Fangcao Reading Circle was established as a California Public Benefit Corporation and recognition of exemption under IRC 501(c)(3). Our mission is to provide the power of reading to the children who are learning Chinese in the U.S. and to the children in the remote rural areas of China.
We are fulfilling our exempt purposes through a variety of exclusively charitable and educational services, including:
- Donation of Chinese books to the schools which teach Chinese in the U.S., such as Chinese schools or schools with Chinese immersion programs.
- Making contributions to NGOs in China which are dedicated to helping the children receive schooling in the remote rural areas of China.
- Helping children in the remote rural areas of China by supporting their basic living and health, which is essential for their schooling.
- Helping teachers in the remote rural areas of China to get proper training.
To this end, we will undertake the following specific activities.
Utilizing our personal connections with existing Chinese NGOs, we will purchase books that have been identified by these NGOs as the highest quality and most effective for use by students studying Chinese, and subsequently distribute the books to schools in the U.S. that have Chinese immersion programs. This will ensure that student learning the Chinese language have the opportunity to learn using reading material that is used within the Chinese education system. We have already developed relationships with teachers and administrators at four public schools in our community that have such Chinese immersion programs.
Through these established relationships, our volunteers will not only donate the books to their programs, but will also be an involved partner, assisting their students in more deeply understanding the material. We will visit the schools frequently, and work with teachers to assist the students in their Chinese programs through implementation of storytelling, art, and writing projects. We may expand this program to also include after school programs that offer instruction in Chinese.
Our services will also include targeted grant making efforts. To that end, we will utilize a number of avenues to raise funds to be distributed to qualifying organizations in fulfillment of our exempt purposes. Initial grantees will be pre-selected by our Board of Directors, based on their personal relationships with existing Chinese NGOs. Once more funding becomes available a more formalized application process will be implemented. At that point we envision that grantees will be selected after review of a project proposal and full investigation of the applicant organization. Prior to distribution of any funds we will undertake a full review of the potential recipient and will have deemed them to be fiscally responsible and making a positive impact on the students they serve. Funding will then be distributed via check or wire
In order to be eligible to apply for grant funding from our organization, an applicant must be a 501(c)(3) organization or 501(c)(3)-equivalent NGO. The applicant’s proposed project must involve the provision of charitable and/or educational services to students residing in remote rural areas of China, and result in an improved quality of life for those that they serve.
Our initial recipients are the XinPing Foundation, a Chinese NGO that actively works to support the education of China’s underserved students, and Shoulder Action, another Chinese NGO that is raising the quality of elementary education and promoting educational equality in China. This Foundation has funded the development of libraries and other educational initiatives for more than 4,000 schools in China. Through this relationship, Fangcao Reading Circle’s administrators will receive referrals for students attending the schools that the Foundation supports who are in need of assistance in maintaining their basic needs and health.
Whenever possible, our organization will make contributions intended to provide for these severely socioeconomically disadvantaged students’ needs. Our organization also plans to provide funding in support of teacher training in China. Often times the teachers at rural remote schools in China are not as well trained as their urban counterparts. Realizing this, our organization plans to fund continuing education programs through which teachers from urban areas in China will provide instruction and guidance to teachers in remote areas.
Funding for these continuing education programs will be provided to the XinPing Foundation and will then be subject to their planning and oversight.
Finally, we anticipate undertaking funding of other projects in the future as needs are identified. These may include making contributions to Chinese NGOs to provide funding toward projects such as building bridges or access roads that will allow students in rural areas of China more accessible routes to their educational institutions. We may also implement U.S.-Chinese summer student exchange programs to support further cultural immersion.
Fangcao Reading Circle, 46-4278823
