Audio: BMI 10th Anniversary: Phillip Henderson and the Ho Family Foundation

BMI 10th Anniversary Logo
The BMI celebrated its 10th anniversary in 2022. Image by HDS.

On October 27, 2022, Harvard Divinity School celebrated the 10th anniversary of the Buddhist Ministry Initiative (BMI). In honor of this anniversary, the community engaged in discussions of Buddhist ministry in the context of HDS. In this audio, Monica Sanford recognizes the contributions of the Ho Family Foundation to the BMI. Phillip Henderson, the CEO of the foundation, joined the celebration to offer some thoughts on the legacy of the foundation. 

Full transcript: 

MONICA SANFORD: Of course, we have to start our program tonight with a wonderful thanks to the Robert H. N. Ho Family Foundation for all of their support of the Buddhist Ministry Initiative over the last 10 years. And I'm delighted that in a minute we'll be able to have a message from the CEO of the Ho Foundation.

I just want to say a little bit about the history of the Foundation first. Robert H.N. Ho was born in 1932 in Hong Kong as the grandson of the prominent businessman Sir Robert Ho Tung and Lady Clara Ho Tung. He's the son of General Ho Shai Lai and Hesta Ho Tung Ki Fun. Following his early education in Hong Kong, he received degrees from Columbia University and Colgate University. In 2005, he established the Robert H.N. Ho Family Foundation to support programs in the arts culture, the environment, and Buddhism.

With historical roots in Hong Kong, the foundation has a truly global vision, supporting Buddhist temples in both Hong Kong and Canada, as well as numerous programs in Buddhist studies, arts, and ministry at schools such as Harvard, the University of London, the University of British Columbia, University of Toronto, Courtauld Institute of Art, Stanford University, Claremont McKenna College, University of Wisconsin, Columbia University, among many other initiatives and partners. Recently, the foundation has begun to focus on the environment and care for children and young adults in order to build a better future for everyone. The global scope of the foundation is truly amazing, a deep form of Buddhist dana, or generosity.

Phillip Henderson became the CEO of the Ho Family Foundation in 2019. Mr. Henderson has a long career in philanthropic leadership, including as President of the Surdna Foundation in New York City and Vice President of the German Marshall Fund, Chair of the Trust for Civil Society in Central and Eastern Europe, and other organizations supporting democracy and philanthropy in Eastern Europe.

Mr. Henderson adds to the global vision of the Ho Family Foundation. He visited Harvard Divinity School earlier this year to learn about the progress of the Buddhist Ministry Initiative during the past decade, and we are delighted to have him with us tonight, which is early morning for him, via Zoom from Hong Kong to say a few words.

PHILLIP HENDERSON: Very nice to be with you all. You stole some of my thunder there. Thank you for the beautiful introduction, both of myself and the foundation.

I think the important thing to note are two, and perhaps my comments will be shorter than the introduction. First, a word of thanks to all of you at Harvard Divinity School and all of the alumni and current participants in the program, because we ultimately are simply an agent for financing of good ideas. But the good ideas are really carried out and developed, in this case, over a decade by really dedicated devoted people at the institutions that we fund. And so it is really our congratulations and thanks to all of you for the work that you have done, continue to do, and that your predecessors and previous alumni did and continued to contribute to. So that's the first point.

The second is just to note that this is a week of milestones. If you do the math, 1932 is 90 years ago. We convened many, many advisors and friends of Robert H.N. Ho convened earlier this week, actually last Saturday, in Vancouver to celebrate his 90th birthday. And what was remarkable about the event was not just that we all got together, and it's COVID time or the end of COVID time and we could all be together personally and congratulate Mr. Ho on his 90th birthday.

But to me, what was remarkable, as a relative newcomer to the family and to the foundation, is how much of his personal legacy is about giving and philanthropy. This foundation-- this foundation would not exist were it not for his personal generosity, and this program would not exist were it not for his personal interest in Buddhism and Buddhist studies, which really infuse the foundation's work over its first nearly 20 years. So the word of thanks, a note about the serendipity of having two important milestones happening in the same week.

And I am very pleased to be joining you from the other side of the world, I think demonstrating the global reach of the foundation, but also of this program. So with that I will sign off, and thank you very much.

[APPLAUSE]

MONICA SANFORD: Thank you.