IUPUI faculty offer 'green leadership' training in China
When leaders of the budding environmental movement in China decided they needed help learning how to effectively manage their organizations, they turned to experts at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis.
Faculty from the nonprofit management program in the IU School of Public and Environmental Affairs and the Fund Raising School of the IU Center on Philanthropy traveled to China in May to help lead a 10-day "green leadership" seminar near Beijing.
"There's a burgeoning environmental movement in China, and there's been a large increase in the number of environmental NGOs," said Wolfgang Bielefeld, IUPUI professor of public and nonprofit management and philanthropic studies. "The idea was to provide professional training for the managers and leaders of some of these nongovernmental organizations."
Participants in the Society of Entrepreneurs & Ecology green leadership training program
Representing IUPUI, along with Bielefeld, were Laura Littlepage, a clinical lecturer in SPEA, and Eva Aldrich, associate director of public service for the Fund Raising School.
The training project was the brainchild of Yang Peng, the charismatic general secretary of an organization called Society of Entrepreneurs & Ecology. SEE -- the English-language pun is intentional -- is a membership organization of Chinese businesses with an interest in the environment.
The session brought together about 25 leaders of Chinese environmental groups, most of them in their 20s, including the winners of "eco-awards" that SEE presents twice a year.
The Indiana University group led participants through case studies of successful management by prominent U.S. nonprofit organizations, including the Nature Conservancy, the American Red Cross, Heifer International and the Environmental Defense Fund. The studies emphasized best practices in program evaluation, fund raising, partnerships, volunteer management, and advertising and marketing.
Experts from civil-society institutions at China's Peking University and Sun Yat-sen University also took part in providing the training. They presented case studies based on Chinese experiences.
"It led to some interesting discussions of the management techniques that worked in China versus the management techniques that worked here in the U.S.," Bielefeld said.
As China's society and economy have become more open, there has been a boom in nonprofit activity, with a focus on entrepreneurial approaches. The public reaction to the May 2008 earthquake that killed an estimated 68,000 people in Sichuan Province showed that Chinese citizens are eager to volunteer for the benefit of society.
But Chinese nonprofit organizations haven't developed the capacity to take advantage of that volunteerism. And there is little in the way of established practice in China, for example, when it comes to raising money from individuals and the private sector.
"The idea of philanthropy for nonprofit organizations is just now developing in China," Bielefeld said. "Really, there were no NGOs until 25 years ago or so."
The green leadership project is a manifestation of an effort by SPEA and the Center on Philanthropy to establish global partnerships, especially in areas such as China and the Middle East, where there have been increases in wealth and an emerging nonprofit sector.
With the project in Beijing deemed a success, plans are in the works for the IUPUI faculty to collaborate with the Society of Entrepreneurs & Ecology on a similar training program this winter, this time at Sun Yat-sen University in southern China.
