Corporate donations have greatly promoted the development of charities in China.

The concept of corporate citizenship has gained increasing recognition in China in recent years as many enterprises practice strategic philanthropy, said Fan Baojun, president of the China Charity Federation.

"An increasing number of companies have understood that to be a successful corporation, they need to do more than simply make money," Fan said.

Although charitable donations from Chinese companies are still considerably lower than donations by foreign enterprises, support from both sectors has helped charities grow.

The result, Fan said during the International Forum of Chinese Corporate Citizenship and Public Services in Beijing, is that charities have started to play an irreplaceable role in solving social problems.

The forum aims to encourage corporations to get more involved in social development and welfare.

The federation has collected donations of more than 1.5 billion yuan (US$180 million) since it was founded in 1994, official statistics show.

The lion's share came from enterprises, especially transnational corporations.

The "Smile Train" project, for example, jointly launched in 1999 by the federation and the US-based CA company, has offered free operations to 48,900 cleft lip sufferers from across the country at a cost of 123 million yuan (US$14.8 million).

Another US-based company, Mary Kay Cosmetics, established a charity foundation. The cosmetics company funds to laid-off and poor rural women to start a business and established scholarships to aid poor college students.

Jointly organized by the All-China Women's Federation and Mary Kay, a national programme to aid poor rural schoolgirls was launched earlier this month in Beijing.

The Mary Kay Spring Bud programme is expected to select 100 schoolgirls across China.The programme will provide 5,000 yuan (US$602) to each girl and help her finish basic schooling.

Though the nation has witnessed a steady increase in cash and material donations in the past few years, the amount is far from enough.

(China Daily October 14, 2004)