According to Henan Economic Daily, Rongyang in Henan province will set up more than 1,000 charity organizations and launch over 5,000 charity ambassadors to build itself into a "charity city".
Rongyang Municipal Charity Federation has issued a proposal calling on people to join the charity initiative. Rongyang city government has also promulgated documents on implementing this proposal. In addition, Yang Fuping, the secretary general of Rongyang City Commission, said that ten measures, including arranging donation boxes and charity dinners would be taken for this purpose. A steering committee has also been set up.
According to Liang Yan, the principal of RMCT, RMCF has received only about CNY1 million in donations since January, which was less than one eighth of the total amount received the same period of last year. Liang stated that donations from enterprises have declined due to the global financial crisis so they had to resort to the public for donations.
It was learned that the charity organizations will be mostly set up in the government departments and residents' commissions, and the charity dinner will be arranged at Haiyun Hotel which is expected to donate about 10% of its catering income.
However, local people do seem not to be so interested in the government's charity initiative and experts say that charity and fund raising initiative should keep up with the development of the economic development, or it won't go far.
