CHINA'S MOST GENEROUS


The Rajawali Foundation Institute for Asia’s China Philanthropy Project

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Overview


This annually updated original database features top philanthropic donations by individuals and organizations in Mainland China. Through the visualization of data in charts and graphs, our research tracks the geography of China-based giving and receiving, the range of causes supported, and the industries represented by this giving. We also highlight levels of individual generosity, which measures giving as a percentage of an individual’s publicly disclosed net worth. Given reporting lags by many foundations and government, the data below are the most recent available and cover the 2020 calendar year.

$9.61 Billion

Top 100 Individuals Donation: $0.51 Billion

Top 100 Organizations Donation: $4.59 Billion

43.60% of Total National Giving

Top 10 - Giving


1

China Vanke Co.,Ltd.

¥4895.8 Million
2

Evergrande Group

¥2586.5 Million
  • View profile
  • Focus Causes: Education, Disaster Relief, Poverty Alleviation, Unspecified
3

Tencent Holdings Limited

¥1966.28 Million
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  • Focus Causes: Education, Disaster Relief, Social Welfare, Unrestricted, Culture and Sports, Unspecified
4

China Three Gorges Corporation

¥1435.8 Million
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  • Focus Causes: Education, Disaster Relief, Social Welfare, Poverty Alleviation, Public Health
5

Hai Liang Group

¥1022 Million
6

Alibaba Group Holding Limited

¥900 Million
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  • Focus Causes: Disaster Relief, Social Welfare, Culture and Sports, Unrestricted
7

Galaxy Holdings Group

¥820 Million
8

Qin Yinglin

¥803 Million
  • View profile
  • Generosity Index: 0.54%
  • Focus Causes: Education, Disaster Relief
9

Midea Group

¥719.91 Million
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  • Focus Causes: Education, Disaster Relief, Social Welfare, Environment, Unrestricted, Culture and Sports, Unspecified
10

Sunac China Holdings Group

¥577.5 Million
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  • Focus Causes: Education, Disaster Relief, Social Welfare, Poverty Alleviation, Unspecified, Culture and Sports

Top 10 - Generosity


1

Wang Zelin

¥82 Million
2

Xu Jiankang

¥510 Million
  • View profile
  • Generosity Index: 3.04%
  • Focus Causes: Education, Poverty Alleviation
3

Yang Yuanqing

¥21.5 Million
  • View profile
  • Generosity Index: 0.54%
  • Focus Causes: Education, Poverty Alleviation, Unrestricted
4

Qin Yinglin

¥803 Million
  • View profile
  • Generosity Index: 0.54%
  • Focus Causes: Education, Disaster Relief
5

Dang Yanbao

¥301.53 Million
6

Yao Ming

¥10 Million
7

Cao Dewang

¥70 Million
8

Lin Haichuan, Pan Junling

¥20 Million
9

Yang Tingdong

¥20.25 Million
10

Hong Jie

¥20 Million

Guangdong – Center of Giving


China’s southern province of Guangdong was home to 23 top donors who collectively gave $1.99 billion in 2020, rendering it the most generous region when measured by total giving. The province is also home to the top-ranked donor overall, China Vanke Co, Ltd., which is headquartered in Guangdong and donated $709.54 million. However, for the first time since we began collecting data in 2017, Beijing surpassed Guangdong in terms of number of top donors, with the nation’s capital producing 28 donors, giving a total of $920.93 million.

Real Estate Gives


Despite slowing growth, China’s Real Estate industry continued to produce the largest number of top Chinese philanthropists, contributing 20 of the top 100 donors. The Consumer Industry followed in second place with 16 donors, and the Finance Industry came in third with 15 donors.

Foundations Take


In 2020, 76 of the top 100 donors donated to charitable foundations. Their donations went to Government-Affiliated Charitable Foundations (43) and Non-Government Charitable Foundations (65).

Education Leads


When measured by total giving, Education returned to the top of our list of causes in 2020, receiving the lion’s share of donations by 61 donors for a total of $1.49 billion, representing 30.69% of total elite giving. However, much like the rise of Beijing in terms of donor growth, a record 71 donors made contributions to the area of Disaster Relief, for a total of $1.26 billion and 25.34% of total giving. This was followed by Social Welfare at 30 donors, Poverty Alleviation at 25 donors, and Public Health at 25 donors.

Environment Lags


In 2020, Environmental causes continued to receive scant attention with 6 donors contributing a total of $ 6.55, a slight increase from 3 donors in 2019. Along with Education, the area of Culture and Sports lagged behind other causes as well, with only 5 donors and totalling $ 8.01.

Gender Inequality


China’s top individual philanthropists are still overwhelmingly male. Among the 100 donors in the “Individuals - Total Giving” list, only 10 are women, while 10 are family donors and 85 are male. Some top couples gave to the same recipient organizations, but separately. Our top individual donor Qin Yinglin donated $1.20 million to the Henan Charity Federation, among his other giving, while his wife Qian Ying, ranked 77th in the same list, was separately listed as donating $1.12million to the same entity.






