Advancing philanthropic development and collaboration
China’s rapid social and economic progress has accelerated philanthropic development across the country. Philanthropy and charitable giving have played a positive role in alleviating extreme poverty, building a prosperous society, supporting basic social care, and combating COVID-19. The sector’s potential can be further unlocked by improving policies and regulations in this area, strengthening the philanthropic ecosystem, fostering a giving culture, and promoting innovative practices in philanthropy.
We believe that philanthropy can fill the space between the public and private sectors and draw on the strengths of partners in both areas to seek effective solutions to social issues and inequities. We are committed to working closely with all sectors of Chinese society to support philanthropic research and advocacy, promote innovation, strengthen the giving culture, and advance the development of the sector.
In the policy research area, we focus on the social and fiscal mechanisms of philanthropy. We engaged teams of fiscal and taxation experts from the Guangdong University of Finance and Economics, Central University of Finance and Economics, and other institutes to explore how improved taxation mechanisms can encourage charitable giving. We also supported the China Philanthropy Research Institute at Beijing Normal University and the Research Center for NPO Law at Peking University in their research into and advocacy for philanthropic trust development.
To help build China’s philanthropic ecosystem, we joined with Chinese and international philanthropists in funding and establishing the China Global Philanthropy Institute (CGPI) in 2015. Since then, CGPI has nurtured thousands of professionals in philanthropic management and hundreds of philanthropy leaders. We have supported research on topics such as ultra-high-net-worth donors, everyday donors, and online public fundraising platforms, providing advice on how to encourage giving and enhance the ecosystem. We have also collaborated with peer foundations to co-fund infrastructure such as databases of philanthropic best practices and public donor surveys.
We have also funded the China Philanthropy Roundtable to nurture the giving culture and norms. The roundtable offers accurate and high-quality policy and sector information to practitioners. It also provides advisory services to ultra-high-net-worth donors to assist with their philanthropic planning and decisions. As conversations go deeper, we organize seminars with our partners and subject-matter experts to offer these individuals in-depth insights on charitable and philanthropic issues.
We also work to advance innovation that is adapted to the local context. We supported a team at the National School of Development at Peking University that applied data-driven research on giving behavior and data analysis to improve the design of fundraising products in China. We also work with Chinese partners to adapt and implement new philanthropic models, such as “giving circles” and “collaborative philanthropy”.
