Author Archive:
Karla Simon
Interesting times for philanthropy and civil society in China
This past month has been an interesting one for civil society in China because there have once again been a large number of developments and press stories that bear on the sector and its needs. …
In defence of gorillas
When I saw the ‘gorilla’ cover on the September 2011 issue of Alliance, I congratulated Caroline Hartnell on it. I liked the tongue-in-cheek allusion to the size of the Gates Foundation. I teach the law …
How are the new policies for China’s CSOs developing?
A colleague of mine recently commented that the Chinese government seems to be determined to do all it can for opening space for civil society right here and right now! It is difficult to keep …
Government downsizing and direct registration of social organizations in China
In recent weeks websites and newspapers in China have heated up with news about coming developments regarding government downsizing, civil society, and the easing of restrictions on registration. For example, the influential news outlet Caixin …
A round-up of recent civil society developments in China
Guiding Principles for religious organizations’ charitable work The first regulatory development of some note was the issuance in late February of regulations governing the charitable activities of religious organizations. These regulations discuss the ‘Guiding Principles’ …
Fashioning new self-regulatory charity policies for accountability and transparency
As mentioned in an earlier blog, China’s ‘private’ foundations have endeavoured to establish self-regulatory guidelines, which were adopted at the second annual private foundation forum. The principles are based on previously developed self-regulation guidelines of …
A look back at developments affecting civil society in China in 2011 (and a sneak peek at 2012/2013)
As I said recently during a workshop in Beijing, 2011 was really a remarkable year with respect to developments affecting civil society. The year began with the propaganda department of the government saying in January …
Relaxing the registration rules for civil society organizations in China
Instead of blogging this month on self-regulation (a topic to which I will return in 2012), it is important at this juncture to discuss a very significant development. At a party working conference held at …
Fashioning new government-mandated charity policies for accountability and transparency
At the present time the Chinese Ministry of Civil Affairs (MoCA) has a very robust web portal for civil society, both nationally and for the local bureaus. The national web portal http://www.chinanpo.gov.cn has online application …
Developing foundation management in China
As I suggested in last month’s blog, major concerns for the new foundations in China include good fund management, human resources and board development – how foundations are seeking to make their giving more effective …
