Want to Start a Non-Profit in China? Good luck.
We’re no longer in non-profit happy America. The Chinese government has some very tight rules on how an non-profit or NGO can form, and any organizations that operate out of these rules can be shut down at any time. Here’s just a little taste.
In China, all NGOs must register with the Ministry of Civil Affairs. However, in order to register, they must fulfill certain conditions:
1. They must be sponsored by a government or party department in a relevant field. If the organization is rejected, there’s no appeals process, and no recourse in terms of seeking sponsorship from a different department. Better know someone in the government, and promise not to bite them back.
2. Only one NGO of a similar type may register at each administrative level. So for example, because the China Environmental Workers Association exists, no other NGOs involved in environmental activities at the national level can register. This helps monopolize state-sponsored organizations.
3. NGOs cannot operate outside of the region they are registered in. This makes sure that NGOs do not spread beyond their approved sphere of influence.
4. NGOs must have startup funds of over $12,000 if national, or $3,600 if local, in order to register. But usually, organizations can’t raise money unless they are legitimately registered. This chicken and egg scenario guarantees that only groups or individuals with a decent endowment of personal resources right off the bat can register.
5. NGOs must have more than 50 individual members, or more than 30 institutional members, in order to register. This prevents small grassroots organizations from registering.
6. NGOs have to go through an annual investigation by the registration and management agencies. The Ministry of Civil Affairs can issue warnings, demand changes, or cancel a registration if an NGO diverges from its original objectives. Organizations also have to submit an annual report of their operations and finances to their sponsoring agency. Big brother is always watching.
By the way, I hear the Ford Foundation is currently having legal issues. No one’s immune!
Written by Lin Yang · Filed Under All Blogs
Lin Yang is currently a second year MPP candidate at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government. Prior to Harvard, he spent six months at Tsinghua University in Beijing, conducting research on China's shortage of water resources. He also taught high school mathematics for two years in the Mississippi Delta as part of Teach for America.
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Hey Lin,
Spring, my partner and I are trying to start a non-profit private school in Chengdu. We had this idea and began to collect information on the registration of school last year. From the requirements, we realized that we have to start the school first and then try to have it registered, otherwise, it would probably take years for us to run a school legally. We have no other choice, or else we just give up. We will hopefully start a pre-school and kindergarten in September or later. My thinking here is not only building a school, but a community–a group sharing the same interests, same vision and the same goal. We can start it with staffs, parents who agree with our philosophy and proceed the school growing, with it growth, then we attract more people to this community and maybe years later we meet the rules of registration. One of criteria for schools to apply for using the IB (International Baccalaureate) program is that the school must be a registered school to the local government. From this criterion, I learned the possibility of letting a school exist without being registered.
If you are a member of an NGO which meets the requirements of law in China, you can start a branch here easily. If you want to start your own, it is a tough process. Don’t let the registration stop your dream. Most things happened here are not exactly following what it is written. Good luck!
Zheng