"Whoever donates to the project donation link can get help", "Not only can you get help, but you can also get donations according to a certain proportion of the donation amount". What will a person who is in urgent need of help do when he hears such news?
Family members of children from Henan, Hubei, Guangxi, Zhejiang and other places listened to this statement, not only donated money to charity project links, but also credited large sums of money to the private accounts of "caring people" who introduced the donation, until they found out that they were cheated after no news of the payment.
After receiving the consultation from several children’s families and the explanation of "mistaken donation", the relevant charitable organizations have closed the project fundraising channel and returned the "mistaken donation" from the children’s families.
However, the money credited to the private account of the so-called "caring person" has not yet been settled-this is actually suspected of fraud. For the patient’s family, the lack of money and fraud is undoubtedly worse.
How can we avoid such a loss? Why is it wrong to say that donations can be rescued and donated? The charity law has given the answer, and the following common sense needs to be kept in mind:
Common sense-fundraising links on the Internet have different attributes.
In the Internet age, people will encounter all kinds of information for help, and out of kindness, they will often donate their love. However, these fund-raising behaviors are inconsistent in nature and can be mainly divided into two categories:
One kind is the help information published by individuals, some are directly published by themselves, and some are published through personal serious illness fund-raising platforms such as easy fund-raising and drip fund-raising. Generally, they will describe their difficulties and ask for your help.
It should be emphasized that these personal serious illness fundraising platforms are commercial organizations themselves.
The other category is the fundraising information released by charitable organizations with public fundraising qualifications to help some people (a certain group) through the charity organization Internet fundraising information platform designated by the Ministry of Civil Affairs.
Up to now, there are 20 Internet fundraising information platforms for charitable organizations designated by the Ministry of Civil Affairs. Charitable organizations qualified for public fundraising can publish fundraising information through these platforms, while individuals and organizations that are not qualified for public fundraising cannot.
Take the Aiyou Tongxin Project to help children with heart disease as an example. The project was initiated by Aiyou Charity Foundation, a charitable organization with public fundraising qualifications, and published fundraising information on Tencent Public Welfare and other public fundraising information publishing platforms. The purposes of raising funds include: providing medical expenses support for orphans and poor children with heart disease; Provide services for children and their families to improve their ability to cope with diseases. Although the information of some patients who need help will also appear in the fundraising link, this kind of fundraising is not for a certain patient, but to help a certain group of people who need help (eligible people can apply for help)-in fact, it can help more people.
According to the information released by Aiyou Charity Foundation, by the end of December 2020, the "Aiyou Tongxin" project has helped more than 63,000 children with congenital heart disease.
With the in-depth implementation of the charity law, there are more and more such internet public fundraising projects. In 2020, 20 Internet fund-raising information platforms launched a total of 31,890 projects, raising a total of 8.2 billion yuan in donations, and more than 10 billion people clicked, followed and participated in fund-raising activities.
It should be emphasized that due to the different nature, personal help and public fundraising on the Internet will be used differently. Therefore, when transferring money through links, we must first make a distinction-the simplest way to distinguish is to see whether the collection account is personal, corporate or charitable.
Generally speaking, it is the internet public fundraising to enter the charity account, and the donation relationship is established after the transfer. The donated funds are guaranteed by laws and regulations such as charity law, and charitable organizations should use them according to the agreed purposes; Those who enter the accounts of individuals and enterprises are individuals seeking help, and they establish a civil gift relationship with each other, and the funds are dominated by each other.
What needs special explanation is that "putting a large sum of money into the private account of the’ caring person’ who introduced the donation" is neither the account of a charity organization nor the account of the person seeking help. In fact, there is no guarantee-the "caring person" has made people put money into the account of the "caring person" in the name of the charity organization’s public fundraising project, which has been suspected of fraud.
Common sense 2: There is no such thing as a charitable organization that whoever donates will benefit.
The charity law stipulates that when donors and charitable organizations agree on the use and beneficiaries of donated property, they may not designate the donors’ stakeholders as beneficiaries.
What does this mean? That is, donors can’t ask that donations must be used for people who have interests with donors, such as themselves and immediate family members.
In addition, the charity law stipulates that the property of charitable organizations should be used for charitable purposes in accordance with the articles of association and donation agreements, and should not be distributed among promoters, donors and members of charitable organizations.
When the donor donates money to charity, how to use the property? If it is to be used for charitable purposes, it should not be distributed among sponsors, donors and members of charitable organizations, which means that donors can’t get money back from charitable organizations to help themselves.
Common sense 3. Donation exists, but it is given to projects rather than specific individuals.
Generally speaking, donation is to encourage more people to donate to the project, and relevant organizations and institutions increase donations on the basis of public donations, such as the donation activities carried out by Tencent Charity Foundation in "99 Public Welfare Day". It should be emphasized that the donation is not for the donors, but for the projects donated by the donors, and it shall be used according to the implementation plan and budget in the project fundraising plan.
According to the provisions of the charity law, charitable organizations will formulate fundraising plans before launching public fundraising. The fundraising plan includes the purpose of fundraising, the starting and ending time and region, the name and office address of the person in charge of the activity, the way of accepting donations, bank accounts, beneficiaries, the use of the funds and materials raised, the cost of fundraising, and the disposal of surplus property. Among them, the beneficiary is not a specific person, but a certain type of person who meets the rescue conditions.
After the money is raised, the project will carry out rescue. Those who meet the requirements of beneficiaries can apply according to the process, and those who meet the requirements after examination can get corresponding assistance as beneficiaries.
Donations from the public and donations will jointly become project funds, which will be used for project implementation and help those who meet the conditions of beneficiaries. Therefore, there will be no situation that "whoever donates to the project donation link can get help, and can also get donations according to a certain proportion of the donation amount".
In order to protect the legitimate rights and interests of charitable organizations, donors, volunteers, beneficiaries and other participants in charitable activities, the Charity Law clearly stipulates how to carry out charitable activities. Please keep in mind that only by knowing how to use the law can we safeguard our legitimate rights and interests in accordance with the law, avoid being deceived, and jointly safeguard a good environment for the healthy development of charity.
Author: Wang Yong
Editor on duty: Yu Junru Editor in charge: Zhang Xuemao
Source of this article: Public Welfare Times
