Annual Report 2017-download link：/home/resource/download.html

 Selection and Certification

(1) Adding a Second Group of Effective Philanthropic Products

In 2017, CEPM received 52 new applications from foundations interested in receiving certification for their products. Starting in August, the CEPM team began reviewing applications and conducting due diligence and ultimately selected 21 new products to join the rank of now, altogether, 43 CEPM-certified effective philanthropic products,  ranging in service from elderly care, childhood education, environmental protection, health and safety, to aid for vulnerable groups.

Scan the QR code for the online version of CEPM’s certified effective philanthropic products. 

(2)   Learning From Best Practices Abroad: The Social Replication Toolkit

The CEPM team worked with United Kingdom-based organisation, Spring Impact (formerly known as the International Centre for Social Franchising), to translate its Social Replication Toolkit and share it in China. Based on Spring Impact’s Social Replication Readiness Test, the CEPM team also independently produced an online, open source Philanthropic Product Replication Readiness Test to help Chinese organisations interested in scaling up their projects determine their challenges and opportunities.

Scan the QR code to access the online Philanthropic Product Replication Readiness Test and the complete Social Replication Toolkit. 

 Support for Accelerating the Scale-Up Process

(1)  Training on “Exploring The Business Model of Scalability and Replication”

To further help CEPM’s Brand Makers find the right way to scale and replicate their work, CEPM invited the U.S.-based Global Development Incubator (GDI) to provide capacity building support for 12 organisations (with CEPM underwriting a portion of the costs to match Brand Makers own contributions for this support service). In the first phase of the training, six organisations signed up for GDI’s workshop and one-on-one consultations. In the training’s second phase, CEPM asked organisations which signed up to undergo a screening process. The six organisations which passed then also received capacity building support as well as tailored one-on-one consultations. All the participants gave positive feedback, stating that the value they received was beyond their initial expectations.

(2)  2017 Brand Acceleration Camp (Beijing) 

From 20-22 September, 2017, CEPM invited its Brand Makers to Beijing to participate in a Brand Acceleration Camp designed to tackle the challenges of scaling up—via topical training sessions and workshops. The following topical trainings sessions were conducted: “Building Brands for Your Fundraising Products”, presented by a CEPM co-founder, the One Foundation;  “Issues in Brand Protection and Organisational Governance When Scaling Up”, presented by lawyers invited by the Thomson Reuters Foundation (a CEPM strategic partner); “Commercial Franchises and Quality Control”, presented by the Narada Hotel Group; and “How to Fundraise and Mobilizing Resources”, presented by Recende Fundraising Research Center. Additionally, two workshops titled “Exploring Business Models for Scaling up” and “Assessing Needs During Your Philanthropic Product Replication Process” were held.

(3)  Online Learning Forums on Qiaoliao Chat

During the second half of 2017, CEPM held seven online learning forums on Qiaoliao Chat on a monthly or fortnightly basis, receiving, altogether, an audience of over 2,000 listeners. To promote peer exchanges, directors from four Brand Makers including Hangzhou Wode Youth Philanthropy Service Center’s Charity’s Little Angels and Chengdu Hechuan Charity Development Center’s Grandparents’ Lessons, shared their experiences. On one webinar, CEPM strategic partner ThoughtWorks shared insights on how information technology can serve social organisations. In another webinar, CEPM Service Aid provider Pixelit spoke on issues related to brand communication. These forums were made available to the public (not restricted exclusively to CEPM circles) and were well-received by fellow non-profit practitioners.

(4)  Additional Capacity Building Funding: Subsidizing Learning Expenses and Professional Support Services

CEPM underwrote the annual learning expenses of our Brand Makers (up to RMB 25,000 each) as a way to support their self-directed capacity building. In 2017, learning support grants amounted to a total of RMB 370,000 to 31 organisations.

Additionally—and partly from a desire to incentivise more participation from China’s increasingly high-quality professional service providers—CEPM also launched its Service Aid project at the end of the 2017, to match a portion of the expenses for Brand Makers as well as on-the-ground partner hubs and local implementing organisations to engage third-party service providers in their process of scaling up and finding channels for product promotion.

(5)  Special Support: Nonrestricted Grants for High-Potential Organisations

After one year of practice, CEPM selected nine organisations with high potential based on criteria that evaluated indicators such as efficacy in implementing product scale-up, reach of service, and ability to mobilize resources. They are Beijing Shifangyuan Elderly Hospice and Mind Care Center, Shanghai Better Education Development Center’s Better Happy Finance Classroom, Beijing Growing Home Culture Development Co., Ltd.’s New 1,001 Nights, Tai’an Taishan Xiaohe Development Center’s Rainbow Village Educational Aid, Hangzhou Wode Youth Philanthropy Service Center’s Charity’s Little Angels, Amity Foundation’s Child Safety and Protection Training, Chengdu Hechuan Charity Development Center’s Grandparents’ Lessons, Chengdu Aiyouxi Community Culture Development Center’s Public Granary, and China Foundation of Culture and Arts of Children’s Protecting Young Girls. Each organisation received a general support grant of RMB 200,000, apart from the first three aforementioned organisations which still have active grants under CEPM’s Bright Way Programme (more information on Bright Way below).

Wider Recognition and Promotion

(1)   China Effective Philanthropy Multiplier Roadshows 

To promote Brand Makers and their certified products, CEPM carried out 22 roadshows during 2017 and established 1,366 new partnerships in the process. The 21 offline roadshows were attended by over 2,400 non-profit organisations, and the one online roadshow—broadcast by United Xinhua Philanthropy and Youku Philanthropy on Xinhua’s Web portal—attracted over 15,000 viewers.

