On December 11th, the Ministry of Civil Affairs released the "2013 Implementation Plan on Central Government's Fiscal Support for Social Organizations to Participate in Social Service Projects" (hereinafter referred to as the "Implementation Plan" ). According to the Implementation Plan, in 2013, the initiative has a total budget of RMB 200 million, including RMB 50 million for development demonstrative projects, RMB 70 million for social service pilot projects, RMB 60 million for social service demonstrative projects, and RMB 15 million for personnel training demonstrative projects.

    A notice issued by the Ministry of Civil Affairs requires local governments to carefully study the Implementation Plan, mobilize social organizations, provide guide to projects, and conduct preliminary review on projects and strictly control quality of projects. Priority should be given to projects aimed to improve people's livelihood, serve the general public and the grassroots; and to social organizations that play special roles in certain areas or play exemplar roles, or those who have rendered significant social impact or made special contributions. Projects receiving fiscal support from local governments, lottery fund, and funding from private sector will be given priority, and so are projects that were well managed and implemented, and yielded notable effect in the previous year. 

    Social organizations to apply for these projects should possess the following qualifications:having registered with civil affair authorities; havingpassed annual inspection in 2011; having carried out social service projects; entitling to relevant matching funding; being well-organized; having sound financial system and independent bank accounts; having sound work team and executing capacity; being experienced in implementing social service projects and be reputable. The Implementation Plan stipulates that in principle, one social organization can only apply for one project. 

    According to the Implementation Plan, in 2013, social organizations may receive sponsorship for providing such social services as elderly care, medical assistance, and disaster relief. Projects involving infrastructure construction, research and advocacy will not be sponsored. 

    The Ministry of Civil Affairs and the Ministry of Finance will make unscheduled inspections on project funding management. Projects will also be audited and evaluated by independent parties, and key projects will be randomly audited and evaluated. The effectiveness of fiscal spending will be evaluated. Audit and evaluation results will serve as important reference for project review and fund allocation in the next year, alongside other criteria such as quality of project implementation, result of annual inspection on social organizations.Awards, honors and administrative punishments received by social organizations will also be taken into consideration.