Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics figures show that Taiwanese donate up to NT$42.7 billion (US$1.3 billion) to charity every year. But do the 5.35 million people who donate to charities know if their money is really going to those in need?
United Way said it collected NT$374 million in donations last year, which it used to subsidize 389 organizations and 494 projects throughout the nation. All, it said, must apply for funding. United Way immediately recoups money from any group discovered to be using money for private purposes and then bars the group from applying again for two years.
United Way said that for every NT$100 it receives, NT$11 to NT$13 is deducted for administrative expenses, approximately NT$85 goes to charities or individuals in need and another NT$2 is held in a special budget for emergency disaster relief.
United Way's figures showed that 39 percent of donors want to know how the recipients used their money, 27 percent request receipts and 11 percent want the organizations to publicly release the amount of money they receive.
Many groups, however, have no transparent system to account for how they manage the money they receive. Moreover, a lack of human resources in government has made it difficult to enforce regulations on transparency.
Chen Chieh-ju (
In light of this, more than 40 different groups were planning to imitate efforts in Hong Kong and Japan and form a "Taiwan Social Welfare Alliance" to press the government to distribute its welfare budget more equitably, push through new legislation and integrate resources, he said.
The Ministry of Education (MOE) is to launch a new program to encourage international students to stay in Taiwan and explore job opportunities here after graduation, Deputy Minister of Education Yeh Ping-cheng (葉丙成) said on Friday. The government would provide full scholarships for international students to further their studies for two years in Taiwan, so those who want to pursue a master’s degree can consider applying for the program, he said. The fields included are science, technology, engineering, mathematics, semiconductors and finance, Yeh added. The program, called “Intense 2+2,” would also assist international students who completed the two years of further studies in
The brilliant blue waters, thick foliage and bucolic atmosphere on this seemingly idyllic archipelago deep in the Pacific Ocean belie the key role it now plays in a titanic geopolitical struggle. Palau is again on the front line as China, and the US and its allies prepare their forces in an intensifying contest for control over the Asia-Pacific region. The democratic nation of just 17,000 people hosts US-controlled airstrips and soon-to-be-completed radar installations that the US military describes as “critical” to monitoring vast swathes of water and airspace. It is also a key piece of the second island chain, a string of
Taiwan will now have four additional national holidays after the Legislative Yuan passed an amendment today, which also made Labor Day a national holiday for all sectors. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) used their majority in the Legislative Yuan to pass the amendment to the Act on Implementing Memorial Days and State Holidays (紀念日及節日實施辦法), which the parties jointly proposed, in its third and final reading today. The legislature passed the bill to amend the act, which is currently enforced administratively, raising it to the legal level. The new legislation recognizes Confucius’ birthday on Sept. 28, the
A magnitude 5.9 earthquake that struck about 33km off the coast of Hualien City was the "main shock" in a series of quakes in the area, with aftershocks expected over the next three days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Prior to the magnitude 5.9 quake shaking most of Taiwan at 6:53pm yesterday, six other earthquakes stronger than a magnitude of 4, starting with a magnitude 5.5 quake at 6:09pm, occurred in the area. CWA Seismological Center Director Wu Chien-fu (吳健富) confirmed that the quakes were all part of the same series and that the magnitude 5.5 temblor was
RSS