China's Richest Philanthropist Sets
Example
Donation of US$470m to charity by China tycoon

| Nothing for
kids:
'This will be my last donation... It
will all be for charity, no part of it will be inherited by
anyone,' Mr Yu tells a press conference in Shanghai
|
(SHANGHAI)
A Chinese tycoon is donating his fortune to charity in a
gesture that has cemented the real estate magnate and hotelier's position
as China's top philanthropist.
Yu Pengnian, 88, told a news conference
yesterday that he was donating US$470 million in cash and property assets
to the Yu Pengnian Foundation, bringing the total he had given to the Hong
Kong- registered charity to US$1.2 billion.
'This will be my last donation. I have
nothing more to give away,' he told reporters.
'It will all be for charity, no part of
it will be inherited by anyone, no part will be used to do business nor
for investments,' he said.
The donation ensured Mr Yu's position
as China's top philanthropist, said Rupert Hoogewerf, founder of the
Shanghai-based Hurun Report, which tracks China's wealthy.
Mr Yu has topped the Hurun Report's
Philanthropy List for five consecutive years.
His foundation, which supports health
and education charities and disaster relief, has funded over 150,000
cataract removal operations across China since it began in 2003.
'China's top wealth creators are now
making significant donations,' Mr Hoogewerf said.
'While there still remains public
scepticism of some of their motives behind many donations, it is now no
longer possible to ignore Chinese philanthropy, which has landed on the
world map,' he added.
Mr Yu said he hoped his move would
encourage other Chinese billionaires to do more - adding his fortune paled
in comparison to some other magnates in Hong Kong and on the Chinese
mainland.
'My fortune is just a drop in the
bucket compared to them but I have a point of view that is very different
from others, I will not leave my fortune to my children,' he said.
Microsoft founder Bill Gates, the
world's richest full-time philanthropist, said last year he would launch a
campaign to encourage China's wealthiest to take up the practice. --
2010 April 23 AFP
S'pore philanthropists turn more
hands-on
They use their professional
skills and even visit projects abroad for a first-hand look
A GROWING number of well-heeled
Singaporeans are now going beyond cheque- book philanthropy for a more
hands-on approach to the development work they are pouring money into. So
they apply well-honed business acumen to international development
projects, give of their professional expertise, or travel to less
developed countries in the region to witness first-hand the work they
fund.
Khoo Hock Tin, a local philanthropist
who has given to schools and universities here, says he 'was keen to be
part of the new wave of wealth and expertise going out from Singapore,
benefiting Asia's poorer regions'. After accompanying Lien Aid, the
international development arm of Lien Foundation, on a trip to Cambodia to
see for himself the work on the ground, Mr Khoo decided to direct his
passion for education towards another drive for clean water and sanitation
in schools in China. He has given $131,000 so far to help install hygiene
and sanitation facilities in two Sichuan schools there, and will give
$177,000 more to another three schools this year.
But, he says, 'funding overcomes only
one hurdle; in international development work, a focused approach with
clear goals is very important. We need to ensure that resources are not
spread too thin, so that the aid extended is effective and maximised.'
Wealthy and business-savvy
philanthropists are naturally more targeted with their giving, but more so
when it comes to work abroad. Jenny Santi, UBS head of philanthropy
services, Southeast Asia, whose unit advises wealth management clients on
how to give effectively, says: 'Many of the philanthropists we work with
realise that, as in business, money given to charity can be used both
wisely and unwisely.'
To ensure their large donations go
further, more are now travelling out into the region to give of their time
too.
'When they see the projects for
themselves and meet the ultimate beneficiaries of their gifts, they also
get a sense of reward that they would not have otherwise gotten from a
written report alone,' Ms Santi says.
'Site visits also enable donors to
understand the circumstances and root causes of problems that make
philanthropy necessary in the first place,' she adds.
Local architect Tay Kheng Soon, who has
run his own practice Akitet Tenggara for over 30 years, would agree.
He now frequently travels to Thailand
with Lien Aid, a partnership which began with building an eco-community
centre in Lam Plai Mat. On these visits, he has come to know the children
from that community and now speaks with pride of the 10-year-olds - 'some
of the poorest children of Thailand but so incredible, so confident' - who
now run the centre's radio station and came up among the top in a recent
national exam.
'The learning process is really a
privilege - that's my payoff. As a result, I'm not just an architect
anymore,' he says. It was voluntary work on projects like these that
helped him craft his 'rubanisation' strategy of developing areas which are
neither rural nor urban but combine traits of both in a sustainable way -
an approach now used by Indonesian and Sri Lankan authorities too.
With his technical expertise in
non-traditional architecture, Mr Tay persuaded the Thais to use locally
available materials of rammed earth and bamboo (initially disparaged as
cheap) to save costs and build the environmentally sustainable Lam Plai
Mat centre.
Similarly, Philip Wang, a professional
engineer and a relative of Mr Khoo's who visited the Sichuan schools,
says: 'I'm quite keen to see how local architecture or building
engineering consultancies can use some of their skills to benefit
international development. It's not always that easy, because of the
different contexts.'
There is the benefit of
philanthropists' own interests sustaining longer-term needs of a
development-type project too. 'We have found that by getting involved,
philanthropists are able to retain their interest in the real pleasure of
philanthropy,' says Ms Santi. 'When they do get involved and apply their
talents, they are able to inject the energy and sustained focus to
overcome the challenge of creating durable positive change.'
Peggy Goh, co-founder of listed
offshore services firm Ezra Holdings, says that motivated by 'God's higher
commission to bless others, especially those who are needy and less
fortunate' and her 'passion for Cambodia and her people', she sees the
tertiary education she helped build for the rural community in Takeo as a
dream fulfilled.
Madam Goh, whose family is 16th on
Forbes Singapore's 40 Richest list, gave US$795,000 to the St Paul's
Institute, which officially opened last month. But finances aside, she was
heavily involved in the actual work of roping in Lien Aid to manage the
project and oversee construction together with the Catholic Church of
Cambodia, and then getting Ngee Ann Polytechnic to share its educational
know-how with the new institute.
Firmly convinced of the value of
development work and the impact it can have, Madam Goh says her experience
with overseas development in the area of education will now spur her
advocacy of other ways of doing philanthropy, like micro funding and
improving healthcare. -
2010 April 3 BUSINESS
TIMES