Opinion | Crowdfunding for charity: why mainland China leads Hong Kong in online giving
- Apart from the mainland overtaking Hong Kong in the use of mobile payment systems, the Chinese government’s endorsement of certain online charity platforms reassures donors that funds will be put to good use
Online giving is changing charity in Asia. Crowdfunding, especially, changes the way the social sector operates, and its reach is growing rapidly. Nowhere is this more true than in mainland China, where crowdfunding has skyrocketed in recent years.
According to the Ministry of Civil Affairs, in 2018, of the 8.46 billion yuan (US$1.22 billion) in donations made to charitable organisations, 3.17 billion yuan went to the 20 outline platforms available on the mainland. This is a 26.8 per cent increase from 2017, with no sign of slowing down. We see similar growth across Asia in the preliminary data from our annual Doing Good Index, but online giving is especially popular in mainland China due to its reliability and ease of use, along with changing social norms.
Hong Kong provides a good point of comparison. Smartphone usage is even higher in Hong Kong than on the Chinese mainland, at 80 per cent and 54 per cent respectively, but what those users do on their phones differs considerably.