Donations to mainland charities are believed to have fallen by a fifth to about 80 billion yuan (HK$98 billion) last year, after the Guo Meimei scandal made the public more distrustful of the sector.
Civil Affairs Minister Li Liguo told a press conference in Beijing yesterday that public donations totalled more than 100 billion yuan in 2010 but were likely to have fallen to about 80 billion yuan last year.
He said media criticism of some projects run by 'a certain charity organisation' in the past year 'reflected the great public attention to philanthropy, as well as the lack of openness and transparency' of those involved in its distribution.
Guo claimed - though falsely - on her microblog last year to be 'commercial general manager' of the Red Cross Society of China, the mainland's largest charity organisation, while showing off her luxury cars and designer handbags, sparking a public outcry over the handling of charitable donations on the mainland.
Jia Xijin, deputy director of Tsinghua University's NGO Research Centre, said the battering of the Red Cross' image had made the public less enthusiastic about donating money to charities. 'Besides, there were already doubts over the use of donations, such as tents for earthquake victims, before the Guo Meimei saga,' she said.
Li said that although the mainland's charity sector had grown significantly since 2000, the number of charity organisations was still small and their activities lacked supervision, and more public participation in charities should be encouraged.