The China Private Foundation Forum (CPFF) 2015 Annual Meeting opened yesterday in Shenzhen. The nationwide gathering of NGO leaders and frontline practitioners began an effort toward forging a solid ground for private foundations in China and enhancing the capacity of those who work in this sector. “We hope to address the issue of people and hear more from the frontline practitioners. We can achieve more by the connection of our thoughts. ”said Chen Yili, the vice director general from the rotating president this year China Merchants Charitable Foundation (招商局慈善基金), in the opening speech. Following him was another opening speech by Liao Hong, deputy director of NGO Management Bureau, Ministry of Civil Affairs(民政部民间组织管理局). The theme talk section was then kicked off by Huo Qingchuan from Dunhe Foundation, Sun Chuanmei from Xinping Foundation(心平公益基金会), and Lu Ling from Chen Yet-sen Family Foundation (陈一心家族基金会).
CDB’s Guo Ting also delivered a report on CDB’s six-month project- Frontline Voices （倾听一线声音）, which researches insights and stories of project officers from 102 foundations. Her speech emphasized on five core findings-project officers’ basic personal information, their participation in foundations’ decision making process, their views towards grant-making and operation, their needs for career development and trainings, and their expectation for salary and future plans. Four project officers, both fresh and experienced, shared their journey in NGO sector and participated in a roundtable discussion after her speech. In the afternoon, there were five simultaneous forums on different topics. Besides the forums, the most heated discussion took place during the debate section with the topic “Capital or People, who will decide the trend of Chinese NGO development?”
