The changing face of charity in China
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China's civil society has emerged as a legitimate and necessary partner in terms of its ability to contribute toward aid relief and charity work since the Sichuan earthquake in 2008.
Two years on, according to a Xinhua news report in November, private charity organizations may outnumber State-run charities by the end of the year. However, regardless of the amount of private-run organizations, charity as a concept in China is still in its embryonic stage.
Chinese non-governmental groups are now trying to implement their own mechanisms, specific to the region, in order to promote charity on individual and corporate levels.
One group that has emerged within the nascent stage of China's charitable landscape is MSD China, the first nationwide non-profit membership organization which is geared toward empowering ethnic minority suppliers; integrating them into the global economy.
MSD's system, which is based upon corporate membership fees, brings cost benefits for those multinationals which join, and goes some way in turning regional suppliers into global ones. This kind of organization is a radical departure from the "traditional" concept of charity within China.
First, there is still an element of profit and competitive-gain at play here, and to outside observers it may look like an elaborate framework for networking.
However, what a group like this brings into perspective is the socially responsible nature of companies within China.
Though the majority of MSD's current corporate members consist of foreign multinationals, the list also boasts a number of Chinese companies (the most well-known among them being the Tasly Group) who have taken on the challenge of integrating social responsibility into their corporate practices.
The important thing to note about the formation of MSD China is that this represents a deviation from Western notions of charity within China.
Selling fair-trade items cannot be established overnight unfortunately, and Chinese companies are not suddenly going to give away large amounts of cash considering that their economic gain has only really emerged within the last 10-15 years.
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