Online charity platforms run by Tencent, Sina and Alipay collected 428 million yuan in 2014. (Photo : Reuters)
Donations to Chinese charities have poured last year, amounting to a total of over 100 billion yuan or $15.7 billion. This reflects 0.16 percent of the country’s GDP, according to reports released on Saturday, Sept. 19, by the China Charity and Donation Information Center.
The surge in donations is a relatively new experience for China.
The 104-billion-yuan donation reflects a 5.3-percent increase from donations received in 2013. It also represents a 2-percent increase from the donations received in 2008 when Sichuan Province was struck by an 8-magnitude earthquake. Of the donations received in 2014, 75 percent were for poverty relief, healthcare and education.
Experts attribute the massive increase in charity donations to the popularity of Internet-based donations as well as the growth of non-public charity foundations.
"The growing figure indicates a new trend in China as Internet-based charities provide people with a more convenient channel to donate money," said Zhang Gaorang in an interview with the Global Times. He serves as an assistant dean at the Beijing Normal University China Philanthropy Research Institute.
According to the report, which was released under the Ministry of Civil Affairs, online charity platforms run by Tencent, Sina and Alipay were able to collect 428 million yuan in 2014. The amount is a 42.6-percent increase from donations received in 2013.
Despite the growing popularity of Internet-based charity organizations, government departments and official charity foundations still account for most of the donations received (61.4 percent).
The Red Cross Society of China, on the other hand, received 2.6 billion yuan in donations, a 17.4-percent decrease from 2013. Experts say this is due to the 2011 celebrity scandals, which tainted the organization's image.
