The 21st Century Philanthropy-Media Coordination Platform was recently initiated in Beijing by more than ten Chinese social organisations, with the sponsorship of the Huibai Charity Fund.
The platform aims to address a number of problems with Chinese social organisations, including late news releases and an inability to guide and influence public opinion. Taking these issues into account, the platform will promote the sharing of resources through the cooperation between social organisations and media, and ultimately help philanthropic organisations better serve society.
The president of the 21st Century Charity Fund, Lu Junfeng, remarked that there needs to be the right social climate for the spread of philanthropic attitudes. The creation of this kind of climate is based on the understanding and further support of ordinary citizens. During this process the media, as a public instrument with significant social influence, should encourage the emergence of a culture of philanthropy in society.
The Huibai Charity Fund has sponsored the platform with 200 million Yuan. Feng Xiaoqiang, the leader of Huibai, claims that this cooperation based on mutual trust, willingness and equality is designed to bridge the media and social organisations through resource integration and information transparency. Cooperation will take place on three levels – technical support, strategic research and service assurance.
Feng Xiaoqiang has also stated his awareness that the media play an indispensable role in the popularization of charity and the building of a harmonious society. In the wake of the rise of social media, the channels and carriers of information and the methods of communication are very different from what they were in the past. It has therefore become crucial to understand how the new media can more efficiently serve philanthropy.
The platform is supposed to represent a response to what the new situation requires. It will effectively integrate social organisations like Chinese NGOs, charitable organisations and the media to better develop the philanthropic business in China.
