* Any views expressed in this opinion piece are those of the author and not of Thomson Reuters Foundation.
As the second largest economy and a fast growing market in the world, China has achieved a lot in the past 30 years. But the non-profit sector is still a new concept in the country, its development often reminds me of the old days in 1980s and 1990s, when private-sector began to grow and flourish in China.
Many Chinese people got to know the word “NGO” for the first time in 1995, when Beijing held the 4th World Conference on Women. Over 26,000 delegates from overseas NGOs participated in the Conference and discussed women’s issues together.
“I was astounded to see so many people working towards women’s rights and they were all working in non-government organisations, a sector I had never heard about before,” said Guo Jianmei, who was then an editor at the magazine Chinese Lawyers and was covering the event.
Inspired by the Conference and her original keen interest in women’s rights, later in 1995 Guo started her career in the non-profit field and founded the Women’s Legal Research and Service Centre (affiliated to the Law School of Peking University). She and her colleagues helped women get access to free legal service and defend their legal rights on the court.
Today, the Centre (renamed to Beijing Zhong Ze Women’s Legal Consulting and Service Centre) has helped about 100,000 individuals in China on women’s land rights, sexual harassment and rape cases. It has become one of the most influential women’s rights NGOs in China.
Unlike Beijing Zhong Ze, a large portion of non-profits in China didn’t set up until recent years. In 2008, the great earthquake hit southwest Sichuan Province, and people’s high spirit in donating and volunteering hit the country. It was a great opportunity for the third sector to grow, and they emerged quickly and swiftly.
Today, there are 1-1.5 million registered or not registered non-profit organisations in China. However, due to some reasons, most of them are not quite effective and efficient.
Registration restriction
Non-profit registration in China is strict and difficult. Only when a non-profit gets a government department to supervise its operation is it eligible to submit an application of registration to the civil affairs office. The complex procedure leaves many grassroots NGOs unregistered, which means they cannot raise funds, enjoy tax preferential policies, and they face potential legal risks.
Many other non-profits select to register as a corporation, but they have to afford higher tax rates.
Though the situation is changing in some parts of China, like Guangdong Province, where non-profits don’t need to find a government office to supervise their operation, things remain the same as usual for the rest of the country.
Short of resources
Many Chinese NGOs are short of various kinds of resources, from funds to volunteers, from public support to professional assistance from outside the organisation.
Fund raising is always the number one big problem for nearly all NGOs. In China, only public foundations can raise funds publicly. Fund raising channels for other foundations and non-profits are individual/corporate donatiosn, CSR programme funded by companies, and prizes and awards given by government or other organisations.
Public understanding of the non-profit sector and their work is still very low. In a social environment where government manages everything traditionally, many people don’t think it’s decent to work in a non-profit organisation. This also explains why they cannot get enough funding from the society.
Consequently, only very few professionals seek jobs in the non-profit sector. This put the NGOs in a very difficult situation, as they lack expertise in tax and accounting, legal, and in their respective working fields such as health, education, climate changes, etc.
Unprofessional
Many grassroots NGOs in China only have a couple of or even one staff. They don’t have a clear mission, vision and value. The director doesn’t have a strong leadership, let alone the organisation’s structure and efficiency. This is why many big corporations have a headache in finding a proper non-profit collaborator in implementing their CSR programmes.
Dead end?
So, is it a dead end? Unprofessionalism leads to less resources, which leads to more unprofessionalism… The status quo is hard for non-profits, but it’s not really a dead end. Some of them not only survive, but also grow bigger, stronger and more influential, like Beijing Zhong Ze.
What the non-profits need most in China is a loose environment but in a good order. People have been arguing on issues related to the development of non-profit sector in recent years, such as registration, fund raising, using of funds, legal structure, fields of practice, etc. The ultimate goal is to create a preferable environment for the sector and foster the culture of philanthropy.
There have been some actions. After Guangdong Province loosened the registration restriction for NGO, the Civil Affairs Bureau of Wenzhou (in Eastern Zhejiang Province) released a new regulation in October 2012 saying the registered capital for philanthropic organisations descends to zero.
I’m optimistic about the future for non-profits in China, just like the private sector has enjoyed a great hop in the past decades. Challenges always exist. We have no choice but to take them and turn them into opportunities by action.
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