China Nonprofit Technology Blog (excluding jobs)

HIV counselling moves online

Todd — Sat, 26 Feb 2011 10:20:12 +0000

A national NGO has developed a website that offers anonymous online counselling about sexual health and HIV/AIDS. Named Hand in Hand Online (link in Chinese) after the long-running Chinese magazine for people living with HIV and AIDS, Hand in Hand, it offers a range of free interactive services to make information on sexual health more accessible to the general public via the internet.

Users can post their questions online, and receive an immediate response from volunteer counsellors and doctors who work for one of the participating counselling organizations (currently, Mangrove Support Group and Zhuoniao Online). Alternatively, users can try one of the interactive assessment tools, which guide the user through a series of questions and automatically generate advice. Interactive assessment is available for three topics: genital self-check, high-risk behaviour, and symptom assessment.

The website also offers a range of special features for HIV positive users, to help them better manage their health. This part of the site was designed by Mangrove Support Group, one of China's best-known self-help groups for people living with HIV and AIDS. After registering a free account, users can record and view information such as their medical history, changes in their CD4 cell counts and viral load readings over time, their current drug regimen, and so on. The system can even send a reminder when it is time to pick up a new supply of medicine from their health provider. And when using the online counselling service, this detailed data can also be viewed by the counsellor so that they can provide better advice or diagnosis.

Hand in Hand Online is currently in public beta, and is operated by the Chinese Association of STD and AIDS Prevention and Control (link in Chinese).

Affiliate program provokes soul-searching for nonprofit website

Todd — Mon, 24 Jan 2011 04:56:22 +0000

Wokai, a web-based microfinance organization in China, has recently launched an "advocate program" through which it will reward other websites for referring donors to them. But unlike most commercial affiliate programs, which pay money for referrals, Wokai will start by offering branded gifts and other non-cash prizes.

Wokai runs a peer-to-peer lending website, connecting socially-conscious investors all over the world to people in poverty-striken rural China who want to start their own small businesses. Since it was founded in 2007, Wokai has helped hundreds of rural entrepreneurs, and has been widely recognized in the Chinese and international media.

But when Wokai announced the new "advocate program" on their blog last week, it was under the self-effacing title Has Wokai gone too far? It is easy to understand their dilemma. Is this kind of promotional model compatible with the charitable principles on which their work is based? Will offering incentives bring more people to their website, or will it only destroy the good will that is the basis for word-of-mouth promotion?

Perhaps the only way to answer these questions is to give it a try. It is a brave move for Wokai, but if experiments such as these prove successful, then affiliate marketing could soon become just another "best practice" for nonprofit campaigns. In a sense, it is simply a different form of paid advertising, which many nonprofits already engage in both online and offline.

If you have any comments, we encourage you to join the discussion on Wokai's blog.

NGOs host online discussion: "Migrant Children in China" (Jan 3-16)

Todd — Sun, 02 Jan 2011 10:15:39 +0000

Three China-based NGOs have teamed up to organize a moderated online discussion on the topic of migrant children. Following an open 'message board' format, and with an expert available to guide the discussion, the organizers promise a unique opportunity to "Get all your questions answered and voice your opinion" during the two-week online event which starts Monday, January 3 and runs until Sunday, January 16.

The event leverages an existing online social network — the Social Innovation Meetup group — and utilizes the existing functionality of the group website. The discussion is moderated by Compassion for Migrant Children and Migrant Children Foundation, and hosted by the Foundation for Youth Social Entrepreneurship (FYSE).

For further details, read the announcement on the FYSE blog.

NetEasy: "hackers" helping NGOs

Todd — Wed, 03 Nov 2010 14:33:03 +0000

The latest organization to join China's nascent nonprofit technology community is one with a long and colourful history. NetEasy (link in Chinese) is an association of computer security professionals and enthusiasts, which grew out of one of China's largest hacker groups — the China Eagle Union, established in 2001. At the helm of both these organizations is Mr. Wan Tao, a minor media celebrity once dubbed the godfather of Chinese hacker culture, and an outspoken supporter of the "hacker ethic": that technology should be free, open, and make life better.

As well as maintaining a forum and website for learning and sharing information about computer security and "security culture", one of NetEasy's other goals as an organization is to perform charitable work. Their first foray into this field was a campaign, started last year, to mobilize donations for a rural school in Hunan Province. More recently, they have turned their high-tech expertise towards a broader issue: supporting other NGOs to use computer and internet technologies effectively.

Addressing an audience of NGO professionals at Storygarden Cafe in Beijing last Thursday, Mr. Wan described the new role of NetEasy, and shared the results of a recent survey in which NetEasy used publicly available data to analyze the online presence of 50 randomly selected Chinese nonprofits. Among their findings:

80% of organizations surveyed maintained an official website;
Of those, more than two fifths ran an online forum or community on their website;
Older, established NGOs tended to have more extensive websites, but younger organizations were more likely to use social media such as microblogs or Douban.

NetEasy has kindly made the slides from last week's presentation available for download here (in Chinese).

