Give2Asia Giving Forum

International Corporate Philanthropy Day: Challenges for China

By Dien Yuen, Give2Asia

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is becoming a large field in Asia, especially with the launch of groups like CSR Asia that provide the much needed research and advisory services to institutionalize the field. One of CSR Asia's articles, "Challenges to Chinese Philanthropy,"* highlights some of the barriers corporations in China face. As I read the article I realized that the definitions of 'philanthropy' and 'CSR' are very western concepts with distinct meanings. I wonder if we have been able to successfully separate the two concepts in practice here in the U.S. 

The author says that "CSR in China is still widely perceived as philanthropy. The concept of community investment is largely unknown, and for many people, CSR is comparable to a donation rather than actively engaging communities and developing real partnerships." 

I hope that as philanthropy develops in the region, it can engage communities and develop real partnerships. Perhaps, one of the reasons that CSR is seen as a "donation" is that many corporations were started, managed or controlled by families and individuals and it is an extension of their giving.  Given enough time and adoption of practices, CSR in China could certainly resemble our western practices. However, I wonder if that is the solution we should aim for given our economic predicament.

Here is a brief list of the challenges to philanthropy mentioned in the article:

1. Lack of accountability and transparency of government foundation.
2. Insufficient experts and professionals who know both philanthropy and business.
3. Education projects are much more valued since contributions are made in relation to return of value. "The mentality of giving money to something that has no obvious future value is uncommon in China."
4. Chinese companies do not think of themselves as being a corporate citizen.
5. Business owners think that their business is to make profit for shareholders.
6. Chinese people still regard philanthropy as some occasional activity by wealthy organizations or individuals.

* Download Challenges To Chinese Philanthropy Article

Fostering Change on the Other Side of the World

Q&A with Gwen Moore, founder of the Gwen Moore Children of China Fund

I have written a lot over the years about how the Gwen Moore Children of China Fund came to be.[i] I wondered what “Giving Forum” readers might want to know, so I polled Jennifer Xu, a “Generation Y-er” and member of the Fund’s Advisory Board, and Birger Stamperdahl, Give2Asia’s Director of Marketing.

Q: How did the issue of women's and girls' education in rural China become important to you? How did you choose Luodian County?

A: The need to support education for poor children and peasant women in remote Luodian County actually chose me. A New York Times article I read 14 years ago showed the deep and persistent poverty confronting peasants in rural China, many of whom still live like their ancestors lived. In the story, a peasant man, who raised his two daughters alone in a mud hut, said, “We don’t have money to buy fertilizer, I don’t have a cow or ox to cultivate the land and the soil is barren. Living in this kind of poverty makes us too embarrassed to even go out of doors.” [ii]

I could not then, nor can I now, explain why I was moved to act. The next day, I tracked down the Times journalist in Beijing. He, too, had been touched and offered to serve as intermediary between me and the farmer’s village in Luodian County in landlocked Guizhou Province.

Notes for Online Networking

Like most charities, Give2Asia is constantly trying to find a better way to build up its online community. We know that people go online to find out about charitable work in Asia, and increasingly people are making donations and connections online with groups across the globe. There are plenty of examples of nonprofits who have created entirely new models for philanthropy using the Internet. Kiva.org, for example, has built an impressive community online by allowing individuals to become micro-lenders to entrepreneurs who may simply need $100 or $200 to start a business in regions such as Africa or Asia.

But there are other ways to harness the Internet that do not require inventing a new business model. This blog site, for example, is a way for Give2Asia to share stories of its work, raise awareness on specific issues, and in general increase public interest in philanthropy for Asia.

Recently we’ve had more and more donors and nonprofits ask for advice on how to market their own organizations and causes using the Internet. We’ve also seen some examples of people doing it right and want to share those examples with you. Here are some quick notes to help people think about their own online fundraising.