China Center Quick Note: China's New Philanthropy Regulations Should Be Helpful for MNC Donors

Despite legitimate concerns about tightening controls on civil society, China’s new philanthropic regulations portend important improvements to problems long plaguing corporate giving for foreign companies active in the country.

The new regulations have positive and negative implications for both Chinese civil society development and for foreign donors active in China. On the positive side, the government clearly intends to make the nonprofit sector more effective, transparent, and orderly. On the potentially negative side, it intends to do so via stepped-up regulatory control and supervision, meaning that there will less autonomy for the sector, and likely less diversity.