May 1, 2009 | Read Time: 1 minute
Give2Asia and the pharmaceutical company Novartis last month gathered Chinese 60 government officials, business people, and charity leaders to discuss the growth of philanthropy in China.
On its blog, Give2Asia, a charity in San Francisco that connects donors to Asian causes, writes that speakers discussed a variety of topics including that giving and volunteerism is growing in part due to the response of last year’s earthquake in central China and that some 500 foundations are operating in China.
One problem that seemed to come up more than once was the lack of well-trained nonprofit workers.
According to the blog, Jeffrey Li, president of Novartis China, said that corporations want to support Chinese charities, but are concerned the groups are not open enough about their finances and operations and lack competent staff members.
Read The Chronicle’s recent article about how charities in East Asia are being affected by the economic downturn.
