China enters the era of social impact investing

NEW YORK, Nov. 3, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- The 13^th Social Enterprise Conference at Columbia Business School was on October 31^st. The results of a study on social impact investing in China were released for the first time in history. It is the first time that China has formally dispatched a group to attend a social enterprise conference at Columbia University.

"China Moment" showcases the development of China's social impact investing

This conference arranged a special "China Moment" session for the release of the results of the study on China's social impact, which was co-sponsored by the main organization in China engaged in the research and practice of social impact investing, the Shenzhen Innovation Corporate Social Responsibility Development Center (CSRDC), as well as Columbia Business School and US-based Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors.

A report entitled "2014 Social Impact Investment in China", which was released during the "China Moment" session and which detailed the results of the theoretical research, case study and model study of social impact investing involving one hundred large firms in China, was mainly paid for jointly by CSRDC and the Shenzhen Charity Federation and Social Enterprise Center of Shanghai University of Finance as well as by the entrepreneurial departments of major privately-held and listed Chinese corporations. Social impact investment now has broad prospects in China, especially for Chinese entrepreneurs and among forward thinking business executives.

China and the United States take the first steps in collaborating on social impact investment

At the conference, a U.S. training program for Chinese entrepreneurs who seek to engage in social impact investing was announced. The training, to take place in 2015, will be jointly carried out by CSRDC and Columbia Business School. The program involves a comprehensive and strategic cooperation between China and the US as concerns social enterprise from the perspective of the training of high-level professionals in social impact, impact evaluation and project incubation.

Since 2012, CSRDC has been running a program entitled "Social Enterprise Growth Plan for Chinese Entrepreneurs". The program has been training one hundred firms which are already involved in social impact investing.

The program is China's first systematic and professional effort with the mission of training business leaders, the core curriculum of which is the study and putting into practice of education innovation, public fundraising and community development. Through the project, a corps of high-level professionals have received a training that will allow them to combine contributions to social value with corporate strategies. One of the participants, Sina, one of China's largest network companies, has teamed up with China Merchants Bank, China's fourth-largest bank, to found China's biggest network-finance-interactive public crowdfunding platform. The platform is expected to attract charitable donations worth around one billion yuan annually and plans to engage in impact investment practice cases such as targeted charity fundraising drives.

China's model of charity for Chinese education innovation gets an upgrade 

Information concerning the upcoming "2015 China Education Innovation Charity Fair" was released during the conference. Driven by social impact investments being carried out by Chinese firms, China's education authority Beijing Normal University and CSRDC will jointly host the upcoming expo during which achievements in innovations in education will be identified, innovative teaching models will be put into practice and individuals with the right kind of expertise will be recruited. Meanwhile, a new model of fundraising for Chinese education in public service as well as for social impact investment funds in the field of education will be designed and implemented. The expo will serve to fully demonstrate the many achievements both in China and around the world in education innovation as well as in charitable funding and social impact investing in the field of education, and by doing so, further demonstrate how public capital and innovation in education can be jointly applied to promote good practices when such innovations are being carried out.

According to CSRDC president Liang Yudong, the conference provided a prestigious venue for the first "China Moment". The release of the results of the "2014 Social Impact Investment in China" study and the announcement of the upcoming expo demonstrate how Chinese firms have migrated from the traditional public donation model to the new social impact investment model. China's annual donation of around 16 billion dollars will shift the focus of the philanthropic arms of Chinese firms to the application of business intelligence and the deployment of capital for the social good that are part and parcel of social impact investing. Impact investment has become a shared language in the dialogue and cooperation between Chinese firms and the world.

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SOURCE Shenzhen Innovation Corporate Social Responsibility Development Center