1. China Biennial Conference for Educational NGOs
3. China Foundation Rankings project
4. Indiana University Philanthropic Initiative
5. China US Strategic Philanthropy Workshop
China Biennial Conference for Educational NGOs, Xian, November 7-8, 2013
CDB’s Editor Liu Haiying attended the 2013 China Biennial Conference for Educational NGOs that was held in Xian. This was the third time the event had been held and Haiying reports that it was a successful one. The conference produced a directory of educational NGOs and a report that presented a number of case studies. Alongside numerous representatives from Chinese educational NGOs, the conference organizers also invited representatives from outside the sector, including government officials and international experts. Haiying contributed an article to the conference report and reported that one of the main conclusions that emerged from the two-day event was that educational NGOs are not currently addressing the most pressing issues.
EU-China Twinning Workshop, Kunming, November 8-9, 2013
Shawn Shieh, CDB (English) Editor, spoke about CDB’s Diversification of Public Advocacy report at the EU-China Twinning Workshop on November 8, and attended a board meeting of the Twinning Program on November 9. He was joined by Li Bo, a board member of Friends of Nature, who spoke about the I Love! Kunming campaign that he and other environmentalists are organizing to protect Kunming’s environment. The Twinning Program is an exchange program of NGO professionals working in Chinese and European NGOs aimed at establishing sustainable twinning partnerships between Chinese and European civil society organizations. Several European and Chinese NGOs working on similar thematic issues will be paired up as “twinning partners”. The exchange fellows then spend 4-8 weeks in their partner organizations for a work-and-study period. Participating Chinese NGOs included Green Watershed, CHEE Productions, the Yunnan Environmental Development Institute, Wuhan University’s Public Interest and Development Law Institute, and Hunan Aimier. The European NGOs included BothENDS (Netherlands), Berlin Massive (Germany), Grune Liga (Germany), The Rights Practice (UK) and Chickenshed (UK). Details of the Twinning Program can be found here.
China Foundation Rankings, Beijing, November 11/14, 2013
CDB’s Executive Director Chen Yimei, CDB (English) Director Shawn Shief, and CDB’s Associate Editor Guo Ting all attended events to mark the release of the findings from the China Foundation Rankings project. The Rankings uniquely rates foundations from the perspective of Chinese NGOs, and therefore marks an important step in efforts to strengthen the foundation-NGO relationship. A full report of the events can be found here.
Indiana University Philanthropic Initiative, Beijing, November 12, 2013
CDB participated in the Indiana University Initiative on Philanthropy in China held at Beijing Normal University’s China Philanthropy Research Institute (CPRI). The event marked the beginning of the Initiative that is generously funded by the Ford Foundation, the Henry Luce Foundation, Indiana University, and other donors. The Initiative involves eight partners, including CDB, who will carry out a research project and publish a working paper by October of 2014. CDB’s Chen Yimei, Shawn Shieh, and Fu Tao presented and commented at the event, which featured lively debate among some of the leading scholars of Chinese and global philanthropy. Shawn and Fu Tao introduced CDB’s research project examining the impact of Chinese foundations on grassroots NGOs. Details of the projects can be found at the Initiative’s website here.
China US Strategic Philanthropy Workshop, Beijing, November 13, 2013
CDB attended the China US Strategic Philanthropy (CUSP) Workshop that was held at CPRI. The Workshop was well attended and featured a summary of CUSP activities, as well as reviews of each of the five working groups. It concluded with a discussion of the future direction of CUSP activities. Several participants pointed out the importance of strengthening communication and co-ordination between existing CUSP members, and extending invitations to interested parties who were not represented at the event. After the Workshop three taxi-loads of CUSP participants came back for a tour of the CDB office and a question and answer session with the CDB staff. Among them were Angela Bies from Indiana University, Melissa Berman from Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors, Heather Grady from the Rockefeller Foundation, Mark Sidel from the International Center for Not-for-Profit Law, Carol Fox from the East-West Center, and Holly Chang from the Golden Bridges Foundation. All visitors received a warm CDB welcome and thoroughly enjoyed experiencing CDB’s unique hutong location.
