Golden Bridges Foundation

History and Activities

The Golden Bridges Foundation is a California-based nonprofit that promotes cultural, educational, and other exchange programs between the United States and China. ¹

The Golden Bridges Foundation was founded in December 2007 to promote nonprofit and educational exchanges between the United States and the People’s Republic of China. The organization attempts to map, create partnerships with, and develop Chinese nonprofits.  ^{2  1}

The Golden Bridges Foundation claims to have supported the first Chinese youth delegation to a United Nations (UN) climate Conference, launched 300 simultaneous climate-change awareness events across China in a single day, and created an online social network to strengthen ties between the U.S. and China. ²

As of 2026, the Golden Bridges Foundation had six main programs: the Pengyou Project, which trains young people to promote U.S.-China relations; the “Five Buckets” model that maps China’s nonprofit landscape; Philanthropy for Health in China, which conducts academic research on Chinese medical philanthropy; China Nonprofit Weibo Digest, which produces monthly news on nonprofits in China; the China Foundation Center, which promotes philanthropic transparency in China; and the Great Green Initiative, which promotes climate change-related events in China. ^{1   3}

As of January 2026, the latest news featured on the Golden Bridges Foundation website was from December 9th, 2017 promoting a U.S. Department of State-sponsored youth entrepreneurship and economic opportunities forum in China. The Golden Bridges Foundation has received funding from the U.S. government to support its programming. ^{1   3}

Leadership

The founder of the Golden Bridges Foundation is Holly Chang, who was president of the organization as of 2026. Chang manages the organization from Beijing, China. Chang also describes herself as a “spiritual facilitator” for her company Infinite Love Ventures. She was previously the executive director of the Committee of 100, an organization promoting inclusion of Asian Americans in the U.S. and improvements in U.S.-China relations; the founding vice president of international partnerships of the China Foundation Center; a business journalist at China Business Focus in Shanghai, a frontline disaster relief volunteer for the American Red Cross; and a plant engineer for UPS. ^{2  4}

According to the Golden Bridges Foundation website in 2026, the executive director of the organization was Alyssa Heath (née Farrelly). However, according to LinkedIn, Heath stepped down as executive director of the Golden Bridges Foundation in December 2018 and was an advisor to the organization from January 2019 to January 2021. Heath is the chief operating officer and director of social impact at Fire Capital Management. Previously, she was the co-founder of the Mind Body Project, a fitness community in Beijing; a heyrobics instructor at Heyrobics International; and an events director for E-West Club.  ^{2  5}

Financials

According to tax filings, in 2024 the Golden Bridges Foundation reported revenues of less than $50,000. As of January 2026, the Golden Bridges Foundation’s most recent tax filing with reported revenues above $50,000 was in 2018. That year, the Golden Bridges Foundation reported $122,512 in revenues, $237,651 in expenses, and $50,763 in assets. It spent $54,624 on U.S. State Department-funded events promoting American study-abroad programs in China, $16,422 on promoting Chinese and American folk music and Chinese participation in American cultural life, and $8,198 on a U.S. -China youth leadership training program called Project Pengyou. That year, the Golden Bridges Foundation received over 16 percent of its revenues ($20,159) from government grants and $101,141 from other gifts, grants, and contributions. ^{6  3}

In November 2015, Golden Bridges Foundation received a $350,000 grant from the Ford Foundation. ⁷