ExCEL3 – which stands for Excellence and Capacity Building for Entrepreneurship and Leadership for the Third Sector – is a cross-disciplinary initiative to equip the sector to cope with a changing environment and rising community expectations and also develop HKU's research and teaching capacity in studying civil society.

The project will organise training, sharing and research activities that focus on nurturing innovation and entrepreneurship, and strengthening leadership, management, governance and organisation capacity.

Specific programmes will elaborate on such issues as human rights management in non-profit organisations, financial strategy and leadership in high-performing non-profits, legislation and policy reform and advocacy, and understanding and using the news.

Collaborative networks will bring together philanthropists, foundations, social entrepreneurs and institutional investors, and non-profit groups and the academic community, both in Hong Kong and overseas. The non-profits will represent a wide gamut of interests such as the environment, women, artists, religious faith, human services, advocacy, patients and self-help.

The project initially will run for five years and it received $32 million from the Hong Kong Jockey Club in May 2012.

The Dean of Social Sciences, Professor John Burns, said they had already established networks with charities, investors, social enterprises, NGOs and social venture capitalists.

"This project crosses disciplines – we're working with Law, Business, Arts and Medicine – and we're partnering with the Rockefeller Foundation as well as the Jockey Club. It's a huge multi-year project and within the sector it has sparked recognition that HKU is a player," he says.