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alxa, located in the western part of inner mongolia autonomous region, is one of the origins of sandstorms in china. its desert area ranks second in the country and fourth in the world.

on june 5, 2004, nearly 100 chinese entrepreneurs, determined to control desertification in the alxa region and prevent further devastation of sandstorms, initiated the establishment of the alxa see ecological association on the shores of moon lake in the tengger desert in alxa.

20 years later, alashan see has developed into china's largest entrepreneur environmental protection organization. entrepreneurs have extended the tentacles of environmental protection public welfare across the alashan region to almost all issues and fields such as ecology, species and nature education that are in urgent need of change and protection. the environmental protection cause has also expanded from "focusing on sand control" to "preserving clear water and blue sky" in an all-round exploration.

a local environmental protection organization goes nationwide, takes root in various places, and leads the people to protect the local water and soil. this is probably the unique energy of the entrepreneurial group.

based in alxa, but not limited to alxa

at the beginning, this group of entrepreneurs were just aiming to "control sand dunes".

at the founding conference of the alxa see ecological association, entrepreneurs issued the "alxa declaration" carrying responsibilities and dreams, which stated: "to develop it into china's most important environmental public welfare organization for sandstorm control." the "charter" at the time (referring to the first version of the association formulated in 2004) clearly stated the "mission" of the organization: "focusing on sandstorm control in the alxa region, supporting various local projects that help environmental protection and ecological restoration."

in this land, they used the concept of sustainable development, closely followed the two ecological indicators of desert vegetation restoration and agricultural water conservation, helped the local area complete industrial adjustment, promoted the improvement of the production and lifestyle of the local community, and thus curbed the intensification of desertification in the alxa region. the two iconic environmental protection projects of "100 million haloxylon ammodendron trees" and "water-saving millet" were born.

^{100 million haloxylon ammodendron trees build an ecological barrier}

objectively speaking, this environmental protection charity organization, which is mainly composed of entrepreneurs, has members from all over the country. they are busy with work and have tight schedules, so their participation in the alxa project is greatly restricted. but compared with donating money, this is an organization that pays more attention to participation. the "100,000 yuan per year for 10 years" membership fee payment mechanism shows their emphasis on participation.

in the second year of its establishment, alashan see began to consider developing some environmental protection projects that are easy for members to participate in. the first thing that came to mind, and which is also the easiest to implement, is industry support.

in april 2005, alxa see launched the "see ecological award". in june 2008, it launched the nationwide "see funding fund". through the "see ecological award" and "see funding fund", it supports the capacity building of china's environmental protection public welfare projects and environmental protection public welfare institutions.

on july 28, 2007, at the annual board meeting of alxa see, the strategic adjustment of "based in alxa, not limited to alxa" was voted and approved. this means that alxa see's environmental protection business has expanded from the initial desertification control to endangered species protection, ecological protection and nature education, and the environmental protection project area has extended to all provinces and cities across the country.

on june 9, 2008, under the leadership of the second president wang shi, alashan see organized 20 entrepreneur members to visit the united states to learn about the management experience of american philanthropy. they visited 15 charitable organizations including the hewlett foundation, the rockefeller family foundation, the ford foundation, and the nature conservancy, and studied and discussed the governance, project operations, fund management, financial monitoring, and fundraising of charitable organizations.

based on this, the strategy of alxa see is further clarified and the future development is proposed: continue to expand the participation of chinese entrepreneurs, learn from the experience of the above successful public welfare organizations, combine their own practices, take alxa ecological protection as the basis, go from alxa to the whole country, from the organization to do projects to support other environmental protection public welfare organizations to do projects. the establishment of the foundation is a more forward-looking layout and exploration.

tracing back to the day when the association was founded on june 5, 2004, the first general meeting of directors approved the establishment of the see foundation. the establishment of a foundation is one of the most important tasks in the transformation of the alxa see ecological association. registering a national public fundraising foundation will enable the association to raise large-scale social funds and transform from an organization that focuses on doing things to an organization that combines fundraising and doing things.

