A View from the Media: Response to the Quake

This article originally appeared on China Development Brief (English) on May 16, 2013.

By Amanda Brown-Inz
Associate Director, China Development Brief (English)

When a magnitude 7.0 earthquake hit Lushan, Sichuan on April 20th, media attention turned to fundraising and emergency relief efforts directed at the affected region. For Chinese civil society, the event was immediately framed in comparison with the devastating 2008 Sichuan earthquake, in which almost 70,000 people were killed. The 2008 earthquake has been viewed by many as a turning point for Chinese NGOs, as the government, ill-prepared for the magnitude of such a disaster, turned to local NGOs for aid relief and assistance. These relief efforts spawned a number of Sichuan NGOs dedicated to disaster relief, most notably the Sichuan 5.12 Voluntary Relief Services Center (四川512民间救助服务中心), and led to greater awareness and acknowledgement of NGOs’ role in society from both the government and the public.Continue Reading

Giving Ground: Balancing government and charity in China

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On April 20, 2013 a 6.0-magnitude earthquake struck the city of Ya’an in Sichuan Province, China. In the month since the disaster, the role of NGOs in relief and recovery activities has been diminished, compared to the 8.0 quake that struck the region in May 2008, according to Xiao Rong, Give2Asia’s Country Representative for China. [...]

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Innovation in Asian Philanthropy Report Launched

By Dien Yuen Innovation in Asian Philanthropy: Entrepreneurial Social Finance in Asia, a new study published by the Asia Centre for Social Entrepreneurship and Philanthropy at NUS Business School (Singapore), was launched on May 8th amongst a crowd of domestic and international audiences at the philanthropy seminar, Innovation or Imitation. Does It Matter?.

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Chinese Philanthropy in the Age of Weibo

Navigating the new world of social media should be a top priority for Chinese charities, according to Dawn Wang, senior correspondant for China Current. Wang’s story, China’s Philanthropy in the Age of Weibo, takes  look at the different ways emerging forms of social media and online communications are affecting NGOs in China, including: 

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The Highs and Lows: How Sporting Events and Natural Disasters Affect Corporate Philanthropy

Timing is everything for nonprofits looking to engage locally-based corporations, according to a new report from Harvard Business School. Punctuated Generosity: How Mega-events and Natural Disasters Affect Corporate Philanthropy in US Communities,  published in Administrative Science Quarterly, examined how natural disasters and major sporting events in the community of a corporate headquarters affects that corporation’s philanthropy. [...]

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Companies Getting Ready For ‘The CSR Clause’ In India

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By Charles Ostertag Over the past several years, India has been updating its corporate law and legal framework to increase transparency, accountability, and align with international business standards. The primary focus of these efforts has been the revision of the Companies Act of 1956. On December 18, 2012, the Lok Sabha (India’s lower house of [...]

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Agastya Mobile Science Labs Up For Rockefeller Innovation Award

Agastya International, a Give2Asia partner that provides mobile science instruction for elementary school students, has been nominated for The Rockefeller Foundations’s Next Century Innovator Award. The foundation compiled a list of 100 Global Innovators that will be voted upon by the public beginning on May 1, 2013. Three winners will receive grants from the Rockefeller [...]

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Chinese NGOs Coordinate Sichuan Earthquake Response

Villagers buiding tent with their own materials in Lushan County

By: Zhang Wenqi China Program Manager, Give2Asia On April 23, NGO and government leaders gathered at Beijing Normal University to discuss the response to the earthquake that struck Sichuan Province on Saturday April 20. The forum’s main speaker was Ms. Guo Hong of Sichuan Academy of Social Science and an active grassroots NGO advisor. Ms. [...]

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Translating CDB’s New Report on China’s Civil Society

CDB Beijing Forum

Dear readers and supporters of CDB, We want to thank everyone that came, helped and supported our State of Chinese Civil Society Forum and Public Advocacy Forum on March 26-27, 2012. We are happy to report that the two forums were a success. We had around 115 people attend the larger, bilingual Civil Society Forum, [...]

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Disaster Response in the Asia Pacific: A Guide to International Tools & Services

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In response to a call from the United Nations member states, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs has recently published a new report on disaster response in the Asia-Pacific region, called Disaster Response in Asia: A Guide to International Tools & Services. The report is designed to help disaster responders and coordinators [...]

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