Why ‘Asian’ and ‘Chinese’ tick-box categories don’t tell charities enough, says nfpResearch
Howard Lake | 17 August 2026 | News
Treating minoritised ethnic communities as a single, static group not surprisingly risks charities building their work on outdated assumptions, according to nfpResearch.
A blog post by nfpPublic Minority Ethnic Lead Leiyuan Tian argues that broad ethnic categories such as “Asian” or “Chinese” mask significant differences in identity, generation and relationship to charitable causes within those communities.
Writing from her own experience as a Chinese migrant to the UK, Tian notes that British-born Chinese people tend to engage more readily with mainstream UK charities, having grown up with fundraising appeals and school giving, while more recent migrants often make their first contact with the sector through volunteering at university before moving to regular giving once they enter paid work.
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Generational and geographic differences matter too, she suggests. Older generations may be more drawn to causes connected to their heritage, while waves of migration from different regions, Hong Kong compared with mainland China, for example, bring different languages and starting points for engagement with UK civil society. Tian cites a 2019 report from the Chinese Welfare Trust in support of this pattern.
How nfpResearch is changing its methodology
The blog sets out how nfpResearch is changing its own methodology in response. For 2026, the nfpPublic Minority Ethnic research moves from one aggregated “non-White” sample to two dedicated samples, Asian/Asian British and Asian Mixed communities, and Black/Black British and Black Mixed communities, with results reported separately and community dynamics explored within each.
The organisation is also investing in sample quality to reach people usually missed in fieldwork, and offers qualitative interviews for charities wanting a deeper dive into lived experience.
“Minoritised ethnic communities remain under-researched and under-served by charities and civil society organisations,” Tian writes. “Without genuine and continuous efforts to understand their evolving role in society, organisations risk building their work on assumptions and further reinforcing existing inequalities.”
Read Leiyuan Tian’s full blog post, and find out more about the nfpPublic Minority Ethnic 2026 research at nfpresearch.com.
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About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.