Amity Foundation

The Amity Foundation is a non-profit, non-denominational Chinese Christian umbrella organization created in 1985 to promote education, social services, health, and rural development throughout China. Amity is headquartered in Nanjing, the capital of Jiangsu Province, but has on-going programs and projects in many different provinces.

Over the years, Global Health Action has partnered with Amity to present a number of trainings in different parts of China [like in Nanning in April 2009]. Today, GHA is working with Amity on a program to support China’s emerging non-profit sector.

China is in the midst of a major social transition, with the government shifting its role from taking care of its citizens from cradle to grave to instead being responsible for the macro-coordinating and monitoring of social resources, while shifting the responsibility for providing many social and human services to community-based non-profit organizations (NPOs). The underlying idea is “small government, big society.”

Like other urban areas, the city of Nanjing, which is home to approximately seven and a half million people, has seen an explosion of non-profits. Most of those organizations were established within the past five years, and, as a whole, they are experiencing difficulties in self-management and self-development, which makes it difficult for them to perform the social service functions that are now their responsibility.

It is a problem of capacity. Not surprisingly, many of the leaders and staff of these new organizations lack the background, knowledge, and skills in leadership, strategic planning, project development, financial management, monitoring & evaluation, and other organizational and project management areas to run successful, sustainable organizations.

In 2009, the Amity Foundation created the Nanjing Amity NPO Development Center to develop and strengthen the capacity of grassroots NPOs to meet social service, health, and other community needs. Amity is collaborating with Global Health Action to develop a long-term capacity-building training program which will:  

• Provide semi-annual training to selected grassroots NPO leaders, with the idea being that a group of 60 leaders representing 30 organizations will attend a week-long course on the basics of organizational development, followed six months later by a more in-depth follow-up workshop. Each year one or more different groups of organizations and leaders will be selected to go through the training program.
• Use the Development Center as an incubator to provide direct assistance in the development and growth each year of four or more nascent NPOs selected by the Amity staff.
• Monitor and evaluate the progress of the incubator organizations in order to identify, record, and share lessons-learned and to develop best practice case studies based on this model of capacity-building and mentorship.
• Provide on-going technical assistance to both the course and incubator organizations, helping them to put what they have learned into practice. Also, offer one-day seminars on specific topics.

We will take advantage of our different organizational strengths, with GHA developing materials and courses and doing much of the training and Amity doing the on-the-ground follow-up, monitoring and longer-term evaluations. GHA will also further prepare the Amity staff as trainers and facilitators for the future.

Program Goals

1. To provide front-line leaders with the skills and knowledge to become better and more effective leaders of their organizations.
2. To enable these organizations to serve more people, develop new projects, run more effectively, and better serve the needs of their clients and their community.
3. To promote and offer opportunities for communication and cooperation amongst leaders from different sectors of society in order to establish relationships and partnerships which encourage on-going networking and collaboration.