Beijing Times (京华时报), July 19, 2013
Starting today, the Yunnan government will retreat from the public interest fundraising market – unless a natural disaster occurs, the government cannot participate in public fundraising. Yesterday, the Ministry of Civil Affairs and the Yunnan government held a joint conference on social construction and innovation for social organizations, and today the Yunnan government released “Suggestions Regarding the Cultivation and Development of Social Organizations in Order to Accelerate and Advance the Construction of the Modern Social Organization System”, “Regulations on the Promotion of the Yunnan Charity Sector”, “Provisional Measures on Government Procurement of Social Services”, and “2013 Provincial Catalog of Government Procurement of Social Services,” and openly solicited suggestions, marking the official launch of Yunnan social construction innovation and social system reform. Aside from a provision which prevents the government from restricting the number of public foundations with the ability to openly solicit funds, and from demanding that public foundations’ funds are channeled to certain government agencies, the new regulations also close a loophole that allowed public servants to establish their own social organizations.
