Like many other states, China has recognized the multiple benefits of citizen participation in volunteering activities. Because community volunteering is of vital importance to the Communist Party’s efforts to maintain social stability and core moral values, the Chinese state has placed great emphasis on efforts to develop and institutionalize community volunteer associations (CVAs). Despite this, there are significant differences between the grassroots level CVAs when it comes to the modes of their functioning and their types of activities. This article takes a closer look at the reasons for these differences by comparing CVAs in four urban districts in Tianjin. It provides new insights into the multiple modes of governance in China’s social sector at the urban grassroots level and in doing so it contributes to our understanding of the increasing fragmentation of urban governance in China.