The 4th China Charity Fair was held from Sept. 18th-20th in South China’s booming city, Shenzhen. AVPN partnered with China Charity Fair in organizing the event and brought international member organizations from eight countries to participate at the trade fair, and another 10 organisations participated in the conferences as speakers.
Overview of China Charity Fair (CCF)
China Charity Fair (CCF) is the largest national level charity event held in China on an annual basis. The event is co-hosted by the Ministry of Civil Affairs of the People’s Republic of China, State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council, All-China Federation of Industry & Commerce, People’s Government of Guangdong Province, People’s Government of Shenzhen and China Charity Alliance.
CCF this year welcomed more than 1000 organizations to take part in the fair, including international NGOs, local Chinese NGOs, social enterprises and corporate CSR representatives. As strategic partner, AVPN helped to bring in international speakers and exhibitors to the fair.
Highlights in CCF 2015
- International Charity Exhibition PavilionThe 4th CCF established an International Charity Exhibition Pavilion for the first time. As CCF’s international partner, AVPN brought 20 organizations including Philanthropy in Motion, Hong Kong Jockey Club, Splash, Social Ventures Hong Kong, YiRui Foundation, Singapore Centre of Social Enterprise (raiSE) to exhibit at the fair.
- China’s First Social Enterprise Certification Launched in CCF. The first nationwide certification standards for social enterprises were introduced during the 4th China Charity Fair. The certification was initiated and carried out by five organizations including two academic institutes: Beijing Normal University, Peking University; a social enterprise research center: Social Enterprise Research Centre; a charity foundation: Narada Foundation and the fair’s organizing committee.The certification requires a social enterprise to set aside at least 65 percent of its annual revenue to help society, and over half of the enterprise’s proceeds should come from commercial activities like selling products or services. The social enterprises must also be legally registered and have operated for at least two years. Seven social enterprises out of 70 applicants were certified and announced at the CCF closing ceremony.
- Workshops and Seminars
There were 22 workshops, seminars and conferences running concurrently at the CCF. At the main conference, AVPN organized two panel discussions and also invited Paul Carttar, Senior Advisor and Co-founder of Bridgespan and the founding director of Obama administration’s Social Innovation Fund as keynote speaker.
On the “How can Governments work with the Social Sector for Greater Social Impact” panel, AVPN board member, Andrew Muirhead moderated representatives from HK SIE Fund, Singapore Centre for Social Enterprise, Japan Venture Philanthropy Fund, Peking University and UN Social Enterprise Fund to share respective government initiatives to the China Audience.
AVPN’s membership services director, Stacey Choe moderated the “Capacity Building for Charity organizations & Social Enterprises” panel in Mandarin with member representatives from Social Ventures Hong Kong, G-Lab from Thammasat University, Thailand, British Council, Non-profit Incubator and Be Better Education. The speakers talked about the importance of strengthening the organizational capacity of social organisations, regardless of whether they were social enterprises or non-profits.
Future Collaboration between CCF and AVPN
At the closing ceremony, AVPN and China Charity Fair exchanged MOUs to advance the partnership for better and closer collaboration in the future, building the social investing eco-system in China together.