Charities must be reformed

To start improving transparency and efficiency, the Ministry of Civil Affairs has established a new regulation requiring organizations to make timely releases of information related to their fundraising, projects and distribution of donors' money.

But this is more of a beginning than an end, and we still need to make great efforts to push forward reform of our charities, especially given that, in many cases, corruption bedevils efficiency and transparency.

For example, China Charity Federation was recently accused of mishandling 15 million yuan in corporate donations and charging extra cash fees for management when donations were in the form of goods. However, according to the Beijing Times, insider Luo Fanhua said the extra charges were actually the sale of invoices to donors seeking tax breaks.

On top of this, the now infamous Guo Meimei, who was the self-proclaimed "business general manager for Red Cross Society of China", caused much controversy. In her micro blog, she proudly displayed pictures showing off her extravagant lifestyle.

Of course, no charity can withstand such a black mark on its name, whether it deserves it or not. After the scandal, public donations to the Red Cross' Shenzhen branch fell to nearly zero in July. The branch in Foshan, also in Guangdong province, had raised more than 889,000 yuan between June last year and June this year, but got nothing in July.

This is proof that we must reform the government-led philanthropic model. Charities can maintain their trustworthiness only if they maintain a certain distance from administrative power. The government should abandon its management and involvement in charities, but strengthen its supervisory role.

Meanwhile, non-governmental charities should be encouraged and administrative barriers to their operation removed.

Fundamentally, this is a question of whether a sense of philanthropy can be fostered among China's citizens. Such a sense is based on the assumption that all people should have access to society's limited resources. Only on this basis can charities make a difference.

Clearly, we still have a long way to go.

The writer is with China Daily.

(China Daily 10/08/2011 page5)