May 21, 2008 | Read Time: 1 minute
Nancy E. Schwartz, a nonprofit marketing consultant, sees a silver lining in the earthquake that devastated western China this month.
With donations rolling in from Chinese donors and an outpouring of volunteers, the disaster may energize the fledgling charities and foundations in the country. According to The Chronicle, at least $17-million has been raised for American groups involved in the relief efforts.
“With over 50,000 dead and 5 million homeless quake survivors, there’s no better time than now for China to birth a robust nonprofit sector,” she writes on her Getting Attention blog.
“Dramatic events are the most common harbinger of major change, and there’s little more dramatic than the events of the last days in China. There may be a star in this dark, dark sky,” she says.
Indeed, the 2005 Indian Ocean tsunami spurred the creation of relief groups in Sri Lanka, according to a Chronicle article.
But Chinese humanitarians may face greater obstacles than elsewhere. In a Chronicle report on the state of sino-philanthropy, nonprofit leaders complained about how the Chinese Communist Party arbitrarily shuts down groups, forbids national organizations, and that the nation’s largest charities are controlled by the government.
What do you think? Will the Chinese disaster help develop nonprofit organizations there?
