Center studies philanthropic impact of China

The University of Cambridge Judge Business School has launched a new center dedicated to examining strategic philanthropy within and from the world's highest-growth markets, including China.

The Centre for Strategic Philanthropy aims to "become the leading hub of actionable knowledge to catalyze even greater philanthropic impact from China and the world's fastest growing regions".

To achieve this, the center will work with relevant institutions and practitioners in these regions in order to encourage collaboration and the sharing of knowledge and insight through research, education and training and convening diverse voices.

One of the center's first research projects, expected to be completed in the fall of 2020, is looking into the responses to the COVID-19 pandemic from philanthropists and foundations in China and high-growth markets such as Africa and the Middle East.

The study will examine whether there has been a measurable shift in focus and investment toward specific geographies, such as low-income countries, and toward specific sectors in response to the pandemic.

According to the Values and Vision: Perspectives on Philanthropy in 21st Century China report, between 2010 and 2016, donations from the top 100 philanthropists in the Chinese mainland more than tripled to $4.6 billion, while the number of registered foundations leapt by 430 percent over the same 10-year period to 5,545.

Badr Jafar, founding patron of the Centre for Strategic Philanthropy, said: "Today, well over a trillion dollars of private philanthropic capital, more than triple the annual global development and humanitarian aid budgets combined, is deployed every single year. The evidence is also overwhelming that China and the world's other emerging economies are becoming an increasingly powerful source of philanthropic capital and social innovation."

The center's projects include a comprehensive analysis of existing research related to philanthropy in the world's high-growth markets to understand what is already known on the subject, and a practical needs assessment being conducted in direct consultation with philanthropic practitioners, academics and other stakeholders on the ground in the world's fastest growing regions.

Kamal Munir, the center's academic director, said: "The Center will aim to bridge the gap between academics and practitioners in philanthropy. We hope to be able to off set the significant dearth of research in this field and help improve the transformational impact that philanthropy can achieve, when at its most creative."