CEPM proactively advanced an area-wide product roll-out model, encouraging whole cities and/or provinces to adopt and utilize a philanthropic product. For example, Ordos, Inner Mongolia created a special grants programme to implement six CEPM-certified products all across the city. Shunde City in Guangdong Province financed CEPM to travel there and present a roadshow of CEPM products and continued its support by introducing local policies that encouraged product implementation. Anhui Women and Children Activity Center plans to integrate Hangzhou Wode Youth Philanthropy Service Center’s Charity Little Angels project into the province’s entire Women's Federation system.

(2)   Pioneer, Explore, and Co-Create: A Forum on Chinese Practices in Scaling Philanthropic Products 

On its one-year anniversary, 23 November 2017, CEPM organised a sub-forum at the annual China Foundations Forum entitled “Pioneer, Explore, and Co-Create: Chinese Practices in Scaling Philanthropic Products” to share its key progress and learnings from the past year. Professor MA Qingyu from the Chinese Academy of Governance gave the keynote speech titled “Solving Social Problems at Scale From A Non-Profit Perspective”. Representatives from CEPM’s Brand Makers, co-founding institutions, and other industry experts conducted a roundtable discussion on two topics: 1) how can scaling up facilitate the co-creation of philanthropic products; and 2) is scaling up a one-stop solutions provider for local nonprofits?

(3)   Awards and Recognitions

In 2017, Brand Makers received a significant amount of recognition and awards.  HE Yongqiang, founder of Grandparents' Lessons, was the recipient of the fourth CCTV Charity Figure Award. Rainbow Village Educational Aid, Shifangyuan Elderly Hospice and Mind Care, Future Hope Preschools, New 1,001 Nights, First Response Basic First Aid Training, and Green Oasis’ Community Food Bank were recognized on Ifeng Network’s Activists Alliance: Top 10 Annual Charitable Projects and Top 10 Annual Charity Figures lists. The Safety Train and Tongmeng Workshop respectively received the gold and silver awards at the China Youth Social Organisation Innovation Contest by the Central Committee of China’s Communist Youth League.

Channel Building via On-the-Ground Partner Hubs

In 2017, CEPM added 11 new partner hub relationships, resulting in a current total of 43 partner hubs located in almost every province nationwide. The partner hubs are CEPM’s key on-the-ground partners, helping to establish regional or local channels for CEPM’s presence and raising awareness of different Brand Makers and their philanthropic products through roadshows and other means. In some cases, hub organisations may also play a role similar to that of an implementing organisation—“delivering products” or operating projects at the local level.

Engaging Co-Founding Institutions

Active support from CEPM co-founding institutions has been critical in this early period. For example, co-founding institution Xinhua Philanthropy’s participation in over 10 roadshows increased CEPM’s public credibility significantly. Xinhua News published reports for all of CEPM’s major events and displayed CEPM on a primary section of its website. Xinhua Net also allowed CEPM to use its broadcast studios free of charge for the first online roadshow. Another co-founder, the China Merchants Charitable Foundation, granted RMB 200,000 in nonrestrictive funding to CEPM. Co-Founder One Foundation also supported CEPM’s capacity building support project for partner hubs, called the Pivot Plan,  with a grant of RMB 300,000.

Professional Support by Strategic Partners

CEPM has 11 strategic partners: Beijing Qiyue Social Service Center, Beijing Ren Ai Charity Foundation, Jinshuju (an online forum builder), Microsoft, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), SAP SE, Ginkgo Foundation, China Central Television’s (CCTV) Community Heroes Programme on its Law and Society Channel, Thomson Reuters Foundation, ThoughtWorks, and Lingxi (China-based non-profit software and services supplier). Their expertise has contributed immensely to the CEPM platform. For instance, ThoughtWorks provided IT consultations to CEPM as well as three Brand Makers (Shifangyuan, Growing Home, and Aiyouxi). Jinshuju gave CEPM Brand Makers complimentary accounts (professional edition) which allow them access to tools for data collection and analysis. PwC joined the Service Aid project by starting its own matching grants fund and, based on its experience serving non-profit organisations, decided to co-host a seminar with the Narada Foundation titled “Standardising Your Management Practices”.  Thomson Reuters Foundation invited lawyers to present a talk titled “Issues in Brand Protection and Organisational Governance When Scaling Up” for CEPM Brand Makers.

[1]  In 2017, two Brand Makers joined the Service Aid project: Shanghai Jiuyaojiu Information and Technology Center (“Press for Help”: First Response Basic First Aid Training) and Shanghai Peiyu Educational Aid Center (Volunteer Teachers for China 2.0: Distance Learning). CEPM’s partner hubs did not participate at this juncture.

[2] The following 20 partner hubs co-hosted CEPM roadshows: Ningxia Charity Promotion Association, Hebei Province Association of Social Work, Zhengzhou Heqin Youth Volunteer Center, Changchun XinYu Volunteer Association, Wuhan Non-Profit Incubator, Pengjiang Social Work Association, Taizhou Yangfan Social Work Center, Yangzhou Yangfan Social Work Center, Wuxi Lezhu Public Welfare Development Center, Changzhou Xinbei District Social Organisation Development Center, Chongqing Charity Work Service Center, Shandong Social Innovation Development and Research Center, Nanchang Yixin Yiyi Charity Service Center, Qinhai Social Work Association, Guangdong Foshan Shunde District Social Innovation Center, Nanjing Amity Social Organisation Development Center, Gansu Yishan Yishui Center for Environmental and Social Development, Beijing Century Xinmin Education Technology Co., Ltd. (Small Village School Federation), Anhui Yihe Commonweal Service Center, Hangzhou Wode Youth Philanthropy Service Center (Charity’s Little Angels).