Nick Robinson of International Center for Not-for-Profit Law (ICNL) and I spoke on recent developments in Chinese and US law and policy for nonprofits working in China at an ICNL webinar. This 2025 podcast with Kaiser Kuo gives details on Chinese developments. www.sinicapodcast.com/p/transcript...

Thanks to Rebecca Lelchuk + Diana Devlin for the showing of American Nightmare/American Dream, about the struggles for education in the face of the public assistance system + the successes of the Welfare Rights Initiative. Dillonna C. Lewis-Gallardo, Maureen Lane, Ruth Sidel. americandreamfilms.com

International Center for Not-for-Profit Law (ICNL) board and senior staff meeting in Toronto at a challenging time for civil society in many countries and regions…. @icnl.bsky.social

With old friend Zhu Jiangang at ARNOVA in November. 朱健刚

Honored to be keynoting this event with colleagues from China and beyond….

The trustees of the China Medical Board meeting last week in Washington….

Pleased to present yesterday for the Richard Rockefeller Fellows at the China Center for Social Policy at Columbia, on the Trump Administration’s policies toward philanthropy and nonprofits and implications for work with China. Thanks to Prof Qin Gao, Diane Williams and Rockefeller Brothers Fund

All welcome: The Increasing Barriers to Movement of Philanthropic and Social Investment Capital in Asia in an Era of Retrenchment Mark Sidel UW-Madison and ICNL Friday, October 3, 12:00 noon Norway time (GMT+2); 6:00 am New York time Join us on Zoom: lnkd.in/eCSE9dK9%3Ch...

Nam Kim, Erik Harms and I at a Southeast Asian academic centers gathering in New York yesterday… @GETSEA @Henry Luce Foundation

With good friends on Long Beach Island….

My thanks to Eva Hansson and Bui Hai Thiem at the Stockholm Center for Global Asia for the terrific workshop on shifts in civil society and philanthropy in Asia that I was honored to keynote this week…. Johan Lagerkvist, Andrew Wells-Dang, Meredith Weiss, Mauro Zamboni and other terrific speakers….

Workshop on civil society and Asia at the Stockholm Center for Global Asia next week (August 14) in Stoclholm. All welcome. su.bmc.nu/Modules/Even...

With my friend and ICNL.bsky.social International Center for Not-for-Profit Law (ICNL) board colleague, nonprofit leader Oluseyi Babatunde Oyebisi tonight in New York….

I was delighted to speak along with Nicole Sackley, Tim Barney, and Gregory Domber on a panel on The Ford Foundation and the Cold War at the Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations (SHAFR) annual conference. I spoke on “The Ford Foundation and South Vietnam, 1958-1975.”

My thanks to the Maecenata Stiftung in Berlin for inviting me to speak last week on the challenges to philanthropy and civil society in the US under the current administration, with a good discussion on parallel challenges in Germany. Thanks to Ansgar Gessner, Rupert Graf Strachwitz, Sascha Nicke.

I was honored to speak last week with German organizations working in China, convened by Stiftung Asienhaus, Stiftung Mercator and Maecenata Stiftung. Thanks to Joanna Klabisch, Zhao Zhong, Christian Straube, Ansgar Gessner, Katja Drinhauser, Friedrich Aurnhammer, Sascha Nicke, and colleagues….

A recent piece on the revisions to China’s Charity Law, published in Nonprofit Policy Forum (open access but feel free to contact me if that doesn’t work). www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi...

I’m honored to speak for the Canadian Charity Law Association on June 2 on developments in the US, with thanks to markblumberg.bsky.social and colleagues for the invitation. www.canadiancharitylaw.ca/events/the-c...

A short piece I was asked to do on the dimming prospects (and yet always some longterm hope?) for civil society in China, in the excellent @eastasiaforum.bsky.social East Asia Forum Quarterly just out. The issue is here, eastasiaforum.org/quarterly/.

I’m honored to speak for the Canadian Charity Law Association on June 2 on developments in the US, with thanks to markblumberg.bsky.social and colleagues for the invitation. www.canadiancharitylaw.ca/events/the-c...

Excellent conversation yesterday with the China Foundation Forum / China Foundation Center on developments in policy and regulation on philanthropy in the US and China. Thanks to Professor Xijin Jia for the invitation and to Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors and Heather Grady for hosting.

