Tencent Uses Blockchain Technology to Improve Transparency in Annual Internet Charity Campaign

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Sep 08, 2020, 09:22 ET

SHENZHEN, China, Sept. 8, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Tencent pledges the use of blockchain technology in its biggest annual philanthropic campaign to ensure data traceability and enhance transparency in charitable programs, taking the lead in leveraging technology to promote sustainable development of public welfare sector.

Tencent kicked off its "99 Giving Day" campaign on September 7^th, with a focus on public participation, inclusion and transparency. Blockchain technology will be applied to all fundraising projects during this year's three-day online charity campaign.

"Tencent has extensive experience in the application of blockchain technology, such as in the tax field. Blockchain has the power to make public welfare initiatives more transparent and more digitalized. There is no need to worry about issues like 'data tampering'," explained Ge Yan, secretary-general of Tencent Charity Foundation, expressing her confidence in the application of blockchain technology in online charity activities.

In fulfilling its corporate mission of "Value for Users, Tech for Good", Tencent also launched a tech support platform this year to help charity partners better leverage digital capabilities in implementing their philanthropy projects. The Chinese Internet giant announced a "Public Welfare SaaS Project" to open up some internal technologies to outside partners through open-source cooperation, in an initiative to digitalize and move projects to the "Cloud". According to the latest statistics, 50 organizations have already joined the partnership. This number is expected to exceed 100 by the end of the year.

This year's "99 Giving Day" comes at a time when social welfare is more important than ever for holding together and supporting each other as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to affect people from all walks of life.

Tencent Charity Foundation will use 299.99 million yuan of funds to match donations from the public. An additional 100 million yuan will be donated as a non-targeted charitable contribution. This marks Tencent's sixth year leading the charity campaign, connecting hundreds of thousands of NGOs, enterprises and different sectors of the community for joint participation.

In addition, Tencent will allocate 200 million yuan of funds from its Anti-Pandemic Funds to help public welfare organizations recover from the epidemic, favoring those with a proven track record, as well as outstanding performance in this year's campaign. Tencent set aside the new funds from its 1.5-billion-yuan in domestic funding, which was announced earlier this year to help fight the epidemic.

SOURCE Tencent