China sees drop in donations

GUANGZHOU - About 81.7 billion yuan ($13.35 billion) in donations from home and abroad were made in China last year, down 3.31 percent year on year, according to a charity report released on Saturday.

It is the second consecutive year there has been a drop in donations, according to the China Charity and Donation Information Center (CCDIC) report.

The center's statistics showed that the total amount donated was 84.5 billion yuan in 2011, down 18.1 percent from the previous year.

Xu Jianzhong, an official with the Ministry of Civil Affairs, attributed the dip to the floundering global economy, a drop in serious natural disasters and the lingering "public trust crisis" toward the country's charity sector.

The reputation of charity groups, especially the Red Cross Society of China, took a major hit in 2011 when a woman calling herself Guo Meimei used social media to claim she managed an organization under the charity and openly flaunted her wealth and extravagant lifestyle.

The incident and ensuing scandals among its local branches over the past year have triggered public concern about embezzlement and improper management within the charity.

The report, however, showed various charity foundations remained the biggest force for raising donations despite a drop in both the value and proportion of donations raised.

Donations received by various social institutions in the country accounted for about 70 percent of the total in 2012. Among them, charity foundations received about 30.57 billion yuan in donations last year, accounting for 37.4 percent of the total, according to the report.

Companies were still the main contributors, with their donations totaling 47.44 billion yuan, the report showed.

The CCDIC also found a surge in both donations made online and the number of people donating via the Internet. It said the Internet has become a fledgling force for making contributions.

The CCDIC is an organization sponsored by the Ministry of Civil Affairs and has researched charity donations and issued annual reports since 2008.

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