News And Events

You are very successful businessman. How did your U.S. adventure start and evolve?
I came to the U.S. in 1966 for my MBA. After graduation, 18 months of work in Wall Street, and 18 months of military service in the Turkish Navy, at the age of 27, I decided to choose a city in the Western part of U.S. to build my future. I was looking for a city with a growing economy, a major university, a mid-size metropolitan area and most importantly an open society. I chose Phoenix. Looking back, this was the second best strategic move I have ever made. The best one was marrying Nihal Akbulut in 1977 after I met her in Phoenix, Arizona. A week after I came to Phoenix, I met Steve Uhlmann, owner/operator of what was then a small and struggling plastics company. I joined right away and liked the small company mold making and manufacturing environment. In due course, we became partners and grew the company to a global $200 million contract manufacturing business. In 2003, we took our company’s Asian operations public in Singapore. In 2005, we sold off our private operations in North America and Europe to a company which we felt the cultures were similar. 
 
Where did the idea of TPF come from?
I believe that all of my professional as well as philanthropic endeavors prepared me for this initiative. After selling my business, I started to look for a vehicle to give back to my hometown, Bolu. I was very passionate and ambitious about contributing back to my homeland. My approach to philanthropy is not post-mortem. Nihal and I want to be around to choose the projects, and see the results. I am very interested in social investments that sustain themselves after the initial investment is made. So, I was looking for a vehicle that can adopt a social investment approach and be very flexible. In charity you give because your heart is big and you want to help, but in social investment you want to see your money working, not just funding someone for one day and then they need food again. It is more than just feeding the person, it is providing them with the tools to cope. After a careful and detailed study, we decided to start a diaspora community foundation to send tax-deductible contributions to Turkey. TPF’s main focus is to increase the effectiveness of resources to create a lasting impact for future generations.
Why do you think TPF can make a difference in Turkey?
 
I strongly believe that many of the young people from Turkey who are now living in the U.S. are destined for success. I see more and more well educated and very smart men and women who are rising stars. I believe in the power of people coming together to create a change . When these young successful Turkish-Americans want to turn their personal success into significance, TPF will be a vehicle for them to use with ease. The foundation will connect donors in the U.S. with transparent charities that have high impact social projects donors want to support in Turkey or in the U.S. The beauty of TPF is that it provides a reliable means to meet U.S. donors’ philanthropic objectives in Turkey, while offering all the benefits of tax-deductible charitable giving in the U.S.
 
Why do you think philanthropy is good for business?
Entrepreneurship gives the wrong image: Of money-making for its own sake, of selfishness and greed. But business and philanthropy can go hand in hand. One feeds on the other. Business finances philanthropy and social investments create trust. I believe that good business is built on trust.
 
What is the power of modeling the organization after community foundations?
Community foundation model is ubiquitous in the U.S. and more and more all around the globe. When you use a community foundation for your contributions, you don’t really give to that foundation, but give through them. That means that with a fund at the TPF, you can manage your contributions to your favorite NGOs in Turkey; to your local causes in the U.S.; and, to your alma mater. At TPF, we ask people to entrust their money to us temporarily as it makes its journey to the project they like to support, where then it is transformed into either an education for hundreds of kids, an opportunity for hundreds of disabled people or a chance for many women to contribute to their very own societies.
 
Besides TPF, Haldun Tashman and Nihal Tashman are involved in many other philanthropic projects both in the U.S. and in Turkey including the establishment of Turkey’s first community foundation in Bolu, scholarships to Turkish students at Columbia Business School and Arizona State University, Board membership at Arizona Community Foundation, and supporting Arizona State University Scottsdale Innovation Center among many others. Haldun Tashman currently serves as Chair of TPF, along with Mustafa Kemal Abadan, Filiz Bikmen, Özlenen Kalav, Erinch Özada, and Sanem Tatlıdil as other members of the Board of Directors.