View reports from the 18 already funded and on-going Virtual Foundation projects in China

View descriptions of the 4 Chinese projects currently available for funding through the Virtual Foundation

Announcement of Donor-Advised Anti-Desertification Fund

May 26, 2002: A Virtual Foundation Donor-Advised Anti-Desertification Fund has just been established by an anonymous Chinese donor, with match funding from the Trace Foundation. This is an important step in developing Chinese philanthropy, as the donation and initiative come from within China itself. We hope that this development will encourage other donors.

The purpose of the Anti-Desertification fund is to support locally initiated small scale projects designed to stop or to prevent desertification. These projects should:

1. be based in regions or areas experiencing desertification problems (in northern or central China)
2. include a significant amount of local contribution or volunteer labor
3. demonstrate a clearly thought out and scientifically grounded strategy for stopping or preventing desertification
4. be aware of the interconnectedness of ecological activities, and not contribute to water scarcity or other ecological problems (for example, projects should not plant trees which would require significant amounts of watering for their survival)
5. be primarily oriented toward solving the desertification problems, not toward providing an outdoor activity for participants.

We are looking for partners to assist us by locating and notifying groups which might be interested in creating and implementing one of these projects, doing preliminary reviews of project applications, and forwarding English versions to us for final evaluation. Any such partner organization would receive 5% of the project amount, to help cover its costs of administration.

Plans for Developing the Virtual Foundation China website

The emerging Virtual Foundation CHINA website will have several sections: the first will feature articles about emerging leaders, "Guiding Lights" for their society and for the world.
Another section will provide descriptions of on-going projects in search of support, from within or outside China. This support may be financial, or may be in the form of contacts such as exchange opportunities.

Virtual Foundation CHINA will be created first in English. The Chinese language version should debut a few months later.

With comments, questions or suggestions about this new website, please write to: cschmidt@ecologia.org and specify that your communication is for the "China Working Group".