal AssetsTotal RevenueTotal ExpensesFiling
    2024 $3,885,288 $2,593,239 $2,203,262 View
    2023 $3,480,050 $2,080,484 $2,008,654 View
    2022 $3,439,131 $1,609,342 $1,389,212 View
    2021 $3,183,141 $2,432,140 $1,038,339 View
    2020 $1,869,414 $1,200,429 $905,973 View

    Prior year filings: 2019, 2018, 2017, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2011

    Revenue Detail

    Expenses Detail

    Employee Compensation

    • Number of Employees: 20

    Highest Earning Employees

    EmployeeTitleTotal Compensation
    Sasha WijeyeratneExecutive Director$159,386

    Grant Activity

    All-time grants received statistics from Candid dataset:

    • Total Grant Value: $17,472,874
    • Number of Grants: 353
    • Number of Funders: 91

    Selection of highest value grants received from the last seven years:

    AmountYearFunderSubject
    $2,000,0002021 MacKenzie ScottMacKenzie Scott made an unrestricted grant of $2,000,000 to CAAAV: Organizing Asian Communities. Mission: CAAAV's purpose is to develop the leadership of working class Asian immigrants to make a significant intervention in the gentrification of NYC by building neighborhood power in Chinatown and Astoria. Our strategy is to build neighborhood power to (1) defend our neighborhoods by fighting against speculative development; (2) fight for more housing for the working class in these neighborhoods; and (3) build enough power to constrict our opposition, the real estate industry.
    $1,250,0002022 Oak FoundationTo provide core support to CAAAV, which works to build grassroots community power across diverse poor and working-class Asian immigrant communities in New York City.
    $1,150,0002026 Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
    $800,0002024 Robert Wood Johnson FoundationTo (1) support CAAAV to further develop and scale its neighborhood-wide tenant union model in Astoria, Queens, N.Y.; (2) expand New York state's rent stabilization policy to cover all units across the state, doubling the number of rent-stabilized units in New York City from 1 million to 2 million; and (3) support CAAAV in continuing to serve on the Leadership Assembly of the Right to the City Alliance, which has been working to develop a national strategic objective that shapes the work of its member organizations across the country.
    $401,0002022 National Philanthropic TrustPUBLIC, SOCIETAL BENEFIT
    $400,0002025 National Philanthropic TrustHUMAN SERVICES
    $400,0002024 National Philanthropic TrustHUMAN SERVICES
    $400,0002023 National Philanthropic TrustHUMAN SERVICES
    $195,0002025 New York FoundationFOR GENERAL OPERATING SUPPORT.
    $195,0002024 New York FoundationFOR GENERAL OPERATING SUPPORT.
    $150,0002024 SURDNA FOUNDATION INCGeneral Support
    $150,0002021 NEO PhilanthropyProgram Grant
    $135,0002020 NEO PhilanthropyProgram Grant
    $118,2002022 Tides CenterEQUITY, HUMAN RIGHTS, AND ECONOMIC EMPOWERMENT
    $102,8002021 Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift FundFor grant recipient's exempt purposes
    $100,0002024 Jeremy Lin FoundationGeneral & Unrestricted
    $100,0002023 The Ford FoundationGeneral support to develop the leadership of working-class Asian immigrants to make a significant intervention in the gentrification of New York City by building neighborhood power in Chinatown and Queens
    $100,0002023 SURDNA FOUNDATION INCThe purpose of this grant is general operating support.
    $100,0002022 New Venture FundCIVIL RIGHTS, SOCIAL ACTION, ADVOCACY
    $100,0002021 The Clara Lionel FoundationTO SUPPORT LEGACY-RELATED PROJECTS
    $100,0002021 StartSmall LLCCAAAV Organizing Asian Communities works to build grassroots community power across diverse poor and working-class Asian immigrant and refugee communities in New York City. Through our organizing model of base-building, leadership development, campaigns, alliances, and organizational development- we organize Asian communities to fight for institutional change and participates in a broader movement towards racial, gender, and economic justice.
    $100,0002020 The New York Women's FoundationThe NYC Fund for Girls and Young Women of Color
    $95,0002020 Groundswell Fund
    $92,5002024 Groundswell FundGeneral Operating grant
    $83,7152021 American Online Giving Foundation IncGENERAL SUPPORT

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    Financials, employee compensation, and grant information provided by Candid.

