Charities could do better with transparency

ON TUESDAY, internet giant Tencent Inc organized a charity activity that allowed people to buy a piece of drawing online for any price higher than 1 yuan ($ 0.15). All the drawings were made by people with autism, cerebral palsy or dysgnosia and the money raised would be used to help them. The activity attracted millions of people, yet some doubt whether the collected money would be spent effectively. Thepaper.cn comments:

Tencent said its objective was to raise 15 million yuan, which it did within hours. In fact, the number of participants exceeded 1 million within half an hour, which suggests the charity activity was a huge success.

However, some have raised doubts over the effectiveness of the plan, a typical one being: How will the collected money be spent? If a person clicks and buys a piece of drawing, he or she will not find any link to get a clear idea about where the money will go. There is only one sentence in small-sized fonts: "We will help the patients enjoy art with the money."