Our Children: 

There’s a special group of children living in the mountains of Nayong county of Guizhou province. They are called children without care of their parents. They live with their grandparents. It is quite normal that their fathers died and their mother left the village. The children make up about 10% of the local children.

The youngest child was still an infant when her mother had left her. The eldest was about 4 when their parents had left them. They had to do housework or fieldwork while other children are beloved and cared. They had no one to care about them. Sometimes, they took out the photo of their mother from a drawer and touch her face on the photo. Or they went to their fathers’ tomb and spoke to the grave. They barely eat full and stay in shabby rooms. Some of them did not have a bed.

Shortage of materials was not the main problem. They had to bear great mental pains. In the other children’s eyes, they have been abandoned by their mothers. They just hide themselves in the corner and keep silent. They are the targets being bullied. She loves drawing and nothing had been left. They do not want their grandparents to be sick. They could not afford to lose their only family. They would like to call mom, but no one would answer.

With the support of TFish, the project aims to support with micro loans to housewives from a poverty-stricken village in Huining county, Gansu province. It will promote income and provide development opportunities to women in the villages.   

Everywhere showed dried and deserted in winter in Huining county. Only in spring, green comes out of earth day by day, bringing wonderful lives.

In the early of November, 2014, we visited villagers for micro loans in Lucha village with 2 staff from Little Red Scarf. We surveyed on basic situations as family economic income, role of female, development hopes and possible ways to increase income, etc. 

We did brief exchange with women who just came back from fields. As a traditional village, women were confined to the family chores and men work outside of the village. Wife and husband take different responsibilities at home. Cook always one of jobs that a woman has to take in a family, so it is impossible to decide who will cook or wash dishes by throwing a coin. It is a fixed situation in a village family for male and female.

For 24 hours a day, men and women are busy for their own jobs. Some who are left in the villages do plantations or cultivation to generate income. Female takes more chores. Before meals, men can take a rest while women are busy in the kitchens.

We hope our visit can help to bring some developments to the women in the village, providing learning opportunities or alternative skills to generate income to them. It’s March and spring, we got support for our micro loans from TFish. In the following days, we hope to provide more helps to more mothers. 

Original article written by Cunjun Ma, translated by Maggie Li, and edited by Yanyan Zhang

Changchun Kuancheng District Huayi Support Center, Hubei Mengyun County Volunteer Association, and Liangshan Heitu Ecology Cooperation Society’s QQ Discussion: They asked if their organizations could apply for funds from Transparent Fish Fund, what types of support TFish offers, and what they would need to do after registering. They also suggested that we offer an event to discuss world problems and find more outstanding organizations. 
Many organizations answered their inquiries, but Henan Zhengzhou Xingyang Volunteer Association and Pingliang Volunteers gave great answers: Time will prove everything. After working with TFish for a year, we learned to cooperate and trust each other. 04/19/2013

Myasthenia’s QQ Discussion: 1. The deadline for applying for One Foundation’s Ocean Protection fund is April 7th. Any child that qualifies from an organization can apply. 2. They ask what are guidelines for choosing Transparent Fish Fund’s Outstanding Associate Members?
Our staff replies: Guidelines include keeping finances transparent on the TFish website, remain active for over 3 months, feasibility of the organization’s projects, possibility of continued development, and good cooperation with TFish Fund. 04/08/2013

Compassion Team’s QQ Discussion: They thank Transparent Fish Fund for their trust and support. They were chosen as the “Most Touching Blog” in the month of March. They are currently undergoing financial reform using the Enyou Financial System promoted by One Foundation and shared their progress with everyone in the group.

Sunflower Nonprofit’s QQ Discussion: 1. They submitted the request for funding and do not know when they will find out if their request is approved. 2. They have already applied twice for funds and are a partner of Transparent Fish Fund. They plan to apply again this year. What is the maximum amount they can apply for?
Our staff replies: We saw from your community blog that your last 3,000 yuan project’s expenses report is still incomplete because it has leftovers, meaning that your project is not completely finished. We will observe your organization for three to six months after you complete the previous project. After this, TFish’s US office will email you to notify you if you can reapply. We ask that you submit a financial report each quarter and send email reminders to you each time. We will look at your request as long as you fill out everything required in the report. 04/10/2013

