Charity orgs see donations plummet in wake of scandals
August 26th, 2011 | People's DailyData from the China Charity and Donation Information Center under the Ministry of Civil Affairs shows that public donations to charitable organizations dropped by nearly 90 percent, marking a steep decline since the “Guo Meimei incident” took place in June.
The data shows that the total donations to charitable organizations from March to May reached 6.26 billion yuan but dropped to 840 million yuan, with a decrease of 86.6 percent, from June to August.
The data also shows that China saw donations totaling more than 28.35 billion yuan from January to August. And the amount was 16 billion yuan from March to May, while only 12.1 billion yuan from June to August.
Although the total amount of the donations was not affected by the Guo Meimei incident, the donations to charitable organizations dropped. And the number of donations to government and individuals is on the increase.
From March to May, the total amount of donations to government organizations was 7 billion yuan and the amount of donations to individuals totaled nearly 39 million yuan. However, from June to August, the donations to government organizations reached 9 billion yuan and the donations to individuals increased to 127 million yuan.
An official from the Charity and Donation Information Center said that the drop in donations to charitable organizations shows people’s distrust of charitable organizations in China.
Edited and Translated by Han Shasha, People’s Daily Online
Beijing Times