SOEs lead upsurge in charitable donations for 2008

Despite the gloomy economic environment of 2008, China still showed a remarkable expansion in the philanthropy industry, said the industry watchdog recently.

Statistics from the organization committee for the "China Philanthropy List", although not final, show growth in both the country's total donations and the donors in 2008.

The committee's data show that in 2008, 253 donors made donations of over 10 million yuan. "Both the number of donors and the total donations are higher than last year," an official from the committee said, declining to mention the confirmed rate of growth.

China philanthropy list

Among the 253 top donors, domestic companies and businesspeople played the major role in China's charitable activities, according to the official.

Especially, "China's State-owned national enterprises (SOEs) are expected to take up half of the top 20 donors in the list," he added.

According to the official, so far, over 35 percent of the 253 top donors were the country's central SOEs.

Statistics from the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC) show that by the end of June 2008, more than 150 of China's central SOEs had donated 3.89 billion yuan and relief materials valued at 2.01 billion yuan.

Among them, "the May 12 earthquake in Sichuan province captured the most donations," said Liu Nanchang, deputy director general of the bureau of performance assessment of the SASAC.

According to Liu, employees from central SOEs donated 1.36 billion yuan for supporting reconstruction work in earthquake-stricken areas, such as in Sichuan and Shaanxi provinces, accounting for more than 34 percent of the total donations from SOEs.

An industry insider told China Business Weekly that although the earthquake caused 41.4 billion yuan in direct economic losses to central SOEs, there was still increasing passion from them to support public works to assist the area.

For instance, immediately after the earthquake, the State Grid Corporation of China (SGCC) contributed a total of 1.256 billion yuan in money and facilities to the affected areas. And China Mobile Communication Corporation, the country's largest wireless telecommunication operator, donated 421 million yuan for post-disaster reconstruction.

"The earthquake has pushed corporate social responsibility in China to a new high," said Liu, adding that the SOEs' generosity, spurred by a commitment to the local community, was the driving force for pushing the growth of overall donations in the crisis.

The 2008 China Philanthropy List, which includes data on Chinese private firms' and citizens' donations in 2008, will be released next month.

An additional survey from the China Philanthropy List showed that compared to the charitable efforts from domestic private companies, citizens and multinational companies, China's central SOEs' efforts on charity issues were not satisfactory to the public.

According to the survey, over 70 percent of the participants were increasingly concerned about the single manner of SOEs' charitable efforts.

One survey participant said that for most central SOEs, charitable efforts were in response to the government's call, and only focused on supporting educational programs, social welfare and poverty reduction projects through donating money.

But multinational companies, besides donating money, make efforts to implement diversified Corporate Social Responsibility activities, such as centralizing donations from employees and organizing top leaders and employees to participate in public activities.

And in addition to focusing on education, social welfare and poverty reduction, private companies have increasingly announced efforts to reduce energy consumption.

CSR in China is still in its infancy, Huang Shuhe, deputy head of the SASAC, told China Business Weekly during an interview late last year.

China's central SOEs, which play a significant role in industries related to the nation's security and people's lives, should strive to explore the unique ways in which they can fulfill their social responsibilities, Huang said.

"Chinese enterprises, led by SOEs, should create tailored strategies in accordance with the country's needs. In addition, they are required to conduct their CSR activities in line with global standards," said Huang.

(China Daily 03/23/2009 page10)