Shanquan Youth Philanthropic Development Center and Dream Helper’s QQ Discussion: Shanquan Youth Philanthropic Development Center: We are organizing a student team to teach children in rural areas. Are there any organizations that can provide us with a partner school?
Dream Helper: Don’t blindly start organizing. Ask the school why they did not have a set student team the past two years. You need to look for reasons behind that.  04/11/2014

Longxing Nonprofit QQ Discussion: Dear fellow colleagues on the Transparent Fish Fund website: It will be great if you all can support us, Longxing Nonprofit Association, by giving us precious comments and guidance. 
Our staff replies: Hi, TFish support platform is a platform for the communication and advertisement of NGOs. TFish staff will not provide guidance for any organization because you are the experts in your cause and we are outsiders. So the growth of an organization must be by its own hard work and perseverance, and the TFish website is not a website aimed to provide guidance or planning for organizations. Perhaps you do not have a clear understanding of TFish’s vision. We call for nonprofits to achieve “Transparent finances and transparent philanthropy.”

[Source: Social Entrepreneurs Magazine  www.npi.org.cn   May 20, 2012 No.49]
View original article in Chinese PDF.

What do grassroot NGOs under financial difficulty say?

Facing financial and resource hardships, grassroot NGOs come to reveal the truth about NGO funding--

“Today, Chinese nonprofit foundations are not even as generous as some corporations. The foundations raise a lot of money, but do not support grassroot NGOs, making it a mere formality.”

“It is very interesting how we are evaluating foundations. This shows that in the foundation-NGO relationship, NGOs, too, have a voice and are not always on the receiving end.” 

“Only looking at resources and the providers of resources is a pragmatically shortsighted. ‘Support’ is mutual. Accepting ‘support’ means wearing ‘super-short skirts’ to give your ‘adoptive father’ a visually appealing picture. This twisted system has a long history and has already been taken for granted.”

“Supporting grassroot NGOs is a rare objective. The foundation that first changes its mentality and supports grassroot NGOs will win with their explosive morals! Grassroot organizations offer a market for foundations. If foundations continue to ‘pretend to be cool,’ and strive only to entertain themselves, they will gradually depart from societal demands and lose popular support!”

“Hopefully the government will pay more attention to grassroot NGOs and do their research carefully by going into grassroot organizations, so the government can really support some great grassroot nonprofits to construct a peaceful society.”

“If the registration system continues to be faulty, grassroot NGOs cannot develop smoothly.”

“We need to host more resource division conferences with both the funding side and the demanding side, so we can connect the resources in the East to poor areas in the West.”

“Cooperation will lead to mutual benefits.”

“Standardized management, transparent finances, and independent supervision and evaluation by a third party are very important.”

“We need to publicize with as much honesty as possible all the difficulties that grassroot NGOs face so the public will understand and support these nonprofits.” 

The Youth Social Responsibility Development Center works with university students to improve public welfare, encouraging more students to care about their community, join relevant organizations, and participate in public welfare activities. 

To the respectable staff of Toumingyu office:

On behalf of the Youth Social Responsibility Development Center, I would like to present our gratitude for Toumingyu's support in the coming of the Chinese New Year. We would like to pay our respect and appreciation to the staff from Toumingyu for their high efficiency and responsibility.

The T-Fish team in China periodically interviews NGOs that are doing excellent work on the field. The following is an interview of the Hua Kai Institution, which provides after-school services to children. To watch the original interview, please go here.
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T-Fish: Transparent Fish Fund is committed to free technology, marketing, fundraising, and management consulting services to help NGOs raise funds and support for their projects. It is our honor to have the founder of the Hua Kai Cultural Public Welfare Institution, Mr. Yu Zhong Chun, here with us today. Can you introduce yourself?

Mr. Yu: Hello! I am the founder of the Hua Kai Cultural Public Welfare Institution. Children usually call me brother Yu.

T-Fish: Why did you choose to go into public service?

Mr. Yu: It is said that people who help others also help themselves. Early on I considered going into public service, but it never really happened because there weren’t many public welfare organizations at the time. Later, after being a volunteer at an NGO, I managed to find a way.

T-Fish: What inspired you to create a cultural welfare program?

Mr. Yu: I love reading, so I wanted more children to have the opportunity to read. I realized that many children are laborers; after school, they didn't have good places to go to, so I wanted to somehow help their lives become more interesting and colorful outside of school. After I established the organization, I found out that many children do not really like to read. They enjoy playing more, perhaps due to the fact their parents do not pay much attention to them. Playing is also very important for children because you learn a lot through social interactions with other people.