Wen Zhounan. 2023 is a year for non-profit organizations to "tighten their belts" and get by. The field of education for the public good is no exception. In the face of many challenges, how to grasp the present, adhere to the original intention of education, and how to swim against the current from the "difficult watch" are common examination questions faced by education public welfare organizations.
Resilient development in the midst of hardship
It cannot be ignored that in 2023, the year after the epidemic is released, the survival of many institutions is still very difficult, and resources are limited.
On April 18, 2023, the "2023 Survey Report on the Status and Demands of Public Welfare Organizations after the Epidemic" released by Beijing Yixing Public Welfare Information Exchange Service Center pointed out that the three-year epidemic has had a great impact on 70% of the executive non-governmental public welfare organizations. Among them, community service-oriented public welfare organizations below the provincial level are more affected.
However, under the guidance of the new policy, non-profit organizations have also ushered in development opportunities. In 2021, the "14th Five-Year Plan for the Development of Civil Affairs" was released, which clarified that by 2025, "the linkage mechanism of social organizations, social workers, and volunteers and the ways to participate in social governance should be further smoothed and standardized." The role of the third distribution of philanthropy is more prominent";The report of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China in 2022 mentions "guiding and supporting enterprises, social organizations and individuals who are willing and able to actively participate in public welfare and charity";In 2023, "Supporting the Development of Social Organizations" will be included in the ** work report for the 14th time......
Ding Guangquan, Secretary-General of Xiangrong Public Welfare Association, directly shared the gratifying picture he saw on the front line. He told the "China Times" reporter that he visited rural schools in Jiangxi, Xinjiang, Gansu and other regions in 2023, and had several general feelings: first, the ability and willingness of the grassroots to respond to problems have been significantly enhanced, and they want to do things, but they also generally lack resources;Second, local social forces, such as county-level public welfare organizations and volunteer service capabilities, are developing, and even many local enterprises are "favoring" education support to fulfill their social responsibilities.
When it comes to projects, a group of social organizations have never stopped their steps. For example, in March, the Blueprint Marine Public Welfare Research Activity hosted by the Blueprint Public Welfare Association opened in Xiamen, and 27 students and teachers from Tongren City, Guizhou Province started a seven-day research and practice activity with the theme of "taking children in the mountains to see the sea". The "2023 Dream Caravan - Little Red Book - Literacy Education in the Plains" activity initiated by the Shanghai Adream Public Welfare Association was launched on May 8, 2023, allowing local children to experience multiple dream courses, bringing more modern, Internet-based and diversified learning experiences to children, and bringing new concepts of literacy education to the local area.
Another aspect of resilience is the continued rise in educational giving, especially to universities. The field of education has always been the focus of social attention, and the donation funds invested in the field of education have always been in the forefront, and enterprises and entrepreneurs are still the absolute main body of large donations in colleges and universities, and the proportion of alumni donations is also extremely high. On November 29, on the occasion of the 130th anniversary of Wuhan University, Lei Jun, founder, chairman and CEO of Xiaomi Group, donated 1.3 billion yuan in cash to his alma mater, Wuhan University, focusing on supporting basic research in mathematics, physics, chemistry, literature, history and philosophy, scientific and technological innovation in the field of computers, and supporting the training of college students. It is reported that this donation is the largest donation since the establishment of Wuhan University, setting a record for the highest single cash donation by alumni of domestic universities.
However, compared with the "gratifying" situation of large donations from colleges and universities, the donation situation of preschool education is not so optimistic. In the second half of 2023, Tao Ze, president of Yishan Data, pointed out in an interview with a reporter from China Times that although higher education is the "golden stone" of large donations, many research results have pointed out that in the long run, the highest input-output ratio in the field of education is actually early childhood education, and "the same money donated to kindergartens brings higher social benefits than donating to universities".
It is necessary to adhere to long-termism and a high position
In response to a series of hot issues such as ChatGPT and education, home-school-social co-education, teacher-student psychology, and preschool education listed by the reporter, Ding Guangquan believes that these issues are worth paying attention to, but as a public welfare organization, while paying attention to social hot issues, it is also necessary to combine its own positioning and pay attention to those problems that are easier to be ignored, and even cold spots and freezing points, so as to play a good complementary role.
Facing the future, Ding Guangquan said bluntly, "Instead of thinking about how to develop further in the next step, education public welfare organizations should first think about how to survive better and how to better design good projects to respond to social needs." In addition, education needs long-termism, and the same is true for education and public welfare, and public welfare organizations should adhere to long-term cultivation, pay attention to the sustainability of projects, and do what they can. ”
At the same time, he reminded that the impact of population on education should not be ignored, Ding Guangquan said: "Take the small town in a county in Jiangxi Province that I recently visited as an example, in 2020, the town had 16 village schools and teaching sites, and in just a few years, there are only 4 teaching sites left. The director of the local education bureau said that three of the teaching sites will also be dismantled in 2024. ”
In addition, Cao Ping, deputy secretary-general of the China Youth Research Association and vice chairman of the Home-School Coordination Professional Committee of the China Education Development Strategy Society, also told the China Times reporter that some education public welfare organizations currently emphasize too much "innovation", too many personalized things, and insufficient scientificity.
Editor-in-charge: Fang Fengjiao Editor-in-chief: Wen Mei.