Younger netizens most generous online donors

Netizens in their 20s and 30s are leading an online donation boom in China, according to the Ministry of Civil Affairs.

The ministry said in a news release recently that it has seen 1.8 billion yuan ($252 million) donated via designated charity websites in the first half of 2019.

Some 1,400 charities posted 17,000 fundraising announcements on 20 such websites during the first six months and received more than 5 billion clicks, according to the ministry.

The number of online donations is expected to hit new highs by the end of the year, as the upcoming "99 Charity Day", a popular annual charity event that will be held on Monday-the ninth day of the ninth month-could bring in massive cyber-based donations for the second half of the year.

The event, launched by Tencent Foundation in 2015, raked in 830 million yuan through on-screen clicks last year, figures provided by the ministry show. That accounts for more than 25 percent of last year's online donations-3.17 billion yuan.

Behind the surging online donations are the increasingly younger donors born and raised in the internet era.

According to Ant Financial, which received 600 million yuan via the Alipay platform-or one-third of the country's online donations in the first half of this year-45 percent of the money was given by people born in the 1980s, followed by those born in the 1990s (26 percent) and 1970s (21 percent).

In terms of the number of donations, those born in the 1990s made 48 percent of the donations via the Alipay platform, followed by those born in the 1980s (35 percent) and 1970s (9 percent).

While speaking at a conference in Hebei province last month, Wang Aiwen, vice-minister of civil affairs, said internet-powered donation platforms play a unique role in nurturing the public's philanthropist interests, serving as the crossroads for capital, information and public opinion.

"They're powerful and have great potential for further growth," he said.

Over the past few years, China has ramped up scrutiny over charity scams and misconduct.

In 2016, China enacted the landmark Charity Law, which limited fundraising qualification to a small number of charities with perfect credit records, while at the same time making it compulsory to disclose how they plan to spend the money.

Under the law, online fundraising activities are allowed only on websites designated by the Ministry of Civil Affairs in a bid to contain risks.

Last year, the National Development and Reform Commission, which is the top economic planner, along with the central bank, the Ministry of Civil Affairs and dozens of other departments, created a credit system that subject noncomplying organizations to joint punishments, including barring them from tax breaks and government contracts.

More than 5,200 organizations have been blacklisted for various levels of breaches by the end of August, according to a report released by China Philanthropy Research Institute, affiliated to the Beijing Normal University.