85 male philanthropists


10 female philanthropists


10 families

Rise of Non-Government Foundations


In 2020 Non-Government Charitable Foundations attracted the most donors. More than half of top donors (65) donated to Non-Government Charitable Foundations while 43 donors gave to Government-Affiliated Charitable Foundations.

Localization Declines


In 2020, less than a third of the top 100 donors (27) donated solely to their own home provinces, representing a rapid decline from 39 donors in 2019, 38 donors in 2018, and 44 donors in 2017. The start of a truly national challenge - COVID-19 - in 2020 created cross-border needs that encouraged a more cross-border pattern of giving by donors.

China Philanthropy By The Numbers


In 2020, total donations from China’s top 100 donors increased year-over-year by $ 1.44 billion, or 43.08%. We identified significant changes – and important continuities – in the top organizations giving, the top causes supported, and the top recipients

China Philanthropy Insight Series


Our new “China Philanthropy Insight Series” seeks to highlight original research, timely news stories, innovative cases, and occasional interviews about Chinese philanthropy.

About the Project


The rise of private wealth is one of the most important developments in modern China, with implications for the country’s social, economic, and political arenas. How individuals choose to deploy such resources will shape the relationships between the individual and the state, between the state and business, and between the state and the social sector.

This project aims to strengthen understanding of China’s philanthropic landscape by analyzing the makeup and choices of China’s most generous individuals. We hope the introduction of a metric on level of generosity, while imperfect, will add a new dimension to the discussion on how China’s wealthy choose to support charitable causes. We welcome comments and suggestions on our analysis and methodology through the email address listed below. The findings compile data from a variety of sources including media reports, government databases, foundation annual reports, university websites and so on. 

We believe that an independent, verified, and research-oriented database on China's philanthropic giving will enable much-needed quantitative research on the sector and provide a crucial resource for government, academic, media, and non-profit organizations.

We will supplement the database with a range of case studies, white papers, academic articles, and interviews with leading philanthropists and leaders of philanthropic organizations.

This website will be updated annually.

About the Team


Tony Saich – Ash Center Director. Tony directs a range of programs at the Harvard Kennedy School and teaches courses on comparative political institutions, democratic governance, and transitional economies with a focus on China. A former Chief Representative of the Ford Foundation in China, he also teaches and researches topics related to the development of China’s civil society and philanthropic sector.

Yunxin Li – Research Data Analyst. Yunxin is in charge of the data team and responsible for our project's data validation, analysis, and visualization. She develops the project plans, manages the project operation and oversees the overall project workflow. Yunxin received her M.S. in Business Analytics from Bentley University and a B.A. in Business Administration from Beijing Normal University.

Weixi He - Research Assistant. Weixi is responsible for data collection, cleaning, and analysis of 2020 China Philanthropy data. She also involves in the writings of the China’s Most Generous report. Weixi received her Master’s degree in Learning Design, Innovation, and Technology from Harvard University, and Bachelor’s degrees in Applied Mathematics and Data Science from University of California, Berkeley.

Ning Ma - Research Assistant. Ning Ma is responsible for collecting and analyzing Chinese donation data, especially from news and articles. She has a Master of Arts in International Relations & International Economics from Johns Hopkins University and a Master of Education from Harvard University Graduate School of Education. She received her B.S. in Psychology from Peking University."

Zhiqing Wang - Research Assistant. Zhiqing is responsible for collecting, analyzing, and validating the overall Chinese donation data in this project. She also helps in updating project report, methodology and database. Zhiqing holds a Master of Science in Electrical Engineering at Columbia University. She received her B.S. in Engineering in Electrical Engineering from the University of Cincinnati (Joint Program with Chongqing University).

Edward Cunningham - Ash Center China Programs Director. Edward teaches and conducts research related to China's business/government relations, energy markets and governance, international economics and competitiveness, and China’s integration into the world. Most recently he has engaged in work on the rise of Chinese private wealth and philanthropic development.

Guangyu Du– Research Assistant. Guangyu is responsible for collecting, analyzing, and validating the overall Chinese donation data in this project. She collected Chinese data from different resources and helped build the Chinese donation database. Guangyu holds a Master of Science, Management of Technology at New York University. She received her B.S. in International Business & German from Nankai University.

Dongni Jia - Research Assistant. Dongni participates in collecting and analyzing the overall Chinese donation data. He also helps in developing new visualizations and optimizing the data collection process. Dongni holds a Master of Business Analytics at Bentley University. He received his B.S. in Computer Information System from Bentley University, and B.S. in Information System from Zhejiang University.

Boya Ouyang - Research Assistant. Boya is responsible for collecting, analyzing, and validating the overall Chinese donation data in this project. She also helps in writing and copyediting the project report. Boya received her A.M. in Regional Studies-East Asia from the Harvard University, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. She holds a B.A. in English, Mathematics, and Philosophy at University of Washington.

Tianyi Xiang - Research Assistant. Tianyi responsible for collecting and analyzing Chinese donation data, especially in donations from news and articles. Tianyi received her Ph.D. in Public Administration and Policy from Arizona State University. She holds a Master of Public Administration at University of Washington, and a B.A. in Public Administration Mathematics at Nanjing University.