By Kong Bin (孔斌) , Charity Forum (公益慈善论坛), February 6, 2013
Kong Bin, who wrote the Xi’an Civil Volunteer Public Benefit Organizations Report in 2010, notes the new challenges facing Shaanxi NGOs in 2013. The author writes that the major challenges of 2010, such as registration difficulties, lack of support, lack of funding, lack of personnel, and lack of resources, have been ameliorated to some extent by new government policies and support from foundations and businesses. The new problems, Kong writes, are 1. Increased administrative expenses that accompany registration add a heavy financial burden, which can be particularly problematic because funders are generally not interested in supporting administrative expenses. 2. Personnel skills tend to fall within the sector of their service targets, rather than in “NGO” skills such as management and fundraising. 3. NGOs are lacking in social resources, and require the assistance of government or businesses to establish communication platforms. 4. NGOs lack the qualifications for issuing invoices or engaging in public fundraising.
