Calling for COVID R&D Collaboration and Giving Through Our Pandemic Philanthropy Report

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The Problem

Philanthropy is still a relatively nascent sector in China, with much of charitable giving limited to social causes such as education, poverty or humanitarian emergencies, and dominated by the corporate sector. As a result, philanthropies focusing on global health and R&D are near non-existent in China. As compared to charitable foundations like the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Wellcome Trust, China has relied mostly on private innovation and/or public initiatives to drive forward scientific research and development.

Our key partner in this project, Global Health Drug Discovery Institute (GHDDI), holds a unique place in China’s landscape as the first research institute established through a partnership between the local government (Beijing Municipality), an academic institute (Tsinghua University) and philanthropic capital (Gates Foundation). Its mission has been to discover and develop innovative drugs for diseases prevalent in low- and middle-income countries, a cause that aligns with global health goals, but which is also less seen in China. As a result, aside from its core scientific work, GHDDI has taken on itself the responsibility to advocate for China’s philanthropic sector to pay more attention to R&D that can benefit global health and developing countries.

The Solution

Our support for GHDDI’s goal coincided with a timely new trend – the outbreak of COVID-19 had brought about a significant step forward in this type of R&D philanthropy important for global health. Asides from the charitable donations of resources and money towards medical equipment, PPE and diagnostics for front-line workers, we noticed that real estate and tech giants like Evergrande, Baidu, Tencent and Jack Ma were also donating funds to laboratories, research teams and academic institutes aimed at developing diagnostics, therapeutics and even vaccines against COVID-19.

In response to this observation, Bridge decided to form a research and writing team to make sense of this, and provide an opportunity to bring together these philanthropists, grantees and R&D experts, and highlight the importance of funding global health R&D.

Starting out in June 2020, we launched our inaugural 35-page Pandemic Philanthropy Report, the world’s first English-language analysis of the effect of COVID-19 on Chinese philanthropy, focusing on private sector support for vaccine R&D, and discussing the opportunities it offered international clients for engagement.

At the same time, we partnered with Asian Venture Philanthropy Network (AVPN) to disseminate our findings via an online webinar. Members of our team moderated a panel discussion with representatives from Gates Foundation, GHDDI, and Baidu Research USA, exploring the changes that each side had seen over the years, and what they expected after this new wave of pandemic philanthropy.

The Impact

The webinar with AVPN reached 150 NGO and corporate leaders from 17 countries including UNHCR, FHI 360, Fullerton Health Foundation, and the Tanoto Foundation. Both the Pandemic Philanthropy Report and the webinar secured coverage on Devex, the leading international development site. Both successfully showcased how the Chinese philanthropic sector has the willingness and ability to give to long-term R&D projects, thus opening a new paradigm for global health funding in China.

Meanwhile, with GHDDI, we personally introduced them to become a member of the AVPN network. With this, they have been able to identify and engage with potential partners that have like-minded goals, both within and outside of China.