Do Chinese Corporate Foundations Enhance Civil Society?

Abstract

Corporation foundation is one of the most popular tools for Chinese corporations and entrepreneurs to carry out their charitable activities. However, do these foundations play a role in the development of Chinese civil society and in what ways? Followed by a brief introduction on the history, regulations, and rational of the establishment of Chinese corporate foundations, the major body of work aims to appraise the aforementioned topic under the framework of roles of nonprofit organizations (i.e., service, value guardian, advocacy, and social capital), with a focus on service and social capital dimensions. Our empirical data analysis shows that Chinese corporate foundations have been enhancing the civil society through its mission centrality on the pressing societal issues, larger expenditure on charitable activities, and adequate equity and lower amounts on administrative costs in carrying out their missions. A public space is being created through the commitment of corporate foundations to expressing pluralism, volunteer mobilization, and an ever-growing ability to attract donations. However, its role to civil society can also be limited due to modest numbers of full-time staff and their relatively low performance ratings or accountability.

Keywords: Corporate foundations, China, Quantitative research, Institutional environment