Monday is the big day – time to throw your hat into the ring to become a host with the most at Chi Fan for Charity 2019!

To date, 59 top restaurants across the city have donated tables of 10 for the evening of Nov 9 for the 11th anniversary of what amounts to Beijing’s top charity social occasion, where the city’s movers and shakers dine out for a good cause.

Sign up to host and show some Beijingers the best night of their life, all for charity

Who would not want to dine on amazing food with nine awesome guests and enjoy a free-flow blow-out afterparty… and see all the money donated to charity?

This year, their charity recipient is Bethel, a Beijing-based training center for blind and visually impaired children established in 2003. Since its founding, Bethel has cared for over 300 kids and assisted with over 130 adoptions.

Bethel has been helping blind children and adults in Beijing since 2003

On Monday, bidding opens for those who would like to be among the Chosen Few. There could not be a simpler way to earn karma points, demonstrate Corporate Social Responsibility or simply have a great time and know you’re helping those less fortunate in the process.

Here’s a preview of how it will work:

• Step 1: Sign up! You’ll be asked to pay a deposit and rank your five most desired restaurants, in order. Remember there is a high demand for table hosting, so you’ll need to be quick!
• Step 2: On Oct 9, they’ll assign tables using an algorithm that gives you the best chance of getting your highest-ranked restaurant. Virtually everyone will get one of their top five, but if in the off chance they are unable to place you in one of the top five, they will contact you to offer an alternative choice.
• Step 3: An invoice will be issued for the balance due for your table, which you will have 48 hours to clear.
• Step 4: You will be introduced to your point of contact at the restaurant, who will be holding your event programs and wristbands, which get you into the afterparty.

Then: gather your guests and enjoy!

The evening will conclude with all of the parties coming together at Sanlitun’s swish Chao Hotel

Your dinner will be followed by a massive all-you-can-drink afterparty at the Chao Hotel. All diners get in free, where you will drink, dance, and partake in an instant raffle (none of this bogus stage nonsense with an emcee shouting “Number 23112! Who has 23112? Anyone? Last call!”) and bid on premium items in our silent auction. So keep an eye out on the night!

Interested in hosting, or have additional questions? Contact their Table Hosts’ Director Kit via WeChat (ID: kitcrisp) or via email chifanforcharity@outlook.com.

READ: Donate Your Time to Put a Smile on a Child’s Face

Photos: Unsplash, courtesy of Chi Fan for Charity

Six charities chosen from the list of 16 applicants for the 2019 Chi Fan for Charity proceeds are preparing to present to the organizing committee on Apr 27, who will then select this year’s recipient (last year’s selected charity, Educating Girls of Rural China, is pictured above).

READ: Fifteen Deserving Students Set to Have Uni Covered by Chi Fan for Charity ‘18 Funds

Charities were given three weeks to submit bids to receive the money from the annual fundraiser that takes place in 60 restaurants across Beijing.

The 11-person organizing committee received 16 applications in total. Each was evaluated and ranked based on a set of criteria that included the measurable impact of the charity and its mission. From this, each committee member selected a list of their favorites, and the results were tabulated.

The six top-ranked charities were then invited to pitch finer details on their plans at a meeting scheduled this Saturday, Apr 27.

After hearing all six pitches, the committee will select the official recipient(s) of this year’s funds to be raised Nov 9.

Here’s a look at our six finalists:

Beijing Green Sunshine Foundation
Beijing Green Sunshine Foundation is a community-based organization promoting ecological and sustainable development and wildlife conservation. They are seeking funding for a local native education project in Wudaoyingzi Primary School in Luanping County, Hebei Province, only 4km from the boundary with Beijing. The project will help 167 students from 3-12 years old and their 26 teachers; the villagers living in close proximity will also be impacted.

Beijing Hidden Treasures Charity Foundation
The mission of Beijing Hidden Treasures is to provide love, support, and protection for children with disabilities so that they can grow up healthily and happily. They help these at-risk, special-needs orphans who were abandoned simply because they were born with special needs. They also provide therapy training within China by providing seminars, lectures, and other resources to some of their partnering children’s welfare Institutes. They will be using the funds for their Shepherd’s Field Children’s Village.

Beijing HOZON Public Welfare Development Center
HOZON is dedicated to the construction of an exchange platform for volunteer services in China, which will help to achieve interconnected volunteer services nationwide. Moreover, they are working to make volunteer service become a way of people’s life. They endeavor to raise more than RMB 1 million for children and mothers in China SOS Children’s Villages in Tianjin, Yantai, Qiqihar, Nanchang, Kaifeng, Chengdu, Putian, Urumqi, and Lhasa. The funds will be used for orphans’ living, medical, and general life expenses in the villages.

Bethel China
Bethel’s mission is to empower children who are blind or visually impaired and their caregivers by providing high-quality care, education, life skills, and livelihood opportunities through foster care and school projects. The funding from Chi Fan for Charity would support the education of 15 scholarship students and the training of 40 families, having a total estimated impact of training over 220 families.

China Dolls Center for Rare Disorders
China Dolls works together with and for people living with Osteogenesis Imperfecta (a genetic bone disorder characterized by fragile bones that break easily, also known as ‘brittle bone disease’) and their families, through peer supports, multi-actor engagement, public education, medical research, multidisciplinary treatment, health, and education policy advocacy. Funding would go in part to their Holistic Rehabilitation Project, which focuses on people with rare disorders and their families, especially those with OI. Funds would also be dedicated to their Rehabilitation Marathon which works alongside domestic and international medical experts to hold medical rounds in 3-4 provincial hospitals every year. Lastly, they would also direct some of the funds to their Rehabilitation Camp, which is for children with OI and their families. The camp includes workshops on rehabilitation, psychology, and hydrotherapy, and parent-child activities.