Responsibilities and Dreams: Tencent Internet Social Welfare Forum (Shanghai, Sep 27)

Todd — Tue, 21 Sep 2010 03:27:56 +0000

Chinese internet giant Tencent, creator of the popular instant messaging software "QQ", will host the fourth Tencent Social Welfare Forum at Shanghai's Fudan University next Monday, September 27. The theme of the forum is "Responsibilities and Dreams: Social Welfare in the Internet Age".

Organized by the Tencent Public Charity Foundation, the guest speaker at the forum will be Chen Guangbiao, a noted philanthropist and chairman of Jiangsu Whampoa Renewable Resources Ltd..

For further details, and instructions on how to register for the event, see this announcement (link in Chinese).

IT prominent in latest China Development Brief

Todd — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 23:28:02 +0000

The Summer 2010 Edition of China Development Brief (link in Chinese) was released recently, featuring as always a wide range of current issues: among them child labour, natural disaster, and corporate social responsibility (CSR). But for us, most notable were a number of articles addressing nonprofit technology:

Peer-to-peer lending for social good introduced three "P2P" websites in China: Wokai, Qifang and CreditEase.
IT for NPO development looked at the benefits and costs to nonprofits of investing in information technology. This article was prompted by the "NPO IT DAY" training event held by Microsoft in April.
"New World Award" promotes non-profit technology innovation reflected on the diversity of the winners in this Intel-sponsored competition.

From this we can see that IT capacity and online communication are quickly emerging as a topic of interest in the Chinese NGO community. The involvement of two "big names" in technology, Microsoft and Intel, has been instrumental in bringing attention to these issues, but the signs of innovation at the grassroots are also very promising, as shown by the winners of the New World Award.

Chinese philanthropist donates 5,000 computers

Todd — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 03:29:15 +0000

Chinese entrepreneur and philanthropist Chen Guangbiao will donate 5,000 computers, worth CNY 16 million (US$2.35m), to areas in Western China. Mr. Chen indicated that Zhouqu County will be one of the principal beneficiaries, with the computers to be used to support rescue and recovery efforts currently underway there, following devastating mudslides last week. Some of the computers will also be donated to schools in remote parts of Xinjiang, Qinghai, Yunnan, Sichuan and Shanxi provinces.

Grow the Social Entrepreneurship Field in China (Ashoka Job Opening)

Todd — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 22:43:22 +0000

We are pleased to publish the following announcement from an organization that has been promoting and fostering social entrepreneurship for more than three decades:

Ashoka (www.ashoka.org) is the world’s largest association of social entrepreneurs — men and women who are creating new institutions and system-changing solutions for the world’s most urgent social problems. Since 1980, Ashoka has pioneered the field of social entrepreneurship, electing and connecting more than 2,000 individuals with system-changing ideas in over 70 countries. And now, Ashoka is headed to China.

We are currently looking to help China create a more harmonious society by bringing Ashoka’s skills, knowledge and global connections to China. We seek a highly entrepreneurial individual with strong strategic thinking skills, solid business/social sector experience and a deep commitment to helping resolve major social challenges in China. Only candidates fluent in both Mandarin and English will be considered, ten + years of experience required.

Up to the task, or know someone who is? Apply at http://www.ashoka.org/apply and list ‘China Representative’ in the ‘Openings of Interest’ section of the online application. Please include salary expectations in your cover letter. Only qualified applicants will be contacted.

Ashoka: Innovator for the Public

China Foundation Center website goes online

Todd — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 03:10:58 +0000

The China Foundation Center (CFC) recently launched its official website, providing free access to detailed information about more than 1,800 public and private foundations registered in China, including annual reports for about a third, and project lists for 24 foundations. It also offers a separate database of about 440 non-profit organizations. The website includes several advanced reporting features, such as mapping, graphing, and generation of "top 100" lists ordered by net worth, annual income or annual expenditure.

The China Foundation Center was established early this year with support from 35 local and international foundations. Its strategic partners include Microsoft China, Baidu, and the the US-based Foundation Center, whose growing network of "Cooperating Collections" it will join.

The Center's launch and its mission to increase transparency in the non-profit sector have received positive reports in the mainstream media, including The Beijing News and China National Radio (links in Chinese).

Full access to the CFC website requires registration, which is quick and free. The website is available in Chinese only.

NGO calls for video submissions: "Let's expose sexual harassment"

Todd — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 03:16:59 +0000

Gender Development in China (GAD) has made a public call for video and audio submissions on the issue of sexual harassment, with the intention of broadcasting them on the internet. According to one survey, 84% of women in China have experienced some form of sexual harassment, and the apparent aim of this campaign is to increase awareness and deepen public discussion of the problem, particularly in the aftermath of a scandal this May in which prominent businessman Song Shanmu resigned amid allegations of workplace harassment and rape.

Nevertheless, given the sensitive nature of this topic, GAD's approach of seeking informal documentary- and editorial-style video content could itself prove controversial, despite its reminder that contributors should take steps to protect privacy and treat personal stories with sensitivity.

The suggested length for video and audio submissions is 5 minutes, and the deadline is July 15. For more details, see the original announcement (link in Chinese).