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Nationwide charitable donations amounted to 107b yuan in 2008
(Chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2009-09-17 16:49

A philanthropy bluebook from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences released Wednesday said that this year's total amount of donations made nationwide reached 107 billion yuan ($ 15.2 billion), 3.5 times of that in 2007, Xinhuanet.com reported.

According to the report, individual donations increased to 45.8 billion yuan ($6.5 billion) last year, making up 54% of the total donations and surpassing corporate donations for the first time. Also, 147.2 million people participated in voluntary work in the past year, up by 31.8%,

The bluebook also said the government is still the major driving force behind donations from the public, but the Internet and media are increasingly rising to become an important social power in promoting philanthropy within the public domain.