Reinventing Philanthropy

Recently in Manila as a judge for Miss Universe 2016, Francine LeFrak talks about breaking the mould of traditional aid by offering a hand up, not a hand out

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When she was six years old, Francine LeFrak went with her grandparents to a union meeting. She remembers seeing hundreds of people and how upset they were because they had no place for their next meeting. “So I got up on a chair and invited everyone to hold their meeting in my basement!” she recalls of this unforgettable moment, still hearing the laughter all around her, as she must have certainly diffused the tension that normally comes with labour disputes. Though today she finds that story “cute,” it is also perhaps her first memory of caring for and sympathising with people who were not born with the same privileges as her.

Francine is one of four children of the late New York real-estate developer Sam LeFrak and his wife Ethel. She was in Manila as a judge of the 2017 Miss Universe beauty pageant and took a rare respite from the hectic schedule. With good friend and global finance consultant Joanne de Asis-Benitez, Francine got an inside view of the Philippines at the National Museum, upon the invitation of Senator Loren Legarda. Over lunch in Intramuros, it was Francine’s turn to give a behind-the-scenes look at her life.