China Herald: Jack Ma spends most on philanthropy

Rupert Hoogewerf

In China, Alibaba´s executive chairman Jack Ma, is the most generous philanthropist, according to the l2015 Hurun Philanthropy List, writes Yibaba. His donations amounted to 14.5 billion yuan or 2.4 US dollar. The Hurun Philantropy List is produced by Rupert Hoogewerf´s China Rich List.

Yibaba:

With a total donation worth 14.65 billion yuan ($2.36 billion), Ma and his family retained the top spot they had in 2014 on the new list published by Hurun Report on Sunday.

The list is based on donations made from April 1, 2014 to March 31 this year. Ma's notable charity efforts include the establishment of a personal philanthropic trust and a HK$1-billion donation for the creation of foundation for startups in Hong Kong.

Ma is followed by electronics chain owner Tang Lixin with 315 million yuan in donations, and Dalian Wanda chairman Wang Jianlin and his son Wang Sicong with 311 million yuan. Established in 2004, The Hurun Philanthropy List ranks the 100 most generous people on mainland China based on the value of their cash or equivalent donations on a yearly basis. For the past 12 months, the top 100 gave 20.23 billion yuan, a decline of 720 million yuan from the past year.

Of the top 100, 46 are from the mainland, which includes Li Hejun, China's richest man and chairman of Hanergy Holding Group Ltd., with assets of $26 billion. Li ranked No. 36 with donations of $40.7 million, including $20 million allotted to forestation projects in northwest China's Gansu Province.

Donations in the education sector were most prominent, particularly to the alma maters of donors and overseas universities. According to the list, Tang donated 300 million yuan to Chongqing University to build a new information building, while Chinese real estate tycoons Pan Shiyi and his wife Zhang Xin gave 94.7 million yuan to Harvard and Yale to put them in 19th place.

Former Premier Zhu Rongji also came in at No. 88 with a 15.2-million-yuan donation to the Practical Education Foundation, an organization he established in 2013 to benefit students from poor families in China's less developed regions.

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