Giving Compass' Take:

• Chinese social entrepreneurs are improving the transparency, trustworthiness, and fundraising of their country's charitable causes through blockchain-driven philanthropy. 

• What can America learn from China's new methods? What challenges are faced by China's philanthropy sector? 

• Learn more about China's philanthropic growth. 

China’s philanthropic sector is vibrant and growing. The country now has more than 800,000 registered social organizations—almost twice as many as it had in 2011. This growth gives the public more opportunities to participate. China already has the third-largest number of donors in the world, according to the CAF World Giving Index 2018, and more than 50 million Chinese have registered as volunteers.

The rapid increase of charities and public participation has attracted more giving from wealthy donors and private corporations. Today, most of the money comes from the corporate sector. According to the China Charitable Giving Report (2017), the sum of charitable giving in 2017 amounted to 150 billion RMB ($22 billion), or 1.8 percent of GDP—tenfold more, as a percentage of GDP, than in 2014. Corporate giving, worth 96.3 billion RMB ($14.3 billion), contributed almost 64 percent of the total amount donated, followed by individual giving (23 percent). But the growth trend also applies to individuals. According to a report by Harvard’s Roy and Lila Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation, donations from China’s top 100 philanthropists more than tripled, to $3.6 billion, between 2010 and 2016.

Read the full article about China's blockchain driven philanthropy by Xiaofeng Wang & Kevin C. Desouza at Stanford Social Innovation Review.