Red Cross diverts donations

The Red Cross Society of China (RCSC) admitted Wednesday that it spent 84.72 million yuan ($13.74 million) raised by artists after the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake on other projects, after artist organizers complained their donations never made it to the town it was intended for.

Fang Lijun, a painter based in Beijing who participated in the 2008 art auction, said on his Sina microblog on April 25 that more than 80 million yuan raised by some 100 artists was supposed to be used to support quake victims in Qingchengshan town, Dujiangyan, Sichuan Province, but the victims did not receive the money.

Fang's complaint was supported by other artists, and the Beijing Poly International Auction Co Ltd, which released a statement online demanding the RCSC explain why it had diverted the funds to other projects.

The artists intended for their donations to go to Dujiangyan and Aba prefecture, which were severely hit by the devastating quake. They wanted the money used to build art schools and help protect Qiang ethnic culture. Representatives visited the area and selected a site for the first school in July 2008. The artist organizers made multiple inquiries about the use of their donations but never received a specific reply, according to their online statement.

The RCSC said Wednesday that after assessing the reconstruction situation in quake stricken areas, it planned to launch a program at the end of 2010 to help 248 communities in Sichuan, Chongqing Municipality, and three other provinces and one autonomous region. The artists' donation was used to finance 242 of them.

The RCSC website said it aims to develop disaster prevention and health services by setting up community level RCSC organizations.

The RCSC admitted it didn't do enough to communicate with donors. "We offer our apologies to the donors, and will improve our future work."

Some artists are not satisfied with the explanation. "It's a lame excuse. It's almost five years since the quake, and the money was not used as it was supposed to be. Not using the money for its intended purpose is a kind of corruption," said Chen Mo, a curator based in Chengdu who suggested the organizers should explore taking legal action. "It not only sours the goodwill of the artists but also has a negative impact on the public."

"The problem still lies in lack of an effective communication mechanism," Wang Zhenyao, dean of Beijing Normal University China Philanthropy Research Institute, told the Global Times. "Changing the intended use of donated money is sometimes necessary, but charity organizations need to inform the donors, especially those involving large sums of money that are dedicated to specific projects. The problem is a long-existing one."