China will continue to encourage sound development of private foundations to channel more spending into public welfare, said Li Xueju, minister of civil affairs in Beijing on Thursday.

"We should implement tax preferences for these charity organizations," he said. "We will also draw up policies to guarantee the social welfare of the staff of these charity groups."

In China, foundations are divided into two types: public foundations, which can raise funds from the public, and private foundations, which may not take public donations but rely entirely on funding from individuals or organizations.

In recent years, private foundations have expanded quickly. By the end of 2006, China had 795 public foundations, up 3.1 percent year-on-year and 349 private foundations, up 71.1 percent year-on year.

Further, the number of private foundations has exceeded that of public ones in Beijing, Tianjin, Jiangsu, Gansu, Fujian and Hainan.

(Xinhua News Agency December 28, 2007)