Lunch time at a primary school in a rural area of Guizhou province. Micro-foundation had received more than 3 million yuan in donations by the end of June. Zhong Min / For China Daily

Micro-foundation, a Chinese grassroots charity organization, is preparing to hold an online outdoor benefit concert in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, to raise money to provide children with free school lunches in Southwest China's Guizhou province.

The concert will be aired at YY.com, which can allow 100,000 netizens at a time online. "There is a fee of 30 yuan for each computer accessing the online benefit concert. It is a new form of philanthropy on the Internet." said Zhu Jing, operations director at Micro-foundation.

The charity sponsors free lunch programs at 19 primary schools, serving more than 4,000 students in Guizhou.

"Many students have to walk more than an hour to school every day. Almost half of the families have an annual per capita income of only 700 to 800 yuan ($111 to $126)," said Zhang Zhengrong, the principal of Pingying Primary School in Guizhou.

The school is one of the 19 that Micro-foundation supports with free lunches.

The foundation raises money through micro blogs, bulletin boards, the online marketplace Taobao and the online payment platform Alipay.

"It's nearly the summer vacation. The children will have a rest but we cannot relax. It is a golden period to raise funds during summer vacations. We are planning to collect money for the children's next semester and next year, ensuring continuous meals. That's the reason we are holding the concert," said Liang Shuxin, the foundation's founder, on Sina Weibo, China's equivalent of Twitter.

Liang, who started the foundation on April 5, last year, recently resigned as chairman of Micro-foundation. He never received any reward from the foundation and always participated as a volunteer.

"I was not sure whether a benefit concert without any appearance money for singers would attract the participation of famous stars," Liang said.

However, so far, several well-known anchors, singers and movie stars have promised to come.

The public foundation, dedicated to improving the condition of primary schools in less-developed regions, had received more than 3 million yuan in donations by the end of June, said Zhu. "The smallest donation was 5 cents and the largest 100,000 yuan."

Micro-foundation publishes details of the lunch program online, including the project management and financial status.

"If public programs win public credibility and recognition then more people will take part in them," said Liang.

Donors can log in to check details of their gift.

The public can supervise the program by, and is given access to, audit reports and donation channels. The online platform also lists the time, amount and uses of funds and administration expenses.

Many netizens appear to support this kind of charity.

"Every time I watch videos of these children's lives I am moved to tears," said a user on Taobao named fly_lou. "I don't trust official funds at all because the money they receive can be spent on extravagance and waste. I really hope Micro-foundation can make the best use of its money and receive more and more donations."

Donors and the public have shown concern over the transparency of charity foundations following a string of scandals last year.

The most famous one involved a young woman called Guo Meimei, who claimed to work for an organization under the Red Cross Society of China. She posted many photos of her lavish lifestyle on her micro blog last year, prompting speculation that public donations might have been used for private purposes.

Of the nearly 4.2 billion yuan in donations raised by the Red Cross in 2011, "personal contributions were few", said RCSC Executive Vice-President Zhao Baige at a meeting in December last year.

mengfanbin@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 07/02/2012 page22)