China receives surging charitable donations in 2013

China received charitable donations worth 56.64 billion yuan (9.2 billion U.S. dollars) in 2013, most of it raised by non-governmental organizations (NGOs), according to the Ministry of Civil Affairs.

NGOs with charitable status raised 45.88 billion yuan in money and goods, while civil affairs authorities received donations worth 10.76 billion yuan, according to figures released by the ministry on Tuesday.

The ministry is in charge of NGO management, disaster relief and the social welfare cause. It also has a function of receiving donations from the public.

There were 547,000 NGOs across China by the end of 2013, increasing by 9.6 percent from the previous year, the figures show.

These organizations employed 6.36 million people and owned fixed assets worth more than 149.6 billion yuan.

The ministry also revealed that sales of welfare lottery tickets grew by nearly 17 percent to reach 176.5 billion yuan last year, raising 51.07 billion yuan in charitable funds.

Civil affairs authorities spent 19.55 billion yuan of the funds to do public good, the ministry said.