On the morning of April 27, 2021, the SSCLF Forum invited Ms. Wang Zhiyun, chairman of Shanghai United Foundation, to give a keynote lecture on “Strategic Work of Foundations”.
Shanghai United Foundation has accumulated valuable experience in advocating public participation in philanthropy, whose success cannot be divorced from a clear strategic positioning and corresponding planning and implementation. Taking Shanghai United Foundation’s 2020-2024 strategic plan as an example, Ms. Wang Zhiyun talked about the promotion ideas and specific process of strategic planning, introduced the key points of strategy formulation and strategy implementation, and analyzed the new changes brought to the organization after the strategic plan was carried out.
During the lecture, Ms. Wang Zhiyun frankly expressed her opinions on the dilemmas and trade-offs in the strategic decision-making process, including “How should the foundation focus its business?”, “Who are the core service targets of the foundation?”, “What is the foundation’s unique value proposition?”, “What are the core regions that the foundation should focus on?”, “How to nurture and develop rational donors?”, among others. Starting from the foundation’s vision, mission, service targets and public welfare philosophy, Wang Zhiyun compared the changes between the old and new strategies of Shanghai United Foundation and shared her observations and reflections after the upgrade of the foundation’s philanthropic strategic planning. A significant lesson learned is that the formulation of a clear strategic plan for a foundation is a professional process with repeated discussion and sorting out, while the implementation of the strategic plan requires strong promotion and persistence.
Representatives from Shanghai Jiao Tong University Education Development Foundation, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of International and Public Affairs, East China Normal University Education Development Foundation, Tongji University Education Development Foundation and Zijiang Foundation, as well as representatives from the sponsors - SSCLF’s special funds, attended the event.
