The China Annual Conference on Philanthropy, jointly organized by the China Philanthropy Times, a national newspaper focusing on China’s public welfare sector, and other eleven philanthropic organizations, took place in the Beijing Convention Center on Wednesday.
“The path of the nonprofit sector is heading from the niche to the public, from singularity to diversity, from offline to online”, says Liu Jing, director of the China Philanthropy Times, in his opening speech. He added that “in the current context, in which the leverage effect of Internet charity has increased and the traditional charity model has been challenged or even subverted, practitioners of public service must maintain an open mind, break the stereotypes, continue to find the solutions to social problems, and establish a social mobilization system that everyone can participate in.”
As a grand event for China’s charity community, the conference gathered many experts, practitioners and social workers who work at the frontline of public welfare projects, and they generously shared their thoughts and experiences.
Gao Qianqian, the Chief Representative of Ford Foundation China talked about the introduction of internet technology in charity, which she believes is both an opportunity and a challenge. “On the one hand it makes us more transparent, on the other hand we also worry about how to protect our privacy. So I think we must take into account the strength of innovation and at the same time consider the regulation of technology and big data in the public welfare industry.”
Kang Xiaoguang, Dean of the China Public Welfare Innovation Research Institute and Professor at the School of Public Administration and Policy of Renmin University, addressed the “left or right” debate which has shaken the charity sector this year, in which left indicates equality and right means efficiency, reiterating his opinion that charity should always focus on equality. “Charity could borrow technology, management and methods from business at the technical level, but this does not mean that the sector should turn to the right.” he said.
Corresponding to this year’s theme of “bringing together all forces and moving forward”, the conference released a series of awards including the “2017 Top Ten Public Welfare News of the Year”, the “2017 Public Welfare Person of the Year”, the “2017 Public Welfare Enterprise of the Year” and the “2017 Public Welfare Journalist of the Year”.
