A recent online poll conducted by Yahoo-Kimo Inc showed the formation of a "U-shaped" curve in donations to local charities, with smaller and larger donations rising while the number of "medium-sized donations" was declining.
Yahoo-Kimo, one of the nation's major Internet portals, conducted the poll earlier this month and collected more than 1,084 valid samples on its Web site, media group director Elise Chiu (邱瀅憓) said at a press conference.
"Although 70 percent of people who participated in the poll said they were willing to make donations this year, 59.6 percent said they would only make a donation of less than NT$2,500," Chiu said.
"Compared to the numbers recorded last year, 24.8 percent of donations were between NT$5,000 and NT$25,000.
However, this group only made up 17.2 percent of total donations this year," Chiu told the press conference.
Taking the income into account, the poll results showed that among people with an annual salary of NT$1.5 million (US$46,000), 42.3 percent said they were willing to make donations of up to NT$100,000.
Meanwhile, only 10.9 percent of respondents with an annual income of less than NT$250,000 said they were willing to make a donation of more than NT$5,000, a drop from 21.6 percent in last year's poll, Chiu said.
"We can see a `U-shaped' curve emerging, as the middle group is shrinking," Chiu said, adding that 66.3 percent of respondents said they would donate less this year because of rising commodity prices.
The results also showed rising concern over the manner in which donations were being used.
While donations to general charities dropped from 40.3 percent last year to 27.8 percent this year, donations to charities serving particular minority groups grew from 23.4 percent last year to 27.5 percent, another report showed.
Chou Wen-cheng (
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