Saturday, January 23, 2010

Chinese Prefer Direct Donate

Charities with Chinese background performed miserably in the latest round of Facebook Charity giving contest, a sharp contract to the glorious victory of last time, when Chinese charities claimed the top 2 slots, with 100 times more votes comparing to groups ranked tenthish. This time, the previous champion OCEF ranked 40, with 10 times less votes comparing to groups ranked tenish.

The difference? Last time people can participate by direct donation with a credit card on a regular website. This time people have to hold a Facebook account plus be a fan of 'Chase Community Giving'. In addition, no actual money is being donated by participants. The success of a charity's fundraising campaign will be evaluated by the number of votes they received, rather than money donation they received.

First of all, Facebook, among other web 2.0 websites, is blocked by the communist government. Chinese within the Great Firewall of China couldn't participate, even those English speaking elite working at international companies. But more critical was, Chinese people by and large don't like the idea of offering 'symbolic support'. Many Chinese people in the US don't bother to register a Facebook account; those who do have Facebook account don't bother to click to vote. And down to the bottom, there are simply not many Chinese representation in the total US population, where Facebook is popular. In the last round, participants can cast multiple votes by making multiple monetary donations. This time, each person can only vote for one organization once.

Anyway, there are still hours before the ending of the campaign. If you are a Chinese, or if you care about helping underprivileged people in China, please (register a Facebook account and become a fan of the 'Chase Community Giving' Cause, if you haven't done so) cast your vote for the following charities. Your vote could help them win the contest to be eligible to receive support from Chase.

Current Standing (Rank, Organization, Votes):

No. 1, ......, 98621;
No. 6, ......, 47489;
No. 32, 半边天基金会(Half the Sky), 8504;
No. 40, 海外中国教育基金会(OCEF), 7054;
No. 47, 爱心传递慈善基金会(PLCF), 6259;
No. 50, 海外中国儿童援助基金会(OSCCF), 5740;
No. 61, 欣欣教育基金会(Shin Shin Educational Foundation), 3912;
No. 77, 海外华人互助会CMAIN, 2284;
No. 80, 手牵手教育基金会HBHEF, 2019
No. 84, China Care Foundation, 1724;
No. 87, 全美华人文化教育基金会(ACCEF) (致力于中国贫困地区教育), 1496;
No. 92, Chinatown Youth Initiatives, 817;
No. 100, ......, 611.

Each person can cast five votes. If you happened to reside behind the Great FireWall, this page tells you how to flip over the wall to vote.

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