Taiwanese Nonprofits Leave GlobalGiving Over “Chinese Taipei” Relabeling (news)

Not to bury the lead, but our main story for today is we have learned through reporting as well as our own outreach that donation platform Global Giving has announced that the label it uses to assign countries to different NGOs in its network will be changed from Taiwan to Chinese Taipei.

So here's what's happening.

Reportedly, Global Giving, as it expands its operations in China, is making decisions for complying with [chuckles] the re- the requirements, and in a diplomatic move, if you will, has chosen to relabel Taiwan, the country, on its platform, um, within its dropdown to Chinese Taipei.

Uh, Global Giving, George, according to reports, notified Taiwan-based NGOs about the change, and it seems like the change will go into effect on June 5th.

Impacted groups said the change was given by Chinese government pressure.

George, that is probably up for debate, um, but I will say that we have reached out to several NGOs who confirmed that this had been communicated.

Several of those NGOs, George, indicated their intent to withdraw from the platform, which is a pretty big signal of dissatisfaction from groups within Taiwan.

Um, but George, I think important to note at the top that we did receive an official statement from Global Giving themselves in response to a request for comment.

I won't read the whole statement here.

You can find it on Nonprofit...

But the key line is, quote, "On June 5th, 2026, Global Giving will implement a platform update related to how Taiwan is displayed on the site.

This decision was made thoughtfully and with care, and informed by expert guidance and consultation with specialists on regional language sensitivities, as well as early input from some of our Taiwanese nonprofit partners.

This change does not affect the visibility, brand, and/or content of projects and organizations featured on our site.

Taiwan will remain searchable on the Global Giving website, and donors will continue to be able to discover and support these nonprofit organizations and their, and their featured project.

Anytime a partner voluntarily retires from the Global Giving platform, we work efficiently and effectively to accommodate this request." And it concludes, George, by saying, "Our focus remains the same everywhere we operate, connecting donors with trusted organizations and helping communities access the resources they need to create lasting, meaningful impact." And this was a statement provided to us by a Global Giving representative.

So George, interesting, complicated.

What do you think?

I...

Yes, it is complicated.

We did, uh, reach out to some of the nonprofits affected and, you know, it, I think, important to understand, one, the scale.

So there are roughly 35 projects that show up, give or take, as of June 1st when you do a search for Taiwan as keyword, as location.

They're saying they are going to still honor the ability to search for that.

However, there is, again, 35 projects that were created in an ecosystem where Taiwan was at the header, clearly when you show list, and are at present raising over a combined million dollars in money of people that, you know, are giving, trusting, and going through that.

And that's, I think, one of the, the key words here is, is trust.

So the argument, and I've posted these from, uh, the Facebook post directly from groups like the Taiwan Gender Equity Education Association and the Rice Tank Deep in This Land of Taiwan, Taiwan Good Rice Circle Association.