Karla Simon's blog posts on philanthropy and civil society in China

Good news and bad from the public interest law front in China
Posted on May 23, 2013

There are not many CSOs in China with good luck in public interest suits. The environmental area is one where there is great success, but other types of suits frequently miss their mark because courts often refuse to hear the … … Continue reading

News from China: roll-out of plan to allow CSOs to directly register, the earthquake response and other developments
Posted on April 26, 2013

Pursuant to the plan announced by the National People’s Congress (NPC) in March and the follow-up decision to create a timeline of the expected changes to be carried out by the State Council, China Daily has recently reported that the … … Continue reading

Big news from the big meeting of the National People’s Congress in China
Posted on March 21, 2013

While there have been other recent developments that are relevant to this blog, they all pale in comparison with the one part of the Chinese government’s government restructuring plan that affects civil society. As part of this far-reaching plan, the … Continue reading

Trends in Chinese transparency and philanthropy
Posted on February 6, 2013

A report issued in early January dealt with transparency among China’s large foundations. Some of the results are reported in the chart below. Only 182 organizations published financial accounts in their annual reports. Among 240 organizations publicizing their donation information, … Continue reading

‘In the spirit of’ the 18th Party Congress; another accounting scandal in a big charity
Posted on December 19, 2012

Following the close of the 18th Party Congress in mid-November, there were a few developments suggesting that reforms for civil society are in the offing. Indeed, Professor Wang Ming, China’s best-known expert on CSOs, is very upbeat. AIDS CSOs in … Continue reading

Not much ‘new’ news from China as 18th Party Congress wraps up
Posted on November 21, 2012

Makeup of the new ‘Politburo’ With many tales in the Western and local media of the difficulty of doing anything in Beijing besides merely going to work, the 18th Party Congress was grinding to a halt as the new leaders …Continue reading

The Forbes 400 Report: how is next-generation philanthropy shaping up?
Posted on October 19, 2012

A recent post from the Chronicle of Philanthropy about restricted gifts led me to download the linked report that was generated as a result of the Forbes 400 Summit on Philanthropy. Entitled ‘Next-Generation Philanthropy: Changing the World’, the report (available free … … Continue reading

New policies and issues addressed in the lead-up to the China leadership change in November
Posted on October 17, 2012

Ahead of the long-awaited leadership change during the Party Congress now scheduled for 8 November, there have been a few developments at MCA and with regard to social organization reforms generally. In addition, China Development Brief (English) has published a … … Continue reading

Charity diversity, social management innovation and international CSOs – some recent developments in China
Posted on September 17, 2012

At a conference on ‘City Charity and Charity Innovation’, held in connection with a recent charity fair in the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, Minister of Civil Affairs Li Liguo noted that in recent years, Ningxia has put charity in a … … Continue reading

China takes steps forward in foundation accountability and social innovation
Posted on August 20, 2012

It seems that the summer months, with torrid heat and torrential rains in various places in China, including Beijing and Shanghai etc., have slowed the process of change in the legal and fiscal environment for CSOs in China. One of … Continue reading

Evaluation of a UNDP/EU/MoCA project and other developments in China
Posted on July 10, 2012

An interesting public event was held on 25 June, where I was a presenter, on the evaluation of the Governance for Equitable Development (GED) project sponsored by the EU and UNDP in partnership with the Ministry of Civil Affairs (MoCA) … Continue reading

Interesting times for philanthropy and civil society in China
Posted on June 6, 2012

This past month has been an interesting one for civil society in China because there have once again been a large number of developments and press stories that bear on the sector and its needs. Perhaps the most interesting story … Continue reading

How are the new policies for China’s CSOs developing?
Posted on May 22, 2012

A colleague of mine recently commented that the Chinese government seems to be determined to do all it can for opening space for civil society right here and right now! It is difficult to keep up with everything for this … Continue reading

Government downsizing and direct registration of social organizations in China
Posted on April 24, 2012

In recent weeks websites and newspapers in China have heated up with news about coming developments regarding government downsizing, civil society, and the easing of restrictions on registration. For example, the influential news outlet Caixin wrote 'in 2010, the Guangzhou … Continue reading

A round-up of recent civil society developments in China
Posted on 22 March 2012

Guiding Principles for religious organizations’ charitable work The first regulatory development of some note was the issuance in late February of regulations governing the charitable activities of religious organizations. These regulations discuss the ‘Guiding Principles’ for charitable activities of religious … Continue reading

Fashioning new self-regulatory charity policies for accountability and transparency
Posted on 13 February 2012

As mentioned in an earlier blog, China's 'private' foundations have endeavoured to establish self-regulatory guidelines, which were adopted at the second annual private foundation forum. The principles are based on previously developed self-regulation guidelines of the China NPO Network and … Continue reading

A look back at developments affecting civil society in China in 2011 (and a sneak peek at 2012/2013)
Posted on 9 January 2012

As I said recently during a workshop in Beijing, 2011 was really a remarkable year with respect to developments affecting civil society. The year began with the propaganda department of the government saying in January that ‘civil society' was a … Continue reading

Relaxing the registration rules for civil society organizations in China
Posted on 30 November 2011

Instead of blogging this month on self-regulation (a topic to which I will return in 2012), it is important at this juncture to discuss a very significant development. At a party working conference held at the end of November in … Continue reading

Fashioning new government-mandated charity policies for accountability and transparency
Posted on 9 November 2011

At the present time the Chinese Ministry of Civil Affairs (MoCA) has a very robust web portal for civil society, both nationally and for the local bureaus. The national web portal www.chinanpo.gov.cn has online application and filing mechanisms for acquiring … Continue reading

Developing foundation management in China
Posted on 4 October 2011

As I suggested in last month’s blog, major concerns for the new foundations in China include good fund management, human resources and board development – how foundations are seeking to make their giving more effective by enhancing each of these … Continue reading

Finding resources for social development in China
Posted on 1 September 2011

The Ministry of Civil Affairs (MCA) ‘Five Year Plan for Charity Development’, mentioned in my first blog post, raises the matter of resource development for China’s operating charities. This post looks more closely at the question of how CSOs are … Continue reading

What impact will China’s Five Year Plan have on philanthropy?
Posted on 1 August 2011

Although I’m an American, I will be blogging on developments in China regarding civil society and philanthropy. I am in the process of finishing a book on civil society in China, which is due to be published in 2012. Thus, … Continue reading