Changjiang business news ● Changjiang Business Daily public welfare reporter Li Wei
In the past year, China charitable forces actively participated in fighting the COVID-19 epidemic and natural disasters, focusing on tackling poverty, focusing on special groups and focusing on the concerns of the masses, which reflected the growth and progress of China charitable forces and their important role in implementing major national strategies and responding to major events, and showed the selfless dedication of the whole society and the great love of the world.
Recently, at the 9th China Charity Project Exchange Exhibition, China Charity Federation released the 2020 China Charity Donation Report online. According to the report, in 2020, China received a total of 225.313 billion yuan of charitable donations from home and abroad. Among them, the mainland received donations totaling 208.613 billion yuan, exceeding 200 billion yuan for the first time, up 38.21% year-on-year. In addition, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and the Macao Special Administrative Region received donations of 14.9 billion yuan and 1.8 billion yuan respectively. There are no authoritative statistics in Taiwan Province.
Billions of people donated more than 8.2 billion on the Internet.
In the field of charity in China, with the popularization of mobile Internet technology and the application of digital tools, the popularity of public welfare has been rising on major Internet platforms. On the other hand, more and more enterprises participate in public welfare undertakings, which not only shows their social responsibilities, but also makes the public welfare power of the Internet become the driving force to continuously promote economic and social development.
The report shows that in 2020, China’s charitable donations will mainly be invested in health, education, poverty alleviation and development, among which the health sector accounts for the highest proportion, exceeding one-third of the total donations.
Affected by the epidemic situation in COVID-19, in 2020, China’s charitable donations were mainly invested in the field of health, with a total of 71.036 billion yuan in donations, up 160.94% year-on-year, accounting for 34.05%. Among them, the proportion of donations for epidemic prevention and control is the largest. In the first half of 2020 alone, charitable organizations at all levels across the country received a total of 39.627 billion yuan of anti-epidemic donations and 1.09 billion pieces of materials.
Donations in the field of education are still enthusiastic, and the total amount of donations received by education reached 45.029 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 2.27%. Many educational foundations in colleges and universities have received more than 100 million yuan in donations, most of which are mainly enterprises, entrepreneurial groups and enterprise foundations.
The year 2020 is the decisive year to build a well-off society in an all-round way and fight poverty. Many China enterprises and caring people have given generously, and poverty alleviation has long been a popular donation direction. Donations from all walks of life to the field of poverty alleviation reached 38.558 billion yuan, which played an active role in changing the backward appearance of poor villages, improving the living conditions of poor people, and enhancing the grassroots governance capacity in poor areas.
It is worth mentioning that enterprises are still important donors, and personal donations have increased significantly.
In 2020, the total donations of Chinese enterprises and individuals were 121.811 billion yuan and 52.415 billion yuan respectively, with an annual increase of more than 30%, accounting for 83.52% of the total donations; The remaining donations from institutions, trade associations and chambers of commerce accounted for 16.48%. This is the first time that corporate donations have exceeded 100 billion yuan.
According to the China Charity List released by Forbes China in July this year, the total cash donations of 100 entrepreneurs (enterprises) on the list reached 24.51 billion yuan, a sharp increase of 37% compared with 17.91 billion yuan last year. This is the sixth time that the total donation amount has exceeded 10 billion yuan since 2011, and it is also the first time that it has exceeded 20 billion yuan.
The new scale of charitable trusts exceeds 300 million.
It is worth noting that the report also pointed out that by the end of 2020, China had registered a total of 537 charitable trusts, with a total property scale of 3.319 billion yuan, up by 96.70% and 13.08% respectively. In 2020, there were 257 new charitable trusts in China, and the scale of new property was 390 million yuan, showing a general trend of increasing the number of trusts and slowing down the growth rate of trust property.
According to the statistics of the Charity Trust Committee of China Charity Federation, by the end of 2020, China had established 534 charitable trusts with a total scale of about 3.317 billion yuan. Among them, in 2020, 257 charitable trusts were added, with a property scale of about 390 million yuan, and 537 charitable trusts were put on record, with a property scale of about 3.319 billion yuan, which was outstanding in the fields of poverty alleviation, epidemic prevention and emergency relief.
Compared with charitable donation, the establishment of charitable trust can better reflect the wishes of the client and ensure the realization of the charitable purpose of the client. Especially for enterprises, charitable trust is a more flexible way to carry out charitable activities, with simple establishment procedures, efficient use of property and good publicity effect, which can fully reflect corporate social responsibility.
In recent years, many well-known domestic entrepreneurs have chosen to set up charitable trusts with some assets under their personal names to give back to the society, such as He Xiangjian, founder of Midea Group, and Lu Weiding, chairman of Wanxiang Group. At present, charities are gradually replacing enterprises and becoming the main source of charitable trust clients.
In recent years, charitable trust, as an important part of China’s philanthropy, has also played a significant role in institutionalizing the problem of poverty, narrowing the gap between the rich and the poor, and helping the poor and the weak. As of August 2021, the total scale of charitable trust property exceeded 3.5 billion yuan, and more than 80% of trust companies in the industry have participated in it. Since 2021, 32 charitable trusts have been filed, with an average of 6 orders per month. Judging from the scale of registered charitable trusts, there have been tens of millions of large orders.
In the practice of tackling poverty, the funds of related charitable trust projects are also tilted towards poor areas and poor people. According to statistics, in 2020, trust companies set up 91 charitable trusts for poverty alleviation, raising 148 million yuan of poverty alleviation funds, which made an important contribution to the decisive battle against poverty. In the past five years, a total of 269 charitable trusts have been set up, with a property scale of 2.45 billion yuan, accounting for 73.13%. Poverty alleviation has become one of the main purposes of the establishment of charitable trusts.
In practice, the trust industry has explored new modes, such as enterprise-driven mode, income dividend mode, leverage mode, insurance protection mode and education support mode, to realize the sustainable and virtuous cycle of charitable trust, which has played a huge role in consolidating the results of poverty alleviation.
Industry experts pointed out that with the continuous improvement of economic development and social civilization, the resources invested by society in charity will gradually increase, and the contribution of charity in social development will increase simultaneously. As an important form of entrusted service, charitable trust will become an important way for all sectors of society, especially high-net-worth people, to participate in charity, with broad development prospects.