China Philanthropy

Founding a Foundation: Jet Li and China’s Public Foundations

Jet Li’s One Foundation has raised over 300 million RMB for charity and contributed to relief efforts in every major disaster that has hit China over the past three years. The organization has had a very public presence on the Mainland since it came into being in 2007 and has mobilized citizens’ giving by encouraging people to donate as little as one dollar or yuan to charity. But the organization’s moniker is a bit of a misnomer—One Foundation is not actually a foundation at all and in the past several months its stability has been called into question, as well as, the role of public foundations in China.

Links That Make You Go Hmmm…for the week ending November 11

Environmental Pioneer Liang Congjie Dies: The founder of China’s first environmental NGO, Friends of Nature, passed away on October 28. Liang was one of China’s foremost leaders in environmentalism. Read more about the leader in our post on environmental NGOs.

China’s Legacy of Charitable Giving: An op-ed in the New York Times says bringing philanthropy to China is the same as trying to import silk and fireworks to the middle country. A good article discussing how the wealthy of old gave generously to social needs.

China Charity Blue Book: Last week the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences released their annual report on Chinese philanthropy. The report found that donations were up 3.5 percent since 2008 with a total of RMB 33.2 billion (US $4.88 billion). This year experts estimate donations will rise to RMB 50 billion (US $7.35 billion).

Chinese Billionaire plans to set up a Gates Inspired Charity: Chen Fashu, ranked 15^th richest in the 2009 Hurun Report, plans to establish his own philanthropic foundation using 90 percent of the shares he holds in his company. The foundation will be modeled after the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Fundraising for Grassroots NGOs in China: A Look at Shanghai United Foundation

The State Council’s “Regulations on the Management of Foundations” only allow for public foundations to legally conduct public fundraising. As a result, grassroots NGOs’ financial support mainly comes from targeted fundraising within a limited circle of acquaintances and business contacts. While many NGOs are eager to develop stable fundraising channels, they need greater access to the community.

The Concept of Lianquan
This is where Shanghai United Foundation (SUF, also known as, Lianquan) comes in. SUF grew out of Nonprofit Incubator (NPI), an NGO service center. As NPI worked with grassroots NGOs, they noticed that these organizations needed a public, independent and efficient fundraising platform that could help them to develop stable financial support. A public foundation was the only type of organization that could fill the role in China, and so SUF was born.