Foundation enacts biblical tenet 'more blessed to give than to receive'

Bishop Ding Guangxun, late leader of the Chinese Christian Council and founder of the Amity Foundation. [Photo/provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Amity Foundation, an independent voluntary organization founded in 1985, used to get most of its funding from overseas churches. But during recent years, with growing donations from the Chinese mainland, the foundation began to extend its helping hand to the world.

The foundation was initiated by late Chinese Christian leader Ding Guangxun.

Ding was born to a Christian family in Shanghai in 1915. He became China’s Christian Bishop during the 1980s and dedicated his life to the development of Chinese Christianity. He studied in New York between 1947 and 1948, where he earned a master's degree in religious education.

He returned to China in September 1951 and devoted himself to make Christian churches in China independent from overseas influence. He became a leader of the Three-Self Patriotic Movement of the Protestant Churches of China, which upheld the principles of "Self-administration, Self-support and Self-propagation of the Gospel".

In 1985, believing Chinese Christians should make more contribution to the wellbeing of people in China and around the world, Ding, along with other Christians, started the foundation.

"As one of the earliest non-profit organizations in China since reform and opening up, the Amity Foundation was like a 'special charity zone', which introduced overseas capital to serve the development of China," said Qiu Zhonghui, general secretary of the foundation.

Early Amity Foundation projects focused mainly on bringing volunteers from foreign countries to teach English in China's less developed regions. More than 90 percent of donations were from foreign churches.

During the second decade since the foundation's establishment, the organization expanded dramatically and began to cover a range of different programs including social welfare, blindness prevention, special education and poverty alleviation.

At present, the number of Amity's employees has reached nearly 100 and the organization receives donations worth 100 million yuan ($15.8 million). With the rapid economic development in China, Amity is receiving more donations from the Chinese mainland, which makes up more than 50 percent of total donations during the past few years.

"Now China is the second biggest economy in the world we should try to shoulder more international responsibilities," Qiu said. "We received a lot of donations from overseas at an early stage, now it's the time for us to give back."

The foundation has become involved in charity programs in Africa, Europe, Asia and Oceania. In April, when a deadly earthquake hit Nepal resulting in 8,786 deaths, Amity sent its rescue team to the country and donated more than 7 million yuan.

To better develop its programs in Europe, the Amity Foundation is planning to set up an office in Geneva, Switzerland this year. In July, it started an office in Ethiopia and became China’s first NGO to own an office abroad.

Setting up the new office in Geneva is partly a gesture to commemorate Ding, who worked in the city between 1948 and 1951 in the World Student Christian Federation. This year marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of Ding, who died in 2012.

"Bishop Din Guangxun often told us that it is more blessed to give than to receive. Now we, as a Chinese Christian NGO, are doing just that." Qiu said.

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