Charitable donations continue to rise in city
A charity supermarket in Huangpu District's Bund subdistrict
Shanghai registered 761 new social organizations in 2021, and the city's social organizations received more than 8.5 billion yuan (US$1.2 billion) in donations, up 1.9 billion yuan from a year earlier, a report on the city's development of philanthropic causes revealed on Monday.
The city had registered 17,367 social organizations by the end of last year, and it currently has 233 charity supermarkets covering all sub-districts and towns citywide. The nation's first charity supermarket selling items donated by the public opened in Shanghai in 2003.
These charity supermarkets have played an active role in collecting items and providing aid to the needy, the report released by the Shanghai Civil Affairs Bureau noted.
Sales of Shanghai welfare lottery tickets reached 4.339 billion yuan last year with 1.386 billion yuan collected as public welfare funds.
The city's welfare lottery funds are used to support the elderly and disabled, orphans and other needy people. Lottery sales also cover jackpots. Altogether 350 million yuan in public welfare funds financed an assortment of public welfare projects last year.
"Shanghai's philanthropic causes have maintained healthy development with significant progress made in recent years," said Peng Chenlei, vice mayor of Shanghai. "Government departments in Shanghai should actively cultivate and support the development of charity organizations."
Monthlong philanthropic activities, including forums, salons, an online micro-film festival and an exhibition about Shanghai social organizations' efforts in charity programs at Shanghai Gongyi Xintiandi, a government-subsidized charity program park in Huangpu District, will be held in the city this week to mark the annual Shanghai Philanthropy Week.
Hinichijou, or Bear-Paw, coffee chain, which has focused on employing deaf and hard-of-hearing people, will donate money from every cup of coffee it sells this week to help the disabled and needy children.
Also this week, Shanghai will donate clothing, books and stationery to more than 300 needy students in Yunnan, Jiangsu and Gansu provinces, and the landmark Oriental Pearl TV Tower will be illuminated to pay respect to those on the frontline of the battle against the coronavirus pandemic.
