International Fundraising

The country's top think tank said private-run enterprises were the major driving force for China's charity donations in 2009.

Private-run enterprises donated around 5.43 billion yuan ($812 million) in 2009, which accounted for about 41.35 percent of total donations from enterprises in 2009, according to an annual report on China's philanthropy development released by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences on Tuesday.

We'd like to introduce SOFII to those of our readers who don't know about it and share some of the fundraising efforts that have made it into the site's Best of the Best Showcase.

The Malkani family made its fortune selling plane tickets and tour packages to India's fast-expanding middle class, building one of the country's first online travel agencies.

Now the Malkanis are among a growing number of successful Indian entrepreneurs blazing another trail: charitable giving.

As India's wealth continues to expand, a growing number of millionaires here are finding ways to do more for the poor, especially as cash-strapped foreign donors, including the United States, curtail aid.

Demand for services is rising fast for charities around the world—faster than donations are expected to increase this year or next, according to a new report released today by Blackbaud, the software company.

Most of the 2,383 charities from 10 countries that participated in the survey told researchers that demand was rising.

Despite what you may have heard, tweens aren't all about social networking, iPods, the mall and celebrities. Growing numbers of pre-teens and early teens are giving tweens a new face: a socially responsible young citizen. They're not only doing good in their local communities, but having a global impact. Some have created their own non-profits, and most have websites enlisting the support of kids like themselves who also want to help others.

China's most famous philanthropist said on Wednesday more than 100 Chinese entrepreneurs had responded to his appeal to donate all of their personal wealth to society.

The remark came amid a stir over the willingness of China's rich to part with their money for a good cause after only a small number of Chinese businessmen had accepted invitations to an upcoming charity event.

Johnson & Johnson, the pharmaceutical company, announced today that it will commit $200-million over five years to improve the health of women and children in poor countries.

Three-quarters of the commitment from the company, in New Brunswick, N.J., will be in the form of cash grants to nonprofit organizations; the rest will be medicines and other supplies.

European universities are increasingly turning to American-style fund-raising methods in an effort to amass endowments that would in turn give them greater economic independence and stability.

Some have even adopted U.S. methods of managing their endowments. The British elite universities have led the way. Last January, Cambridge took another leaf from the Ivy League handbook in raising £300 million through the bond market — the first bond issue ever by a British university.

The World Giving Index, the largest study ever carried out into charitable behaviour across the globe, which ranked the UK the eighth most charitable nation in the world, has found that happier people are more likely to give money to charity than those who are wealthy. The World Giving Index used a Gallup survey on the charitable behaviour of people in 153 countries representing 95% of the worlds population. The survey asked people whether they had given money to charity in the last month and to rank how happy they are with life on a scale of one to

BEIJING - Microsoft Corp. co-founder Bill Gates and billionaire investor Warren Buffett plan to sell the art of giving to China's super rich in a visit later this month that's already sparked some soul searching among the world's second-largest number of billionaires. Reactions to Gates and Buffett's trip have been swift and varied: One prominent Chinese philanthropist quickly pledged his entire fortune to charity, while the head of a private foundation said Chinese businesses should be leery of emulating American-style charity donations before essential corporate standards such as worker's rights are improved.