Comparison Research On Philanthropy Of China And Western Countries

Philanthropy is a historical concept which born with the birth of country, developed with the improvement of society and then achieved a mature situation. There are religions such as Christian, Buddhism and Confucianism to be the basis of philanthropy in western countries and in Asia even in China, although the ideologies of the two are different. Certainly , there are many differences between their people's philanthropy consciousness. Still, under the two kinds of institution and ideology, the birth, development and operation mechanism of philanthropy organizations aren't identical and synchronous. Especially during the two revolutions in modern times, the development of philanthropy of china was nearly bogged down. So the development of philanthropy in western countries and China presents a lopsided state.The total number of charity organizations, volunteers, and the donation that the charity organizations got every year in western countries is much more than those in China, no matter who have founded all the organizations, government or civilian. These organizations are being operated in the form of foundation which has perfect mechanism, clear statute and criterion, whose employees are all professional and compassionate. All the charity organizations in western are supervised by people from all walks of life. The relationship between charity organization and government are equal. They have things in common that to set up and promote a much more harmony society. Government doesn't interfere with the charity organization's operation, whereas it just supports them and supervise them. In 2006, there was the new philanthropy revolution launched in western countries which highlights improving the operational efficiency of charity organizations and their donation. They called the revolution "philanthropy capitalism".Its influence has spread to China and broadened our thinking on how to promote and operate China's philanthropy, although philanthropy in China isn't as advanced as in western. Philanthropy will be a very important component of social security, although there aren't integrated law, operational institution and broad donation from all walks of life made for the charity organization. And reinventing the relationship between government and charity organizations will be the key problem. We can learn from the experience of western countries via comparison research and the new philanthropy revolution. However we must find the most appropriate route of development according to China's reality.