Barely 8% Beijing foundations publish information on the way they spend their funds – The government is drafting measures on foundations’ management as a response
北京仅8%基金会披露善款流向 回应称正制定管理办法
Author: Wang Kala, 王卡拉
Source: Beijing News, 新京报
Link: http://www.chinanews.com/sh/2014/07-08/6360314.shtml
According to the Regulations on the management of foundations (基金会管理条例) and to the measures on the management of foundations’ information (基金会信息管理办法), Chinese foundations have to publish annual reports. But the situation varies greatly from province to province, infringing on the right of the public to know how foundations use their funds. In provinces where foundations are the most numerous, such as Guangdong and Jiangsu, publication of such annual reports is rare. In Beijing, they usually publish a summary of their annual report, but not the whole document. Foundations in Shanghai and Zhejiang province are the most transparent, both the summary and the original annual report being usually published.
Tao Ze, vice director general of the China Foundation Center, stresses that complete reports include foundations’ financial records and details on the way they spend their funds while summaries don’t. In Beijing, only 17 foundations (or 8%) published their annual report last year.
The Beijing Municipality office in charge of social organization management explains that the relevant departments are currently working on measures that would force foundations to fulfill their obligations in terms of information disclosure as specified in the Ministry of civil affairs’regulations quoted above.
Translation by CDB Staff
