Apr 27 2010
Yet another post from the Georgetown Managing and Representing Exempt Organizations conference. Lawrence Mendenhall from the Hewlett Foundation and Drew Porter from the Gates Foundation gave a good session about lobbying rules for non-profits, and also talked about how you can properly push the limits of the regulations as well.
Apr 23 2010
Still at the Georgetown conference. Had a very good session called “General Counsel Roundtable”, and one of the speakers was Mary Elcano, GC for Red Cross and former acting/interim CEO. While the topic of the discussions was mostly about the role of a general counsel and what worries the typical GC, Mary did a short piece of compliance and ethics policies that I thought was helpful.
Apr 22 2010
Here live at the Georgetown Managing and Representing Exempt Organizations Conference 2010. I was thinking about live blogging, but given the lack of free internet and poor connectivity, I will try to post over the next few days different things that I hear and learn about.
The morning session opened up with Sarah Hall Ingram, Commissioner of Tax Exempt and Government Entities (TE/GE) Division of the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS” or the “Service”). She had quite a bit to say in terms of developments, and I found some particularly interesting:
Apr 21 2010
Need to take a break from watching the Yushu earthquake death toll and the relief effort, and I thought I should post a quick recap and thoughts about Dr. Wang Zhenyao’s visit to the San Francisco Bay Area to discuss the development of NGOs with American non-profit leaders. Dr. Wang is Director-General of the Department of Disaster and Social Relief of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, and also a professor at Beijing Normal University.
He had plenty to share about the China NGO sector with us, with some of my thoughts interwoven. (often in parenthetical statements) My apologies for taking a week to get this posted.
Apr 13 2010
Back in 2008 during the Sichuan quake, I posted
this list of charities doing work in China in the aftermath of the quake. Now that the 6.9 quake (with aftershocks) has hit Qinghai, I wanted to do the same thing again: make sure that those who want to route funds there can do so.
I am still awaiting NGOs, GONGOs, and other organizations to start setting up their disaster relief funds for the Qinghai earthquake. Rest assured that I will be updating my blog regularly to include these funds as I see them popping up. I am hoping my favorite charity mobilizer Worldvision will act quickly.
Please check back. It’s been busy, but my M&A is now closed, and this is important to me, both because its China, and also because I am now in the non-profit sector at a soon-to-be major global NGO player.
UPDATE 1 (4/14 12am PST): From GoChengdoo, here is information for Red Cross of China:
Renminbi Donations
Account Holder: China Red Cross Society
Bank Branch: China Commercial Bank, Beijing Branch, Dongsinan Sub-branch
Account Number: 0200001009014413252Foreign Currency Donations
Bank Branch: China Citic Bank, Jiuxian Qiao Sub-branch
Account Number: 7112111482600000209Donations by Mail
China Red Cross Society
Address: No. 8 Beixin Qiao Santiao, Dongcheng District, Beijing
Post Code: 100007Online Donations
Red Cross Society of China website in English
UPDATE 2 (4/14 10am PST): WorldVision has set up its website to allow for Qinghai earthquake donations here. It is not a dedicated Qinghai quake fund, but a general earthquake disaster relief fund. I have a feeling that in the coming days, they will open up a Qinghai dedicated fund of some sort.
Alert: China’s Qinghai province was rocked by a 7.1 magnitude earthquake on April 14. At least 400 people dead and over 10,000 reported injured. World Vision is sending an assessment team and emergency relief items to Qinghai.
UPDATE 3 (4/14 3pm PST): Give2Asia has set up a Qinghai earthquake disaster fund. Being friends of Give2Asia, it is an organization that I highly trust as a philanthropic service provider and intermediary. Give2Asia is partnering with the China Charity Foundation to mobilize funds:
On April 14 at 7:49 a.m. in China’s Qinghai Province, a 7.1 earthquake struck, killing at least 400 people and injuring tens of thousands, according to the China Charity Federation (CCF). The quake also destroyed 90% of the homes in the county seat, Jeigu. Give2Asia has created the 2010 Qinghai Earthquake Fund and is partnering with the CCF to deliver immediate relief to survivors, such as shelter, first aid, water and food. CCF is already on the ground working with survivors.
My top 2 recommended places (WorldVision and Give2Asia) have now opened up funds, so you have no excuse to not donate something to the relief efforts.
