Donations to Chinese charities surpassed 100 billion yuan ($15.7 billion) in 2014, accounting for 0.16 percent of the country's GDP, according to a report released by the China Charity and Donation Information Center on Saturday.
This is a new high for China. Experts said the uptick in donations was largely due to the popularity of Internet-based donations and the boom of non-public charity foundations.
Released by the China Charity and Donation Information Center under the Ministry of Civil Affairs, the report said China received about 104 billion yuan in donations in 2014, a 5.3 percent increase over the previous year.
Peng Jianmei, director of the center, who was speaking during the press conference launching the report on Saturday, said that the rapid rise in charity donations in a year with few natural disasters shows that the Chinese public is more willing to give to charities.
The 104 billion yuan represents a 2 percent increase over the 102 billion donated in 2008 when an 8-magnitude earthquake rocked Sichuan Province.
The report also found that online charity platforms run by Sina, Tencent and Alipay collected 428 million yuan, up by 42.6 percent over the previous year, 61 percent of which was collected through Weibo and WeChat.
"The growing figure indicates a new trend in China as Internet-based charities provide people with a more convenient channel to donate money," Zhang Gaorong, an assistant dean at the Beijing Normal University China Philanthropy Research Institute, told the Global Times.
Despite the new trend official charity foundations or government departments are still the major charity organizations, accounting for 61.4 percent of the total, while the Red Cross Society of China received donations amounting to 2.6 billion yuan, 17.4 percent down from 2013. The organization's image was tainted after celebrity scandals broke in 2011, weakening public trust in the body.
The report also said that 75 percent of all the donations last year was aimed at helping with healthcare, education and poverty relief.
About 20 provinces or regions donated more than 100 million yuan in 2014 with Guangdong Province ranking number one.
