Social enterprise and impact investment take off

Philanthropy | David Hayward Evans

In 2011, public confidence in philanthropy was undermined by a series of scandals. Today, while major charities in China have upped their game and enhanced standards, transparency and accountability, the wholesale reform of charities many anticipated has not taken place. Instead, many in China are now looking past traditional charities to new models such as direct "micro-giving" through the Internet, and, on a larger scale "impact investing" approaches that combine measurable social effects with financial sustainability. It may be that China can make a "generational leap" to advanced models of social enterprise and social investment.

To explore this hypothesis further, a major study was undertaken by the Social Enterprise Research Center at Shanghai University of Finance, the Center For Civil Society Studies at Peking University, 21st Century Business Herald and the University of Pennsylvania and sponsored by UBS AG.