China Philanthropy

SVG Book Review: The Foundation by Joel L. Fleishman

What do dialing 911, food production in India, and Big Bird all have in common? Their existence depends largely on foundations. What are foundations? The United States alone has more than 68,000 of them, and one of the most exciting developments in China’s philanthropic landscape is the emergence of private foundations. Despite their quantity and ubiquity across cultures, controversy and mystery often cloak these institutions.

When SVG was first getting off the ground, a close friend and mentor to Grace in the US recommended this book to us, and we have found it to be very informative and helpful in our interactions with our overseas foundation clients.  In The Foundation Joel L. Fleishman explains the place of foundations in U.S. history and brings us up to speed on the important role these organizations play both in America and around the world.

Book Review: Rural Policy in China – The Recent OECD Review

We're excited to bring you our first guest post. Graham Thompson of The Blackford Trust (who we recently featured in an interview) kindly offered to review the OECD's recent report on rural policy in China. Read all about it!

Despite China's drive towards urbanization, it remains a predominantly rural country, with over 700m people living in the countryside – nearly twice the rural population in all OECD countries.  Rural policy remains fundamental to China's future, and has been examined in great detail in a recent publication by the OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development).  The Rural Policy Review of China, published in March 2009, was a collaborative effort between Chinese government and OECD researchers.  In addition, the work was partly funded by the devolved government of Scotland, a fact that is greatly welcomed by this writer, as a former Scottish rural policy official and Chairman of a charity that is focused on enhancing Scottish/China links.