in december 2008, the see foundation (registered name: beijing entrepreneurs environmental protection foundation) was formally established with a donation of rmb 8 million from the alxa see ecological association. its vision is to "become the largest channel and platform for chinese entrepreneurs to fund private environmental protection projects." in other words, the see foundation will be built into an incubator to support the growth of chinese environmental protection charitable organizations.

at the beginning of its establishment, see foundation, as a non-public fundraising foundation, took "helping the growth of chinese environmental protection non-governmental organizations and promoting chinese citizens' participation in china's environmental protection" as its fundamental positioning. by raising funds, it provided funding and training to non-governmental environmental protection organizations across the country.

the first chairman of the see foundation, the famous economist mr. wu jinglian, has high hopes for the establishment of the see foundation. “civil organizations often cannot provide long-term services to society. the establishment of the see foundation on the basis of the good organizational structure and good order of the see association will further strengthen the entire work process and make the work of non-governmental organizations more perfect.”

on august 1, 2009, the 8th executive council of the 2nd session of alxa see decided to transfer the funding business of alxa see ecological association for environmental protection public welfare organizations outside the alxa region to the see foundation for management.

it can be said that the strategic layout of "based in alxa, but not limited to alxa" has enabled alxa see to achieve a win-win situation of "public participation" and "industry recognition".

^{mangrove ©liu yi}

the intrinsic logic of “1+8”

with the establishment of the first foundation, see foundation, the environmental protection organization alxa see ecological association has a handle, or confidence, to carry out environmental protection business outside alxa, but it is not easy for a local environmental protection organization to go nationwide. in order to facilitate the implementation of environmental protection projects in various places, alxa see began to establish foundations in different regions, using the foundations as a base to radiate and spread environmental protection power to the surrounding areas.

from 2008 to 2023, the eight foundations jointly initiated by the alxa see ecological association and its members focused on many environmental issues such as biodiversity conservation, protection of ecosystems such as wetlands, and nature education.

the establishment of the above foundation is mainly to gather local entrepreneurs to participate in environmental protection public welfare projects locally, but on the other hand, it depends on the activeness of local members to promote the foundation to better complete its environmental protection business.

take the mangrove forest foundation (mcf) as an example. at that time, members of the shenzhen-hong kong project center obtained a "big order" from the government with the endorsement of a number of entrepreneurs such as chairman wang shi and founding member ma weihua. in 2015, when the futian mangrove ecological park opened, the futian district government officially entrusted the management of the park to the mangrove forest foundation, creating a precedent for the country's first urban ecological park invested and built by the government and operated and managed by a social welfare organization.

for example, the yangtze river ecological protection foundation was initiated and established under the impetus of 38 members of the yangtze river project center, including the seventh president of alxa see (then the sixth vice president). it has built a platform for enterprises, universities, research institutes, environmental protection charities and the public to participate in social protection, driving and supporting the growth of private environmental protection charities, and contributing to the ecological protection and sustainable development of the yangtze river. in 2020, the national ten-year fishing ban plan for the yangtze river was released. the yangtze river project center took advantage of the advantages of social organizations and transformed the original "fishermen" into "fish protectors", which was recognized by many parties. it pioneered the creation of the "yangtze river fishery administration assistance patrol system", which was elevated to a national policy and implemented throughout the yangtze river basin.

in 2014, see foundation was upgraded to a public fundraising foundation, and its environmental protection business segment gradually became clear. starting from the "100 million haloxylon ammodendron trees" and "water-saving millet" originating in alxa, it used environmental protection projects such as "preserving the smile of the yangtze river", "let the birds fly", "noah's ark", and "three river source protection" to cover china's vast ecosystems such as wetlands, oceans, and forests, and protect clear waters and blue skies.

