From Crowdfunding to Crowd Mobilization : The Impact of Digital Philanthropy on Grassroots Organizations and Local Politics in China

Abstract

The recent emergence of online crowdfunding campaigns has transformed the charitable landscape in China. This paper examines the participation of one county-level grassroots nonprofit organization (SW) in Tencent's 99 Giving Day to reveal a paradox of organizational success in online crowdfunding, namely that local nonprofits have to wage corresponding offline campaigns with the support of the local government, and thus must co-evolve with local politics. While the online charitable campaign played a crucial role in the founding and professionalization of SW, the successful campaign was soon co-opted by the local government as a source of welfare soft-budgeting and performance management. To ensure the ongoing success of the three-day campaign, the online crowdfunding was transformed into a large-scale offline mobilization. We find that although crowdfunding creates new opportunities for rural grassroots organizations, these organizations must balance dual pressures from both the platform and the local government to successfully crowdfund online. 网络众筹活动的出现极大地改变了中国的慈善景观。本文通过考察县级草根非营利组织 SW 在腾讯 99 公益日中的参与，揭示了在线众筹组织成功的一个悖论，即虽然网络众筹强调互联网的力量，地方非营利组织必须在得到地方政府支持的情况下展开相应的线下活动，并与地方政治交互发展。虽然网络慈善活动在该县级草根组织的成立和专业化中起着关键性作用，但成功的众筹活动很快被地方政府吸纳为一种软预算和绩效管理的来源。为了确保三天众筹活动能够持续成功，网络众筹的背后是大规模的线下动员。尽管众筹为农村草根组织创造了新的机遇，但这些组织必须有效的平衡平台和地方政府的双重压力，才能成功的在线众筹。