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Becoming INGO: A Case Study on Taiwan’s Tzu-Chi in the United States

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Abstract

This paper examines the humanitarian work of Taiwan’s Tzu-Chi in the U.S. and discusses how the work in the U.S. has facilitated Tzu-Chi in becoming a global humanitarian NGO. Founded in 1966 by a Buddhist nun and a group of women in Taiwan, Tzu-Chi is now the largest civil association working in Taiwan and a reputable humanitarian INGO. However, the internationalization of Tzu-Chi is often taken for granted. This paper problematizes the internationalization process and engages with two theoretical perspectives—resource dependence and structural opportunity. Both perspectives cannot properly explain Tzu-Chi’s internationalization process. Drawing on historical materials and engaging with social movement theories, we argue that the U.S. experience has offered (1) cognitive liberation; (2) learning of new organizational forms. This study provides a rare case study on how a non-Western NGO becomes an INGO and offers a co-evolutionary angle to the internationalization process.

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Notes

  1. INGO is a loosely defined term. For example, it is described as “A not-for-profit organization, independent of governmental entities and not established by intergovernmental agreement, that is transboundary in its operations, collaborations, or resources” (See the entry of INGO in A Concise Oxford Dictionary of Politics and International Relations).

  2. It has offices in 47 countries and offering humanitarian aids in 97 countries. Source: http://en.tzuchi.org/.

  3. VOAD is the largest and the most well-established national civic organization dedicated to coordinating disaster relief once they took place. It is comprised of some of the largest American civic organizations (e.g., American Red Cross and the Salvation Army). VOAD is also a federated association and is constituted by different regional organizations. It currently has 66 organizations.

  4. We search national newspapers such as NYTimes and local newspapers in California through the digital archive.

  5. In the early period, the Monthly Magazine is in the form of newsletter. It contains several pages of stories, news, information, and a list of donors’ names.

  6. Huang (2009) offers a more detailed description on the organization structure of Tzu-Chi. However, she is not aware of the fact that Tzu-Chi has developed its organizational blueprint in 1980s.

  7. The Origin and Development of the U.S. Tzu-Chi, Tzu-Chi Monthly Vol. 325, 1993.

  8. See Abelmann and Lie (1995) for how Koreans had been the target of violence. Also, Taiwanese and Chinese are not distinguished in the government reports or research and often lumped into the category of Asian. It is difficult to estimate the injuries of Taiwanese immigrants in this incident. Source: https://spreadsheets.latimes.com/la-riots-deaths.

  9. We find that the authors used Chinese and Taiwanese interchangeably to describe this woman. We would like to remind readers that the distinction between Taiwanese and Chinese was still very weak in the early 1990s.

  10. The original story was first reported in the Tzu-Chi Monthly in June 1992 as a reflection on the consequences of the LA riot. The story was then repeatedly reported in the following years. See the Tzu-Chi Monthly Vol. 307, June 1992.

  11. Source: Tzu-Chi Monthly, Vol. 360, November 1996.

  12. Tzu-Chi Monthly, Vol. 418, September 2001.

  13. The U.S. Tzu-Chi mobilized several large-scale fundraising campaigns for disasters (e.g., earthquakes and typhoons) in Taiwan. These campaigns offered opportunities for the organization to attract new volunteers and strengthen their mobilization capacity. Tzu-Chi Monthly, Vol. 418, 2001.

  14. Tzu-Chi Monthly, Vol. 419, 2001.

  15. In the incident, the New York Tzu-Chi operated in two crisis centers. One was the NYC Family Assistant Center at Pier 94 and the other was at the Office of Recovery and Victim Center in New Jersey. Source: Tzu-Chi Monthly vol. 419, p. 29, October 2001.

  16. The original letter written by Patrick J. Mullan was reprinted in Tzu-Chi Monthly, Vol. 422, January 2002. We contacted Mr. Mullan via email to verify the story on August 3 2017.

  17. According to the report, the Catholic Charities of America raised $14 million, the Salvation Army raised $5.3 million, and Tzu-Chi raised $1.5 million. Daniel J. Walkin. 2001. “A Nation Challenged: The Donations; At Edge of Ground Zero, Gospel and Giving.” The New York Times, December 1. http://www.nytimes.com/2001/12/01/nyregion/a-nation-challenged-the-donations-at-edge-of-ground-zero-gospel-and-giving.html.

  18. Tzu-Chi Monthly, Vol. 443, December 2003.

  19. The campaign was launched in October in countries where Tzu-Chi had branches as a response to the September 11 incident and the disasters in previous years.

  20. The U.S. event was held at Liberty State Park in New Jersey, which once could view the World Trade Center.

  21. For a general description on Hurricane Katrina and the civil engagement from the U.S. civil society, see Time Magazine (2005).

  22. Tzu-Chi Monthly, Vol. 469, Special Issue of Hurricane Katrina, September 2005.

  23. Although slightly different in their missions, a comparable case of Asian faith-based organizations is Soka Gakkai (SG) from Japan, which is considered to be the most well-established Asian civic association in the United States. The SG-USA reported that it “assisted relief operations and collected over 40,000 toys and books for children in temporary shelters (Soka Gakkai International 2006, p. 9).” Source: https://www.sgi-usa.org/newsandevents/newsroom/sgi-brochure.pdf.

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Lee, C., Han, L. Becoming INGO: A Case Study on Taiwan’s Tzu-Chi in the United States. Voluntas 31, 1201–1211 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11266-020-00270-1

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