    Mentioned in this Article

    References

    1. “#DefundTheNYPD and Fund Communities!” CAAAV. CAAAV. June 2, 2020. https://caaav.org/defundthenypd-and-fund-communities.
    2. “CAAAV’s The Future Is Ours To Build Fundraiser!” CAAAV. CAAAV. Accessed November 11, 2022. https://caaav.org/caaavs-the-future-is-ours-to-build-fundraiser.
    3. Tides Foundation, Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990), 2020. Accessed November 11, 2022. https://www.tides.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/2020_Tides-Foundation_Form-990-Public-Disclosure-1.pdf.
    4. “Rapid Response: Fighting Back Against Amazon’s HQ2.” North Star Fund. North Star Fund, January 23, 2019. https://northstarfund.org/2019/01/rapid-response-fighting-back-against-amazons-hq2/.
    5. “CAAAV Organizing Asian Communities.” AAPI Civic Engagement Fund. AAPI Civic Engagement Fund. Accessed November 11, 2022. https://aapifund.org/members/caaav-organizing-asian-communities/.
    6. Bae, Minju. “CAAAV: Decades of Organizing Asian Communities.” Minju Bae. Accessed November 11, 2022. http://gamma.library.temple.edu/baeminju/neatline/show/caaav-map.
    7. Vick, Rachel. “Advocates Denounce NYCHA Hearing on Public Housing Reform.” Queens Daily Eagle. Queens Public Media, July 26, 2021. https://queenseagle.com/all/its-disrespectful-advocates-denounce-nycha-hearing-on-housing-reform.
    8. “CAAAV Strategy and Shifts.” CAAAV. CAAAV. Accessed November 11, 2022. https://caaav.org/strategy-and-shifts.
    9. “No Access: The Need for Improved Language Assistance Services for Limited English Proficient Asian Tenants of the New York City Housing Authority.” CAAAV. CAAAV: Organizing Asian Communities, September 2015. https://caaav.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/CAAAV-full-housing-report-v11-HIGH-RES.pdf.
    10. “CAAAV Voice: Organizing Communities to Fight Police Brutality, Volume 9, Number 1, Winter 1997.” CAAAV. CAAAV Voice, 1997. https://caaav.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/Voice_Winter_1997.pdf.
    11. “What We Accomplished in 2019: We Beat Amazon out of Queens!” CAAAV. CAAAV. Accessed November 11, 2022. https://caaav.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/What-We-Accomplished-in-2019-1.pdf.
    12. Stark-Miller, Ethan. “Chinatown Advocates Rally Against Building Proposed Lower East Side Towers Under 421-A Tax Break.” amny. Schneps Media, April 11, 2022. https://www.amny.com/news/chinatown-advocates-rally-against-building-proposed-les-towers-under-421-a-tax-break/
    13. “CAAAV 2020 Voter Guide.” CAAAV. CAAAV, 2020. https://caaav.org/caaav2020voterguide.
    14. “CAAAV Condemns Atlanta Shootings and Anti-Asian Violence.” CAAAV. CAAAV. Accessed November 11, 2022. https://caaav.org/caaav-condemns-atlanta-shootings-and-anti-asian-violence.
    15. Yuh-Line Niou, Twitter post, August 21, 2022, 1:07 p.m.  https://twitter.com/yuhline/status/1561399705401442305
    16. Committee Against Anti-Asian Violence, Inc, Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990), 2019. Accessed November 11, 2022. https://apps.irs.gov/pub/epostcard/cor/133526938_201912_990_2022030819703803.pdf
    17. Mertz Gilmore Foundation, Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990), 2019. Accessed November 11, 2022. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/display_990/132872722/05_2021_prefixes_13-13%2F132872722_201912_990PF_2021050718080566