COVID-19 has upset virtually every industry in China, as people were ordered to remain at home and not return to their place of work after the Chinese New Year. This includes WINGS’ four members based in the country, along with millions of other Chinese citizens. WINGS checked in with its members in the country, and reports how even from home, the philanthropy development community is making a real impact on the ground. We also share updates on the global philanthropy community’s response to the crisis.
China Foundation Center
The virus has influenced our life and work in China. Without the possibility of traveling across the country and return to our office, CFC staff started to work from home, online, immediately we responded quickly to the situation. Although this situation has been difficult for us, CFC has successfully developed an online platform for donation disclosure, which contains the social donation to and expenditure from foundations, red-cross organizations and charity federations at all levels. The disclosure platform has been functioning smoothly and well, thanks to the hard work of our staff members who have been working separately and in different areas across the country.
Thanks to CFC’s and other philanthropic entities’ longtime appeal for transparency in the philanthropy sector, the general public is now more aware of their donation flow and the openness of the organization they give money for. Consequently, our real-time disclosure platform has attracted great attention from the public and has won recognition in and outside the philanthropy circle. In order to provide a more intuitive interface, we are continuing to improve it and have added a real-time update map of charities in different provinces accepting donations and/or expenditures for the epidemic situation.
Please check the link below for more information about the disclosure platform (in Chinese): http://www1.foundationcenter.org.cn/Special/yqncov
Any suggestions or reservations are highly welcomed. You can get in touch with us by: cfc@foundationcenter.org.cn
Narada Foundation
Our team has been working from home since the beginning of February. We are supporting different NGOs in China who are responding to the CoV epidemic by making grants and initiating a collaborative infrastructure platform for the sector. The China NGO Consortium for COVID-19 was jointly launched by a few foundations, including Narada and some local NGOs on Feb 2. Up until now, over 40 Chinese foundations and NGOs have joined the Consortium to share information and collaborate with each other.
Resources published by the China NGO Consortium for COVID-19’s official WeChat (in Chinese)
- Launching news: https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/9vMK8CMIzZFgJ6x3EegOGA
- Introduction to the 2nd batch of members: https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/_J356W9Cd4g5kQWuLjOsUQ
- Newsletter 6th: https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/3AtQEEV_nBda0rNKxy_z4g
- 2019 annual workplan: https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/NgmrSnIQrlGrj5jOvuMK9Q
Woqi Foundation
The virus has presented a large challenge for the country, but China has been mobilizing all of its resources to combat the virus. Some foundations, social service NGOs and volunteer groups have actively joined the relief efforts. Their actions range from mobilizing medical materials to hospitals, providing online consultation to and seeking medical treatment opportunities for patients at home, caring for long-distance truck drivers who deliver logistics to Wuhan, catering for the special needs of various marginalized groups in predicament due to the crisis, to setting up funds for doctors who sacrifice their lives in the fight. There are also other efforts including policy advocacy initiated by some environmental NGOs on banning the trade and consumption of wild animals. In addition, 11 foundations initiated China NGO Consortium for COVID 19 for information sharing and networking purposes.
As to Woqi Foundation, under the support of Vanke Foundation (the donor of our program of urban community waste reduction and recycling, who has donated CNY 100 million for the relief efforts in the first time), we are doing a minor part by encouraging and supporting our community partner NGOs to adapt their work under the special situation or to strengthen their communities’ capacity in coping with the virus.
For the time being, there are three major information hubs available for NGOs’ emergent efforts:
- www.cfforum.org.cn/category/188 (produced by China Foundation Forum)
- CNC-COVID19 Dynamic/News Brief (produced by CNCDRR-China NGO Center for Disaster Risk Reduction on WeChat)
- www1.foundationcenter.org.cn/Special/yqncov (produced by China Foundation Center)
We wish to see things get better, both in China and in the world.
Yishan
Yishan staff are doing well working from home. It is a difficult time for China and we have had many deaths due to the coronavirus. We have been working on collecting donation information in connection with the coronavirus for over four weeks. It shows that over 30,000 companies and millions of people made over 3 billion USD in donations to over 2,000 NGOs for disaster relief. Yishan will disclose all the information and keep the usage of donation transparent to forge the creditability of philanthropy sector. More information to follow.
Other efforts
Bill & Melina Gates Foundation
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation increases donation to US$100 million for coronavirus relief efforts. The Foundation recently announced it is increasing its spending to US$100 million to help“find a vaccine for the virus, limit its spread, and improve the detection and treatment of patients.” The World Health Organization and US Center for Disease Control is slated to receive US$20 million immediately. The Foundation will also send money to China and other affected countries.
CDC Foundation
The Center for Disease Control based in the USA has its own foundation. They keep actively updated information on their website and have an Emergency Response Fund that enables the CDC to strengthen critical global health security needs and respond immediately to public health emergencies such as the current novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV)
Center for Disaster Philanthropy
The Center for Disaster Philanthropy is keeping an updated page on COVID-19, its impact, immediate needs, and information on how to help. They house a Global Recovery Fund that provides an opportunity for donors to help meet the challenges and needs of the ongoing challenges presented by the virus.
Give2Asia
Give2Asia is partnering with local NGOs to support frontline health workers and institutions responding to the crisis. So far, they have raised over $5 million dollars in pledges and support to help combat the virus which is channeled through local groups on the ground. You can either give online or through their Facebook page. Learn more about it here.
Should you be aware of any other resources we can add to this list, especially as more countries report cases and start funds, please send them to Maira Prado at mprado@wingsweb.org and we can keep this page actively updated.
This blog was compiled by the WINGS Team.
Resources for this blog post:
Philanthropy in Focus 