Charities urged to innovate

Rather than just donating money, scholars and entrepreneurs called for private charity funds to assume the challenges of being innovative at a charity summit held in Beijing on Saturday.

"Although an increasing number of private entrepreneurs in China have turned to charity in recent years, their concept of charity didn't change. Charity is not just about giving money," said Deng Guosheng, a professor of innovation and social responsibility at Peking University.

"Individual donators want to see effects immediately. That's why public funds tend to do charity in traditional ways — giving money," said Gao Guangshen, deputy general secretary of the Sun Culture Foundation.

Gao said that private charity funds — whose backers usually are entrepreneurs who donate big sums — should explore more innovative ways of doing philanthropic work rather than simply giving money away.

The summit was organized by Heifer International, a United States-based non-profit organization, and the United Charity Fund, a Beijing-based charity fund. The two charities are now working together.

What Heifer International does in China is regarded as a good example of innovative charity.

"We help poor families by giving them livestock like cows, chickens, sheep and pigs. Our volunteers teach them how to raise the animals and grow the plants needed to fed those animals," said Chen Taiyong, director of Heifer China.

Present in China for decades, Heifer China has given more than five million animals and provided training sessions to about 90,000 families across China.

"We also encourage our beneficiaries to pass on their gifts to other poor families in the same community, such as eggs produced from their chickens and their newly born cows," said Chen.

According to Mao Zhenhua, chairman of the consulting committee of Heifer China, the cooperation between Heifer China and the United Charity Fund is a good start for private funds to explore the road of doing charity innovatively.