The number of grassroots nonprofit organizations in China has been growing rapidly over the past several years.  The question of how this new group of players that drives the momentum of civil society evolution in China, to retain a sustainable source of funding, has attracted the attention of many social entrepreneurs and scholars in China and abroad.

Many look to introducing some innovative funding strategies having recently immerged in the West  into the nonprofit sector in China. These models include micro-finance, social investment, or the earned income model.  Are these models applicable to China’s situation?  What factors are needed for the new models to work in the emerging social market of China?  What can be the way out for the nonprofits in China to get sustainable source of funding?  We will look at these questions at the lunch dialogue with Professor Michael Chu of Harvard Business School, and Grace Chiang, Founder and Managing Director of Social Venture Groups in Shanghai and Hong Kong on Dec 2nd at the Hauser Center.

Grace will speak from her personal experience of starting up the Social Venture Group, and what she and her team has learned in trying to set up a model of ”innovative philanthropy in China”, about the readiness of the field in China for innovative funding solutions, about current situation of micro-finance in China as shown by some of their clients, and about the effort to sustain their own organization through the earned income model.

Professor Chu will first brief the audience the latest development of innovative funding models for social purpose initiatives, and then comment on Grace and the Social Venture Group’s case, throwing insights on why things are working or not working well in China, and provide advices on potential way out in China for application of those models.

Event Details:

Social Enterprises & Philanthropic Investment in China:

How to Break New Ground in Emerging Markets

A  Lunch Dialogue with

Michael Chu
Senior Lecturer,  Harvard Business School Social Enterprise Initiative; Managing Director, IGNIA Fund in Mexico dedicated to investing in commercial enterprises serving low-income populations in developing countries

Grace Chiang
Co-Founder and Managing Director, Social Venture Group in Shanghai and Hong Kong

Moderator: Xing Hu

Domain Manager, Nonprofits in China Domain of Practice, Hauser Center of Nonprofit Organizations at Harvard

December 2, 2009
1:30–3:00pm

Lunch Provided

Nye B & C, Taubman Building 5^th Floor , Harvard Knnedy School

Co-organized with Harvard Initiative for Nonprofits and Social Entrepreneurship in China [HINSEC], and HKS China Caucus