2014-2024 is the 10th year of see foundation's public fundraising. in the past 10 years, see has become an important participant and promoter of china's environmental protection public welfare undertakings, and has played a heavyweight role in china's environmental protection process.

among the eight foundations, shenzhen aleshan charity foundation is the only one that does not focus on environmental protection business. under the guidance of the investment committee, it has planned and built a diversified asset allocation system that organically combines "cash management products + stocks + bonds + non-standard + quantitative and other alternative assets". with diversified ways of preserving and increasing value, it provides a long-term and stable source of funds for public welfare organizations and projects, and improves the efficiency and rate of return of public welfare funds.

to a certain extent, the aleshan charity foundation uses the business thinking that entrepreneurs are good at to create a model for the sustainable development of assets of chinese public welfare and charity organizations and pave an innovative path.

one person protects one's land

in addition to the eight foundations, alxa see encourages its members to gather local entrepreneurs, form environmental protection units in different provinces with the region as the center (called environmental protection project centers within alxa see). in this way, environmental protection activities can be carried out across the country, so that the power of environmental protection can maintain the smallest tentacles and the greatest penetration.

in 2009, the first local project center of alxa see was established in shenzhen, which was then called the "south china region" and later renamed the shenzhen-hong kong project center. at its peak, alxa see had established 33 environmental protection project centers across the country.

the environmental protection project center is the reach and vitality of alashan see. even if there is no foundation to support the implementation of environmental protection projects, the project center will carry out diverse environmental protection projects in the local area based on local ecological characteristics by cooperating with local government agencies, environmental protection departments and environmental protection public welfare organizations.

the tianfu project center was established in 2018. its most benchmark environmental protection project is the "sichuan's most beautiful ranger" project initiated in conjunction with the sichuan forestry and grassland bureau, and has received joint support from the sichuan forestry and grassland bureau. it has cooperated with the sichuan provincial department of human resources and social security, the provincial federation of trade unions, and the communist youth league committee to empower the "most beautiful rangers" based on the professional development of rangers.

the jiangnan project center, established in the same year, jointly launched a project to save the "mythical bird" chinese crested tern with the zhejiang natural history museum and hangzhou bird and ecology research association, established a breeding ground for chinese crested tern, and held exhibitions and popular science education. it also jointly launched the "zhejiang feather classroom-biodiversity science education" with the hangzhou bird and ecology research association and the zhejiang wild bird society, and carried out public welfare lectures in primary and secondary schools in the province.

looking back today, from initiation, establishment to project promotion, the alxa see environmental protection project center is moving from scale to maturity. starting from 2022, during the term of the eighth and ninth governance teams, alxa see reorganized and merged seven out-of-control environmental protection project centers after multiple discussions and votes by the board of directors.

as of now, there are 26 see environmental protection project centers in alxa. they have found their own characteristic environmental protection projects in the local area through exploration, and have served as local ambassadors of the headquarters' signature projects. for example, they have participated deeply in the "green home" and "strong grass together" projects, selected and funded local environmental protection charity organizations, and carried out diversified nature education, allowing the environmental protection business of this entrepreneurial charity organization to diffract and fission across the country.

finally, let's take a look at a set of data: as of the end of 2008, there were 1,579 foundations in china, of which 643 were non-public fundraising foundations, accounting for 40% of the total number of foundations in china; there were 936 public fundraising foundations, accounting for about 60% of the total number of foundations in the country (data from: 2008 china non-public fundraising foundation development report); and as of the end of 2023, there were 9,711 foundations operating normally in china, of which 1,061 were qualified for public fundraising, accounting for 11.4% of the total.

in the past decade, the number of foundations has grown at an annual rate of 10.3%. there is no doubt that this is an era of vigorous development of chinese foundations and chinese philanthropy, and the entire ecology of chinese philanthropy is in a period of exploration and practice. for a private environmental protection organization, the 20-year growth path, whether it is "starting from alxa, but not limited to alxa" or "one area of ​​people protecting one area of ​​water and soil", is to maximize the resources and capabilities of entrepreneurs under the big theme of environmental protection and public welfare. in the past 20 years, daring to be the first and setting an example for the industry is the irreplaceable value and indelible mission of this group of entrepreneurs in the field of environmental protection.

author: shu yan