The Social Organizations Development Plan set out in the 14th Five-Year Plan (“the Plan”) was recently published by the Ministry of Civil Affairs to clarify the requirements, main tasks and provisions for social organizations for the next five years.
The plan first summarizes the achievements of social organizations across the country during the 13th Five-Year Plan. According to data from the Bureau of Organization and Management of the Ministry of Civil Affairs and Xinhua News, the number of registered social organizations now exceeds 900,000, which is two times greater than the number prior to 2012.
By the end of 2020, the total fixed assets of all social organizations in China had reached 478.5 billion yuan ($74.87 billion) and created jobs for 10.62 million people. So far, social organizations have run 92,000 poverty reduction programs and donated goods and resources worth 124.5 billion yuan. During the pandemic and post-pandemic period, social organizations raised funds totalling 39.62 billion yuan.
The Plan points out that in recent years, the focus of social organizations in China has turned to making improvements in service quality; this trend is expected to continue over the next five years. By 2025, social organizations are expected to have created jobs for 12.5 million people and have fixed assets worth 590 billion yuan. At the same time, 25 percent of the organizations are expected to achieve a rating of at least 3A in their annual performance evaluation, and more than 80 percent are expected to have a complete governance structure.
Supervision of social organizations is also expected to improve. Based on relevant provisions in the Civic Code of the People’s Republic of China, a third-party supervision system will be established.
Capacity building will continue to be a key focus for social organizations, including creating brand building strategies and improving the digitalization and professionalism of their services. Social organizations are also encouraged and supported to serve communities and develop community-based programs.