End of semester lunch with Cardozo School of Law terrific TAs and students Lucy Paiste, Emilee Kaminski, and Talia Raoufpur…

Honored to appear on the same panel with the distinguished, multi-institutional Li Jian.

I’m honored to keynote at the Chinese Nonprofit Scholarly Forum convened by the Institute of Philanthropy at Tsinghua University on April 24. I’ll speak on recent developments in regulation of philanthropy and nonprofits in Asia and the US. My thanks to Wang Ming, Xijin Jia and others at Tsinghua.

I’m delighted to serve as the discussant for this year’s China Town Hall at the University of Minnesota China Center this Thursday evening, April 24. Join us if you’re in the Twin Cities…. chinacenter.umn.edu/events/china...

Honored to speak at the Charities Aid Foundation International Grantmaking Symposium this week on challenges facing American philanthropy and nonprofits, and the challenges of philanthropic work in China. Thanks to Jessie Krafft, Andrew Kopca, Brooks Reed, Aislinn Walsh, Meg Roberts and others.

Bryant Park NYC today

Adjunct here legally, seeking asylum. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

Some of the Asia Catalyst former board crew catching up today in New York. From L Mark Sidel, Karyn Kaplan, Joanne Csete, Bruce Rabb, Yvonne Chan. Next time with Randall Chamberlain and Minky Worden….

I’m honored to be joining Myles McGregor-Lowndes and Seak-King Huang for a discussion of nonprofit legal developments in the US and implications for Australia. Registration is here: events.humanitix.com/2025-key-cas...

I’m honored to be speaking for the Wayne Morse Center for Law and Politics at the University of Oregon on Can Nonprofit Organizations Do Political and Policy Advocacy? Nonprofits and Politics in Comparative Perspective Wednesday, March 12, 6:15 p.m. 175 Knight Law Center

Please join us…. Registration link at tinyurl.com/CNSMEventMar...

Dave Bright and I had a great time today talking with Professor Karen Gahl-Mills’s arts policy class at Indiana University Bloomington about Mary Miss v. Des Moines Arts Center, a recent public art case in Iowa….

I’m pleased to be speaking on the situation for overseas foundations and nonprofits in China these days at the Center for East Asian Studies at UW-Madison next Tuesday, Feb 4, at 4:00 pm. All welcome. facebook.com/events/s/con...

I’m joining Andrew Wells-Dang, Lena Le, Dien Luong and Nguyen Hong Hai for an online discussion of The Outlook for Vietnam in 2025 convened by the US Institute of Peace. Information and registration is at www.usip.org/events/outlo...

From the School of Law and Social Justice, University of Liverpool, a podcast on the landscape of non-profit and philanthropic organisations across the United States, China, India, and Vietnam. My thanks to Annie Grey at SLSJ. On Spotify ⤵️ lnkd.in/eNVqmy8A

I’m honored to join the board of #Give2Asia, a key philanthropic intermediary organization assisting foundations, corporations and individuals in cross-border philanthropy with China and elsewhere in Asia.

With Teo and Cooper, always grateful and always friends.

My good friends at the Welfare Rights Initiative at Hunter College have set up a donation link. Please feel free to use it…. host.nxt.blackbaud.com/donor-form/?...

I convened and spoke at a colloquium on the challenges of researching and writing Ford Foundation history at this year’s ARNOVA conference. My thanks to Bheki Moyo and Rachel Wimpee for terrific presentations. If you’re working on FF history I invite you to be in touch.

I was delighted to present with colleagues on localization of international aid and philanthropy; the role of the Visual Artists Rights Act (VARA) and contract in a prominent visual and public art case with David Bright; and post-Covid regulation of civil society in China at ARNOVA in late November…

I was honored to speak at Wesleyan University College of East Asian Studies this week on civil society in China. Thanks to Ying Jia Tan for the invitation, Kathleen Norris for managing the visit, and Mary Alice Haddad, Wendi Field Murray, Takeshi Watanabe and others at Wesleyan.

I was honored to speak on China at the Windham World Affairs Council in Brattleboro VT this week. My thanks to Merrill Sovner and colleagues and the great audience.