Also, MercyCorps (who also has a good relationship with Give2Asia–I met some of their members when China sent a delegation last year to discuss philanthropy and learn from U.S. charities) has also opened up a China earthquake fund here. According to their blog, they are already on site and assessing the situation.
UPDATE 4 (4/14 10pm): Plateau Perspectives, a foreign NGO, has officially been asked to go and help with the earthquake relief efforts by the Yushu prefecture government. (h/t Collective Responsibility) The organization has set up a separate page to cover Qinghai quake developments:
The Yushu Prefecture government has requested aid from Plateau Perspectives in the form of medical personnel, medical supplies, and temporary shelters (ie tents and blankets). We are sending an advance medical team to Yushu in about 4 hours to assess the situation, provide emergency care, and set up a base of operations for medical outreach and supply delivery. Additional supplies and medical teams will be sent shortly thereafter. There is already a solid network of medical personnel in China prepared to depart for Yushu, and gifts of cash are the easiest and quickest way that you can help out. Gifts of supplies are more difficult and time consuming to receive, and most supplies needed can be bought in the provincial capital, Xining.
Oct 21 2009
For all of you who weren’t able to attend the Give2Asia call about disaster response in the Philippines earlier this week, Give2Asia actually released a transcript of the conference call that I thought might be of interest. You can download a copy of it here. Enjoy!
Oct 15 2009
Was invited by Give2Asia to share this information with my readers: Give2Asia is hosting a teleconference to brief donors, advisors and friends about relief and recovery needs and effective philanthropic strategies in response to the disaster in the Philippines on Monday, October 19, 2009 at 8:30 am PST/11:30 am EST. More details after the jump.
Sep 15 2009
Read this interesting article in the Asia Times ( h/t CDT) that documents the amount of public donations from the Sichuan earthquake which were funneled to the government and not toward the NGOs that are actually on the ground doing the work. What is outrageous is that its a majority of those funds that found their way to the government. Which is again, an indictment of government control over NGOs. (not to mention GONGOs, which I still find to be an oxymoron if I ever heard one)
The article and actual figures after the jump.
Aug 24 2009
Last month, I was invited to a lunch seminar (invitation only) hosted by
Give2Asia where they discussed the challenges facing Chinese education, and more specifically, the problem of funding Chinese higher education. Scott Sugiara with Give2Asia gave us some of the statistics: since 2001, their organization has given over $100 million to Asia, and about 35% of that has been in the forms of grants/scholarships to individuals. (focused mostly on Jiaotong Daxue and other Shanghai university students) One thing he also noted was that education is not cheaper at the top universities because there are often scholarships for those students. Ironically, its the students who go to regional and vocational schools who have a harder time affording their higher education.
One solution, after the jump.
Aug 11 2009
Sorry to the last minute update, but I just saw this post over at the Asian Philanthropy Forum. Give2Asia and Social Venture Group are hosting a conference call on Wednesday August 12, 2009 at 8:30 a.m. PST to discuss philanthropic opportunities and challenges in China. Sounds interesting–more details after the jump!
Apr 29 2009
Today is the kickoff of TechSoup Global’s Partner Summit 2009. And in case you were wondering, yes, we tried to briefly cover the NGO/GONGO sector in China. John Fung, from HKCSS (our partner in Hong Kong and Macau), spoke this morning about how IT can strongly affect a smaller NGO in China. This can give NGOs the tools they need to become more effective. This is our TechSoup mission statement.
John spoke with a variety of NGOs in China about IT and technology. He gave one case study: an NGO working with HIV/AIDS in China. More about this group after the jump.
Apr 15 2009
TechSoup Global (“TSG”), where I work, is actually looking to add a Staff Attorney (Volunteer/Fellow) later this year. Above the Law and other news outlets have been covering the news (e.g., here, here, and here) about large law firms like Skadden, Morgan Lewis, Latham & Watkins, Weil Gotshal, Orrick, White & Case, and Mayer Brown (and more!) deferring start dates and offering stipends of $60,000 to $75,000 to volunteer at a public interest first. When the economy gives you lemons, make lemonade. So TSG is looking at add 1-2 Staff Attorney Fellows among those who have been offered deferral stipends.
Our selling point: how many non-profit orgs can offer you a chance to work on cutting edge international legal issues, in-house counsel corporate style experience, and a good environment in a sustainable, socially-minded enterprise business model? We’d like to think we’re the only one. More details after the jump.
