Doug Tilden

Sometimes what begins as just another travel destination somehow becomes a life-changing experience.

So it was for business executive Doug Tilden, who’d lived and travelled across the U.S., Oceania, Asia, the Middle East and South America as part of his  international transportation career.  And then there was that trip to India in 1984 that was the beginning of his engagement with international humanitarian issues that continues to this day.

Doug remembers the trip as if it happened yesterday.

“I had gone to Calcutta to open operations for the shipping company I was managing,” he said.  “I always try to take time on my travels to wander, and wandering the streets of Calcutta brought me face-to-face with some of the most difficult living conditions I had ever experienced.  It was my point of realization that a major life objective had to be to give back and more importantly to help people find paths out of the cycle of poverty.”

Today, Doug Tilden uses his donor advised fund at the East Bay Community Foundation to support his dedication to making change in the world.

His work includes support of  an education project for girls in India with CARE, and his sponsorship of other projects in India with Children International.  It also includes his work on the Board of Directors of World Savvy, whose programs and services help youth in middle and high school learn how to think rather than what to think about critical global and community issues. And it includes his participation as Board Chair of Round The World With Us, which funds carefully selected humanitarian projects to alleviate poverty and provide access to clean water, health care and education.

“With the assistance of the East Bay Community Foundation where I have my charitable fund, I can effectively channel my philanthropy to support the causes I care about most around the world,” said Tilden.  “We can all make a difference.”

Tilden also serves on the Board of Trustees of the Archaeological Institute of America and The Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, where he chairs the Education Committee.  In addition, he works closely with the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco.