The organization’s approach centered on four strategies:[1] Stop AAPI Hate was founded by a consortium of three groups: AAPI Equity Alliance (formerly A3PCON, the Asian Pacific Policy and Planning Council),[2] Chinese for Affirmative Action (CAA), and the Asian American Studies Department (AAS) at the San Francisco State University,[3] under the leadership of Manjusha P. Kulkarni, Cynthia Choi, and Russell Jeung.

[4] The consortium began its action in January 2020 as a response to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Asian Americans, specifically news accounts of incidents of racially motivated violence.

[9] On February 23, 2021, the California legislature enacted the AB 85 law which includes funding of $1.4 million specifically to support Stop AAPI Hate's website, analysis and research.

[10][11] On October 7, 2023, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed Senate Bill (SB) 434 Public Transit for All: Improving Safety & Increasing Ridership into law that requires California's 10 largest transit agencies to collect voluntary survey data to better understand riders' experiences with street harassment.

[12] Time magazine has named Kulkarni, Choi, and Jeung among the 100 most influential people of 2021, for they "have locked arms with other BIPOC organizations to find restorative justice measures so that civil rights—for all vulnerable groups—receive the protection they deserve.