The Second World Philanthropy Forum, jointly launched by the Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries (CPAFFC) and Tsinghua University, was held from November 29 to 30, 2017 in Beijing.

Li Haifeng, Vice Chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), attended the opening ceremony. Li Xiaolin, President of CPAFFC; Chen Xu, Chairperson of Tsinghua University Council and Gao Xiaobing, Vice Minister of Civil Affairs, delivered speeches respectively at the forum.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres also sent a congratulatory letter to the forum and the upcoming “Community of shared future: a network of synergetic cooperation between charities and social services”.

President Li Xiaolin pointed out that: “The World Philanthropy Forum is an open platform for participation, dedication and sharing in charity and social services. It originates from China and serves the world. We welcome insightful people to join the forum and carry out collaboration, so that we work towards the great goal of building a community of shared future for humanity.”

We hope that we will promote the sharing of experience, academic exchange, policy advocacy and practical promotion of charities around the world, implement the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals and advance the building of a community of shared future through the forum, said Chen Xu, Chairperson of Tsinghua University Council in her speech.

The opening ceremony was attended by over 40 heads of international organizations including Nicholas Rosellini, United Nations Resident Coordinator in China and UNDP Resident Representative; Rana Flowers, UNICEF Representative to China; as well as heads of Ford Foundation, World Vision International, Asia Foundation, Give2Asia and Right To Play. Upwards of 500 guests from over 400 institutions attended the forum. In addition, the heads of eight world-renowned organizations including Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation sent congratulatory letters for the opening of the World Philanthropy Forum.

The theme of this forum is “Synergetic Cooperation”. Centering on the theme, the forum explores and supports the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), gives boost to the Belt and Road Initiative and the joint discussion and building mechanism and measures in the promotion of building a community of shared future; focuses on the four topics of anti-poverty, social impact investment, environmental protection and youth development; gives full play to the role of social work, experts and scholars, overseas Chinese people, Chinese and foreign enterprises, foundations and international organizations regarding disciplines, specialties, advantages and strengths; holds seven high-level dialogues, four roundtable dialogues and four parallel forums.

At the opening ceremony, the CPAFFC and World Vision International signed the Memorandum of Strategic Cooperation on ‘Every Women Every Child’ of the United Nations. In the next three years, World Vision International will invest close to 1 billion U.S. dollars in countries along the Belt and Road, and work together and unite all sectors of society to carry out livelihood projects and social services.

The forum has set up a high-end advisor and partnership mechanism. Julia Eileen Gillard, President of the Global Partnership for Education and former Australian Prime Minister; Helle Thorning-Schmidt, CEO of Save the Children International and former Prime Minister of Denmark; Li Wei, President of Development Research Center of the State Council; and Li Jiajie, a famous entrepreneur and philanthropist and Vice Chairman of Henderson Land Development Company Group, serve as the first group of advisors of the forum. Ford Foundation and the Committee of 100 respectively serve as the global strategic partner and strategic partner of this forum.

At the closing ceremony, the forum launched the World Philanthropy Forum: Chinese Social Services Cooperation Mechanism and Community of Shared Future for Mankind: Collaborative Network for Philanthropy and Social Services. Dr. Hu Sishe, Vice President of CPAFFC, read out the World Philanthropy Forum: Declaration of Friendship and announced the plan for the third forum in 2018.