Apart from being intermediaries, overseas Filipinos also become agents of transferring foreign knowledge, skills, and expertise through different initiatives, individual or with a diaspora group. While philanthropic and volunteering activities of overseas Filipinos are done individually by some diaspora members, most brain gain initiatives stem from collective efforts in the form of overseas Filipino associations/organizations. The Department of Labor and Employment, as of 2010, reports the presence of about 12,000 associations of overseas Filipinos. Such groups, often hometown, professional, and alumni organizations, are primarily motivated by collective altruism and perpetuating a sense of transnational community. Though philanthropy remains the regular activity of Filipino associations overseas, often in the form of livelihood & calamity assistance, feeding programs, educational materials, and scholarship programs, volunteering has become a popular initiative among professionals in the diaspora to deliver advanced knowledge and skills to the Philippines.

To address the need to provide a platform that facilitates the process of knowledge transfer from the diaspora to the motherland, the state established programs to deliver interested Filipino experts to different local fields and industries. In 1975, the Balik Scientist Program (BSP) was established to encourage Filipino scientists to return to the Philippines for either a short, medium, or long-term period to teach and conduct research in the country, inclusive of benefits necessary for temporary integration and performance of duties during the course of the program. By 1993, the BSP had been institutionalized through Executive Order No. 130 to “strengthen the scientific and technological manpower of the academe and public and private institutions to promote information exchange and accelerate the flow of new technology into the country.”

In 1987, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) established the Science and Technology Advisory Council (STAC) to initiate knowledge transfer through skills training among Filipino migrants overseas and to the Philippines. While STAC once had 40 chapters worldwide, the only active chapters, as of 2025, are in Japan and Silicon Valley (USA). In 1988, the Transfer of Knowledge through Expatriate Professionals (TOKTEN) was organized by the DFA and the United Nations Development Program to match experts from the diaspora to various projects in the Philippines. While the TOKTEN program in the Philippines was considered one of the most successful, by the TOKTEN central administration, it was discontinued in 1999. There are three (3) main types of knowledge and skills transfer, though not limited to such, observed from the Filipino diaspora that can be pursued by those interested in contributing to national development: