(Write to me if you want to read but can’t afford the paywall.)

A decade of China’s Overseas NGO Law: Where are we now? - Alliance magazine China’s Overseas NGO Law came into force nearly ten years ago. Though foreign foundations and nonprofits can still operate in the country, they do so under increasingly restrictive conditions that hav...

Thank you to Alliance magazine and Elika Roohi for publishing this 10 year wrapup + recent developments on working with China under the Overseas NGO Law. www.alliancemagazine.org/analysis/a-d...

I was honored to speak at the King Baudouin Foundation Be Philanthropy conference this week with Elika Roohi, Fabian Zuleeg, Maria Chepurina-Deswel, and Laurence de Nervaux on the crisis for philanthropy in polarized and authoritarian contexts. Thanks to Stephanie Smets and KBF colleagues.

Transcript | Mark Sidel on China's Oversight of Foreign NGOs: Eight Years of the Overseas NGO Law This week on Sinica, I speak with Mark Sidel, the Doyle Bascom Professor of Law and Public Affairs at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a senior fellow at the International Center for Not for Pr...

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...

"American Nightmare / American Dream" Visit the post for more.

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

A raucous rendition of Puff the Magic Dragon at last night’s celebration of Peter Yarrow at Ethical Culture in New York, with Paul Stuckey, Tom Paxton, Bethany Yarrow and others…. | Mark Sidel |… | Ma... Paul Stuckey, Tom Paxton, Bethany Yarrow and others in a raucous rendition of Puff the Magic Dragon at the celebration of Peter Yarrow last night at Ethical Culture in New York…. https://lnkd.in/eqdk9...

www.linkedin.com/posts/marksi...

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….

Steering a Restrictive Course: Rebooting China’s Charity Law When it comes to regulating nonprofits and civil society, China is steering a careful and conservative course in the Xi Jinping era, with a laser-like focus on control over civil society. This policy ...

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...

The Changing Policy and Regulatory Environment for US Philanthropy and Nonprofits under the New Administration - CanadianCharityLaw.ca This webinar will be presented by Mark Sidel. Mark Sidel is Doyle-Bascom Professor of Law and Public Affairs, University of Wisconsin-Madison and Vice

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...

The Quarterly | East Asia Forum East Asia Forum Quarterly is the quarterly magazine of East Asia Forum. EAFQ provides a platform for top-tier analysis, research, and policy commentary.

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/.

The Changing Policy and Regulatory Environment for US Philanthropy and Nonprofits under the New Administration - CanadianCharityLaw.ca This webinar will be presented by Mark Sidel. Mark Sidel is Doyle-Bascom Professor of Law and Public Affairs, University of Wisconsin-Madison and Vice

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.