Making donations work in crisis management: A contingent governance transition in philanthropy in Wuhan's COVID-19 response

Abstract

In response to public complaints about the chaotic management of donations during the emergency, the site of the first identified COVID-19 case, Wuhan (in central China), underwent a contingent governance transition. And given the public complaints about the disorganized management of donations during the early stage of emergency management in Wuhan in January 2020, local governments initiated a minor governance transition in philanthropy, involving multiple stakeholders such as public and private charities, as well as private enterprises. In contrast to the abundance of literature on governance actors such as the state, the market, and societal actors, this review discusses the changes in governance mechanisms using publicly available data from governmental websites, policy documents, and news reports. It examines a minor governance change in local philanthropy from hierarchical bureaucratic governance to embryotic non-monocentric governance and to expedient collaborative/interactive governance. Moreover, it highlights the yet-to-be institutionalized characteristics of the newly emerging governance models in China, a country where the traditional mode of hierarchical governance is dominant. This article not only adds to the body of evidence on governance failures caused by monocentric bureaucracy, but it also contributes to the literature on public governance transition in China's philanthropic sector and the state-society relations more broadly.