Grassroots NGOs Staged at Crossroads

China's grass-root NGOs are being urged to upgrade their fund raising, publicity and marketing capabilities to face new challenges and opportunities, said NGO experts and practitioners in a salon held on Friday in Beijing.

The non-government organization (NGO) landscape has been subject to intense external pressures and changes over the past five years. With the explosive development of grass-root organizations in China after the Sichuan earthquake in 2008, China has dealt with declining levels of foreign financial aid; decreased regulations; flourishing social media platforms and scandals in public office.

Co-organized by the Social Resources Institute and British Council, the salon invited several NGO presidents and attracted over 100 attendees to discuss how to brace for continued change and transformation.

Challenging situation

In the past two decades, developed countries and international organizations have contributed over US$116.1 billion in financial aid to China. This money has been used to create projects in education, environment, health, rural development and poverty reduction, China's Caixin magazine reported.

With the onset of the financial crisis in 2008, many western countries have reduced or cancelled their aid packages to China, citing a decreased financial capability to offer economic assistance. In real terms, aid in US dollars has also lost value due to the RMB's gradual appreciation on international currency markets.

In northwestern China, many organizations that provide rural services and environmental protection shut down or scaled back their operations mid-last-year. Many NGOs that have access to limited funding channels now face an uncertain future, Caixin reported.

Transparency is another hot issue. After a series of scandals related to official government funding, China's charity sector is faced with a severe public trust crisis, making it extremely difficult for grass-root NGOs to secure access to sufficient funding.

In 2011, the Red Cross Society of China (RCSC), China's largest charity, came under fire after Guo Meimei, a young woman who claimed to be a general manager for "Red Cross Commerce," posted photos on the Internet to show off her lavish lifestyle.

Her actions provoked the ire of Internet users who speculated that she might have funded her extravagant purchases by embezzling money from the RCSC.

The RCSC denied the existence of "Red Cross Commerce" and that it employed Guo Meimei, and vowed to set up a public supervision committee and build an online service to increase supervision and promote donation transparency, financial management and fund distribution, Xinhua News Agency reported.