NGO as sympathy vendor or public advocate? A case study of NGOs’ participation in internet fundraising campaigns in China

Shixin HUANG

doi:10.1007/s11266-022-00463-w

NGO as sympathy vendor or public advocate? A case study of NGOs’ participation in internet fundraising campaigns in China

Shixin HUANG^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Journal Publications › Journal Article (refereed) › peer-review

2 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Limited attention has been paid to market actors’ interventions and their consequences in regard to shaping NGOs’ behaviors in China. Drawing on a case study of a national disability organization’s participation in China’s largest internet fundraising campaign—the Tencent Charity Day—this paper examines how market actors constitute the institutional contexts that shape and restructure NGOs’ framing and practice. I argue that market actors transform the institutional environments of NGOs by transplanting social media platforms’ institutional logic concerning the attention economy to incubate NGOs’ charitable marketing practices. The consequences of this transformation are the re-coalitions of actors, as well as the rise of charitable framing and the market methods of charitable programming. Meanwhile, market interventions unintendedly open spaces for grassroots NGOs to pursue their social missions and re-envision rights and advocacy under transformed state–civil society relationships, even though this process is highly uneven and hierarchical.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	1064-1076
Number of pages	13
Journal	Voluntas
Volume	33
Issue number	5
Early online date	18 Feb 2022
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1007/s11266-022-00463-w
Publication status	Published - Oct 2022
Externally published	Yes

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
Chinese NGOs have witnessed significant changes in their resource environment as the result of the civil society restructuring initiatives of the party-state, as well as the rise of private philanthropy. State–NGO relations have been significantly realigned under the Xi Jinping administration, which has restructured the NGO sector by penalizing NGOs’ contentious participation and incorporating unregistered NGOs through the opening of institutional channels of participation. Central to these initiatives is the Law on Administration of Activities of Overseas Non-governmental Organizations in the Mainland of China (Foreign NGO Law) that came into force in 2017. The law not only stipulates that foreign NGOs must seek double registrations from the Public Security department and supervisory organizations, but also forbids domestic NGOs from receiving funding from unregistered foreign NGOs. Under this “new normal” (“新常态”), grassroots NGOs must make strategic changes by cutting off funding from abroad and curtailing their contentious participation to seek legitimacy domestically.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2022, International Society for Third-Sector Research.

Keywords

China NGO
Internet fundraising platform
Market interventions
New institutionalism

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

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10.1007/s11266-022-00463-w

Cite this

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title = "NGO as sympathy vendor or public advocate? A case study of NGOs{\textquoteright} participation in internet fundraising campaigns in China",

abstract = "Limited attention has been paid to market actors{\textquoteright} interventions and their consequences in regard to shaping NGOs{\textquoteright} behaviors in China. Drawing on a case study of a national disability organization{\textquoteright}s participation in China{\textquoteright}s largest internet fundraising campaign—the Tencent Charity Day—this paper examines how market actors constitute the institutional contexts that shape and restructure NGOs{\textquoteright} framing and practice. I argue that market actors transform the institutional environments of NGOs by transplanting social media platforms{\textquoteright} institutional logic concerning the attention economy to incubate NGOs{\textquoteright} charitable marketing practices. The consequences of this transformation are the re-coalitions of actors, as well as the rise of charitable framing and the market methods of charitable programming. Meanwhile, market interventions unintendedly open spaces for grassroots NGOs to pursue their social missions and re-envision rights and advocacy under transformed state–civil society relationships, even though this process is highly uneven and hierarchical.",

keywords = "China NGO, Internet fundraising platform, Market interventions, New institutionalism",

author = "Shixin HUANG",

note = "Funding Information: Chinese NGOs have witnessed significant changes in their resource environment as the result of the civil society restructuring initiatives of the party-state, as well as the rise of private philanthropy. State–NGO relations have been significantly realigned under the Xi Jinping administration, which has restructured the NGO sector by penalizing NGOs{\textquoteright} contentious participation and incorporating unregistered NGOs through the opening of institutional channels of participation. Central to these initiatives is the Law on Administration of Activities of Overseas Non-governmental Organizations in the Mainland of China (Foreign NGO Law) that came into force in 2017. The law not only stipulates that foreign NGOs must seek double registrations from the Public Security department and supervisory organizations, but also forbids domestic NGOs from receiving funding from unregistered foreign NGOs. Under this “new normal” (“新常态”), grassroots NGOs must make strategic changes by cutting off funding from abroad and curtailing their contentious participation to seek legitimacy domestically. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2022, International Society for Third-Sector Research.",

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N2 - Limited attention has been paid to market actors’ interventions and their consequences in regard to shaping NGOs’ behaviors in China. Drawing on a case study of a national disability organization’s participation in China’s largest internet fundraising campaign—the Tencent Charity Day—this paper examines how market actors constitute the institutional contexts that shape and restructure NGOs’ framing and practice. I argue that market actors transform the institutional environments of NGOs by transplanting social media platforms’ institutional logic concerning the attention economy to incubate NGOs’ charitable marketing practices. The consequences of this transformation are the re-coalitions of actors, as well as the rise of charitable framing and the market methods of charitable programming. Meanwhile, market interventions unintendedly open spaces for grassroots NGOs to pursue their social missions and re-envision rights and advocacy under transformed state–civil society relationships, even though this process is highly uneven and hierarchical.

AB - Limited attention has been paid to market actors’ interventions and their consequences in regard to shaping NGOs’ behaviors in China. Drawing on a case study of a national disability organization’s participation in China’s largest internet fundraising campaign—the Tencent Charity Day—this paper examines how market actors constitute the institutional contexts that shape and restructure NGOs’ framing and practice. I argue that market actors transform the institutional environments of NGOs by transplanting social media platforms’ institutional logic concerning the attention economy to incubate NGOs’ charitable marketing practices. The consequences of this transformation are the re-coalitions of actors, as well as the rise of charitable framing and the market methods of charitable programming. Meanwhile, market interventions unintendedly open spaces for grassroots NGOs to pursue their social missions and re-envision rights and advocacy under transformed state–civil society relationships, even though this process is highly uneven and hierarchical.

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NGO as sympathy vendor or public advocate? A case study of NGOs’ participation in internet fundraising campaigns in China

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

UN SDGs

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