Effective Online Fundraising – in China

Chinese actor Jet Li

It was only a question of time for populations outside the West to systematically start their own philanthropic efforts and use the Internet for their fundraising. As a cultural anthropologist I have been following developments in the Peoples Republic of China for many years and am still very interested in Chinese approaches to aid and development (a topic one can follow very nicely in the blog of my co-author Pal Nyiri). Thus I read with great interest an article in the current Intelligent Life, a good new journal published by The Economist, about Jet Liand his One Foundation.

Li, aged 46, started his career as a nationally recognized martial artist. He than turned into a film star starring in the Chinese epos Hero as well as Hollywoods The Mummy movies. His third career is in philanthropy.

ONE Foundation

When the Tsunami hit Southeast Asia in 2004, Li was on vacation on the Maldives. His small daughter oly just escaped death and this experience left a powerful mark on the actor. Feeling that he had to „give society and the world something back“ he spent 2 years researching how to create an effective foundation, talking amongst others to Bill Gates. Than, in 2007, he founded ONE. A short time thereafter, the Sichuan earthquake shook the country and Li – via a circulated sms - called upon his compatriots to donate. He received 10$ Million during a single week.

Since then, Li has been propagating social initiative as an integral part of „Chinese values for the 21. Century“ and has even managed to get the Communist Party on his side, who until recently looked very sceptically at any civil society engagements. So far over 1 Million Chinese have donated to ONE Foundation – most of them online.

The website also enables donors to donate money via sms or through monthly deductions from their credit cards. That way, says Jet Li, even one yuan (15 cents) can make a difference.

Early Technology Adopters

Not many – if any - Western charities can claim to use their websites so effectively for fundraising. But thinking about it, the Chinese success makes sense, since Chinese have proved to be early adopters with regards to other technologies as well. I remember researching Chinese migrants in Eastern Europe in the early 2000 and my surprise at their very active use to skype-like communication channels. The families I studied where spread between China and Hungary, but spent every evening with one abother – playing cards over the internet, chatting and showing off their latest clothes. And this at a time when most Europeans had no idea what IRC or Skype was.

Li’s goal

is to be the main marketplace where the many NGOs operating in China … can pitch for money to the new army of donors. Currently, he says, there are „millions of NGOs in China, but nobody knows who they can trust“. He aims to build a platform based on providing information, „so we can all get to know each other better“.

I think he must mean betterplace.org!