Chunhui Children’s Foundation
Chunhui Children exists to bring consistent and professional care to children who lack family love, serving orphaned children in welfare institutions and children left behind by migrant parents in rural areas. By offering these children responsive care and education, Chunhui Children aims to unleash their hidden potential and help them progress in all areas of development. Chunhui Funds would be used to provide professional medical services to help orphaned children receive quality care and nurturing in Beijing.

The CFFC selection meeting takes place this Saturday, Apr 27. We’ll update you with news of the lucky candidate once a consensus has been reached. In the meantime, follow Chi Fan for Charity here:

Photos courtesy of CFFC

Twelve charities completed applications to receive the estimated RMB 400,000 in funds to be raised by the 2018 Chi Fan for Charity event, due to take place Saturday, Nov 10 in Beijing.

The 12 charities were tasked with demonstrating sustainability, expertise, and efficiency, as well as providing a measurable project output that allows diners to see the tangible results of their charitable giving.

CFFC’s commitment is to make the selection process transparent and simple.

Below we’ve described the 12 applicants in brief. Our organizing committee meets Aug 6 to narrow the list to five finalists, who will then be invited to make a short pitch to the committee on Aug 17.

Judging will be with support from Philanthropy in Motion (pimchina.org), a Beijing-based, expat-run organization specializing in vetting charitable recipients.

Here are this year’s applicants (in alphabetic order):

Adream Foundation
adream.org
Adream develops Literacy Education and promotes education equilibrium to narrow the urban-rural gap. Funding will be used to build two Adream Centers in poverty-stricken areas: multimedia classrooms that feature books, furniture, computers and internet access.

Association Hospital Magique
magichospital.org
Magic Hospital’s mission is to bring play and laughter to hospitalized and vulnerable children. Funding will be used to provide training and increase the regular schedule of hospital visitations from the Clowns and Co. Program, which sends performers (clowns, art teachers) to children’s hospitals and wards.

Beijing LGBT Center 
bjlgbtcenter.org.cn
The Beijing LGBT Center aims to enable LGBT community members to live healthy, independent and dignified lives by creating a diverse and tolerant social environment. Funding will focus on supporting those with lower income who cannot afford expensive psychological consultations.

Beijing Pulei Social Work Service Center
righttoplaychina.org
Right To Play’s mission is to use sport and play to educate and empower disadvantaged children and youth to overcome the effects of poverty, conflict, and disease. The proposed project aims to enhance the self-protection awareness and capacity of migrant kindergarten children to protect them from all forms of violence, especially sexual violence.

Bethel China
bethelchina.org
Bethel China’s outreach program offers training, resources and activities to families, orphanage staff and caregivers across China working with blind children and children with visual impairments. Funding for our outreach program would allow us to continue hosting trainings in different cities, provide more resources to families and caregivers, and to bring back our International Forum, a learning conference for those caring for blind and visually-impaired children across China.

Chunhui Children’s Foundation
chbaf.org
Chunhui serves orphaned children in welfare institutions and children left behind by migrant parents in rural areas. Funding will go to the Chunhui Care Home (CCH)  in Yizhuang which helps administer pre-and post-treatment care for orphaned children coming to Beijing to get surgeries for conditions such as Cleft Lip and Palate, Heart Disease, Hydrocephalus, and Congenital Anomaly of Digestive Tract.

Educating Girls of Rural China
egrc.ca
Educating Girls of Rural China sponsors financially-challenged female students from rural regions with their university education. In the last 13 years, EGRC has sponsored 842 underprivileged girls from rural areas. They are orphans, from single-parent families, or their parents are disabled or chronically ill. Funding will sponsor 10 underprivileged female students to finish their four-year university education within the Greater Beijing Area.

May Foundation 
mayfoundation.cn
May Foundation gathers social resources to support university education reform efforts. The foundation teaches students to be social-service oriented. Funding will go to the May Creative Service-Learning Program at Peking University and Fudan University.

Roundabout Charity Store
roundaboutchina.com
Roundabout works with orphanages, medical foster homes, migrant schools, homes for the disabled, the homeless, families on low incomes who need to have medical bills paid, and those in remote areas with limited income and access to medical care and education.Funding will go to Roundabout to further consolidate and grow as a hub for other charities in China.

Roundabout Special Fund
roundaboutchina.org
Roundabout’s Special Fund serves underprivileged children in China when they need urgent help. Gender, race, and ethnicity make no part of our selection process. Funding will go towards funding 15 to 40 operations for children with heart defects in Xinjiang via Roundabout’s substation in Xinjiang.

Shangri-la Institute for Sustainable Communities
shangrilainstitute.org
Supports students, teachers, and communities across China but particularly in rural communities in southwest China. Funding will go to the Waterschool China Project: project schools across 4 watersheds in 12 provinces across China. They are now raising money for the 4th phase of the project, which will continue to carry out innovative, interactive environmental and water education and community development projects across China.

Vibrant Communities Service Center
vcommunities.org
Vibrant Communities assists disadvantaged children (especially migrant children and left-behind children) and their caregivers. Funding will go towards Early Childhood Development in the Greater Beijing area as well as other areas in China.

In the meantime, stay up to date with CFFC’s planning as we get closer to the Nov 10 event date by following our official WeChat account here:

Photos: courtesy of Chi Fan for Charity
This post first appeared on our sister site, the Beijinger.