Contributing to A Better Society

After his son was diagnosed with acute leukemia in 2013, a man known by the pseudonym Liu Hai sold all of his prop- erty to pay for the treatments. But, after two bone marrow transplants in three years, part of which was also funded by donations via an online charity platform established by Tencent Holdings Ltd., Liu’s son lost his fight for life in August.

Despite his grief, Liu wanted to do some- thing positive. “My child is gone, but I can help others,” he said.

Liu then volunteered in hospitals, advising parents of ailing children on how to get help with social aid as the yearly charity campaign initiated by Tencent Foundation, the charity arm of Tencent, drew near on September 7. Knowing that other families were experiencing the same ordeal, he wanted to do as much as he could to help. “Many children with illnesses can be cured if they receive financial aid in time,” Liu said.

As one of China’s IT giants, Tencent strong- ly cooperates with public charity foundations which seek to raise money for specifi c projects by publicizing them on the company’s charity website Gongyi.qq.com.

This year, more than 6,500 public welfare projects participated in Tencent Foundation’s three-day campaign, attracting 12.68 million individual donations totaling 829.9 million yuan ($126.8 million).

Besides public donations, Tencent Foundation and 300 partner enterprises— including the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, China Post and Amazon China— donated a further 476.99 million yuan ($72.9 million).

“The lack of money is a headache for NGOs as well as low public participation [in their fundraising activities],” said Deng Guosheng, Vice Dean of the Institute for Philanthropy at Tsinghua University. Deng pointed out that Tencent Foundation’s cam- paign can help charity organizations overcome these problems.

Internet plus charity

Most people in China have probably at some time come across unobtrusive little dona- tion boxes dotted around cities. To publicize a donation campaign in times past, NGOs usually needed to stage some fancy activi- ties and cooperate with the media to make their voice heard. But the effect was still limited. However, mobile Internet now pro- vides a platform that not only enables such organizations to reach more people, but also facilitates contributions to charity anytime, anywhere.

Late in August, a charitable art sale raged on Tencent’s WeChat platform, China’s most used social networking app, which collected 6.6 million yuan ($1 million) in only four hours. Many WeChat users posted newly acquired paintings on their personal stream, and some even used them for their phone’s wallpaper.

The artworks for sale were painted by autistic people, and the money raised will be donated to a program called Enlighten Life With Art, which aims to help people with dis- abilities such as autism, cerebral palsy and Down syndrome as well as eliminate the so- cial prejudice they face.

During this year’s charity campaign, Tencent Foundation held social activities in five cities—Beijing, Shanghai, Hangzhou, Shenzhen and Chengdu—at which donors could meet NGOs and gain a better under- standing of their projects.

In addition to monetary contributions, people could even donate time spent browsing WeChat. For this, users agreed to be exposed to advertising, whose revenue WeChat would donate to charity. That’s Tencent new goal making charity a lifestyle choice by connecting Internet users’ lives offl ine with their activities online.

Late in August, a charitable art sale raged on Tencent’s WeChat platform, China’s most used social networking app, which collected 6.6 million yuan ($1 million) in only four hours. Many WeChat users posted newly acquired paintings on their personal stream, and some even used them for their phone’s wallpaper.

The artworks for sale were painted by autistic people, and the money raised will be donated to a program called Enlighten Life With Art, which aims to help people with dis- abilities such as autism, cerebral palsy and Down syndrome as well as eliminate the so- cial prejudice they face.

During this year’s charity campaign, Tencent Foundation held social activities in five cities—Beijing, Shanghai, Hangzhou, Shenzhen and Chengdu—at which donors could meet NGOs and gain a better under- standing of their projects.

In addition to monetary contributions, people could even donate time spent browsing WeChat. For this, users agreed to be exposed to advertising, whose revenue WeChat would donate to charity.

That’s Tencent new goal making charity a lifestyle choice by connecting Internet users’ lives offl ine with their activities online.

Tencent responded to all the doubts on- line, publishing a statement about how they launched the project and how donors could track their donations as well as releasing videos showing autistic painters creating and introduc- ing their works.

The company also stated that the mon- ey raised would not be funneled through Tencent’s charity platform; it will go directly to Ai You Future Foundation, a Shenzhen- based organization.

“For public fundraising projects, donations will go to the accounts of the organizations qualifi ed to raise money publicly, which are also responsible for the usage of the funds,” said Yang Sibin, member of the Academic Council of the China Charity Alliance.

Many charities today are Internet-based, and they are increasingly run on third-party plat- forms. To safeguard against fraud, the Charity Law, which took effect on September 1, 2016, stipulates that only charitable organizations of- fi cially approved for public fundraising activities can post relevant information online.

“In the past, NGOs concerned most about finding people who could donate. But now, [they must provide more information] Donors need to know who will finally benefit from their donations and what the whole process is like, not only where the money goes,” said Zhang Jianmin, Vice Secretary General of China Women’s Development Foundation.

Tencent Foundation, established in 2007, renewed its transparency policy earlier this year, requiring organizations on its platform to pub- lish the amount of funds raised, the expenses, and the plan of the target project. Those who meet the requirements are approved to participate in its annual charity campaign in September.

“The exposure of complete and true in- formation guarantees that participants have a good record, which earns public trust and also enables people to select better projects and helps them accomplish their goals,” said Chen Yidan, Tencent Foundation founder.

However, compared to projects pro- moted by huge organizations or celebrities, community-level organizations that lack online crowdfunding skills and the capability to oper- ate efficiently are marginalized in large social campaigns.

Among the more than 6,500 projects in Tencent Foundation’s campaign this year, the top 10 percent received 178 million yuan ($27.2 million) by 400 pm on the fi rst day, which ac- counted for 75 percent of the total amount raised by that time, according to Nanjing-based Xinhua Daily.

“Community-level organizations can hardly solve their financial problems by relying solely on yearly charity day campaigns. They should know how to ‘advertise’ their projects. I have donated to several projects and also find that some projects are carelessly designed,” said Xu Yun, associate professor at Nanjing University of Finance and Economics in Jiangsu Province.

But Liu Qiang, founder of an NGO in Nanjing, sees the positive side. “Although the amount of money I raised [through Tencent Foundation’s campaign] is small, I’m still excited because community-level organizations need to depend on giant platforms to attract more participation,” Liu said.