Jet Li Wades into Charity Transparency Row

Chinese movie star Jet Li has added his voice to the clamor for greater transparency and reform of charity organizations in China.

It follows the controversy surrounding Guo Meimei, who claimed a business connection with the Red Cross Society of China (RCSC) and posted photographs of herself on the Internet apparently enjoying the trappings of a luxury lifestyle.

Thousands of netizens questioned how a woman of 20 could afford the Maserati and Lamborghini she drives. The RCSC has since promised to be more transparent.

Li, who established the One Foundation, is now calling for charities to shed the "halo effect" of being run by a celebrity and any government connections so they can become a genuine public foundation.

"Today's One Foundation is owned by everyone who donates money. Rather than Jet Li's foundation, it's a charity that could survive either with or without me," he said.

The star does not want funds donated only by celebrities and businessmen, but by ordinary people. The foundation's Chinese name literally refers to "a foundation created by everyone donating 1 yuan (US$0.15)".

"A baby without an identification card" used to be how Li described the organization when it did not have an independent account and all its fundraising activities were under the supervision of the RCSC in 2007.

From a charity project attached to the RCSC in Beijing four years ago, to Shanghai's Jet Li One Foundation in 2008, and now as a public foundation based in Shenzhen since the beginning of 2011, One Foundation's path has not been easy to negotiate.

The turning point came after an invitation from Shenzhen government official Liu Runhua, who is in charge of the special economic zone's civil affairs. Shenzhen is a national pilot for civil affairs reform, including the registration of nongovernmental organizations.

Liu, director of Shenzhen Civil Affairs Bureau, wants to end the government's monopoly on philanthropic organizations and believes "the essence of charity is to go public". He said: "It's time to give free rein to China's grassroots foundations and time to consciously fade out the government monopoly.

"Only nongovernmental organizations are compatible with today's situation."

Liu added that the relationship between charity organizations and local government should be like "trees and a gardener".

With Liu's support, Li is now confident enough to say: "We respect every yuan of One Foundation's funds just like we respect every heart that does good."

When responding to the question of how to avoid accusations of corruption due to a current lack of confidence in Chinese charity organizations, Li said: "Money is not a big problem. Breaking a donor's heart (because of corruption) is a bigger one.

"I knew things like this (the crisis of confidence) would happen when One Foundation was only a small project attached to the Red Cross four years ago. That's why I carefully considered how to run a professional, transparent and sustainable charity organization when I first introduced it as early as April 19, 2007."

Li said One Foundation brought Deloitte's auditors to the Wenchuan earthquake disaster site in order to guarantee financial transparency. The organization also regularly publishes its financial statements on its website.

"Still, it's impossible to spend every yuan we collect on the disaster-affected (people) - you have to deduct road tolls and petrol costs," said Li.

"We didn't and won't take a penny from One Foundation," said Zhu Yonglei, co-partner of Bain & Company, a global consulting firm that helps One Foundation with its financial statements. He has stuck by his promise for four years ever since Bain & Company's China branch started working for the charity as a volunteer in 2007.

"One Foundation is demanding in terms of auditing. It pays lots of attention to the standard of its documents as well," said Carrie Liu who works for Shanghai Cherished Dream Charity Foundation, a nongovernmental organization dedicated to children with poor education that received 2 million yuan from One Foundation in 2009.

A new goal for One Foundation this year is to put a quarter of its time, money and effort into training its workers.

Chinese nongovernmental officers (NGOs), especially grassroots ones, have faced a severe shortage of talented staff in recent years. A survey conducted by Tencent Foundation, Narada Foundation and Liu Hongru Financial Education Foundation showed that 65.7 percent of the country's 451 sampled NGOs plan to hire more people in 2011.

Many vacancies cannot be filled by qualified people because they pay too little and lack opportunities for career development. Beijing Normal University One Foundation Philanthropy Research Institute was established one year ago to make One Foundation more sustainable.

"China will have at least 10 schools like this in the next few years," said Li. "It's like China's hotel industry during the '80s. We need our own management team despite the excellent hardware. We can't always hire European management teams for five-star hotels and ask Hong Kong or Taiwan's manager to run a four-star operation."