Giving for Good: Reflecting on a Decade of Philanthropy
Supporting early childhood education, protecting the environment, or bringing opportunities to women — doing good benefits everyone, and it’s exciting, too. Since 2015, when Tencent launched our annual public philanthropy event, we’ve had a goal of making good deeds part of daily life. And to make it fun and rewarding.
Our transparent and digitized platform connects caring netizens with quality charitable organizations and initiatives, ensuring that anyone can participate in a worthy cause that resonates with them. And that’s fundamental to this work: encouraging people to align their time and their generosity with causes which are meaningful for them.
Originally 99 Giving Day, our Giving for Good initiative now has a track record of inspiring collective action. Celebrating its 10-year anniversary, the event has connected more than 230 million people with over 20,000 charitable organizations, creating a wave of positive impact.
This year, the campaign saw over 700 million acts of kindness, with nearly 46 million donations made. Additionally, more than 5,500 charity projects took part in the event.
For 10 years we’ve shown that when we come together, we can create extraordinary change.
Read on for a look back at some of our decade-defining milestones.
A Decade of Milestones
- 2015 – Tencent initiates the 99 Giving Day on September 9 - the first internet charity event in China. More than 2 million people make donations amounting to RMB 130 million
- 2017 – Further improvements are made to promote donation transparency. Stringent entry and review requirements are implemented, prompting charities to establish more comprehensive information disclosure mechanisms
- 2018 – Tencent launches the "Little Red Flower Collection," encouraging people to collect electronic red flowers by taking part in charitable endeavors on the platform. The initiative helps secure more than 28 million individual donations
- 2019 – Tencent upgrades its fundraising transparency and coverage by introducing new industry standards including independent audits of its chosen charities
- 2021 – Now a 10-day campaign, netizens can donate by taking part in online charity quizzes and other challenges, prompting participation from more international donors
- 2022 – A new feature, "One Flower, One Dream" is introduced, allowing users to co-create philanthropy programs with the Tencent Foundation, attracting nearly 60 million participants. Tencent employees around the world team up with local NGOs to support healthcare, education, elderly and youth programs
- 2023 – Over 2,300 charity organizations get involved in the 10-day event, garnering 100 million donors for over 10,000 different charitable causes. More than 80 Tencent products participate in the campaign, covering 360 million users. Tencent volunteers in 16 countries and regions make the program a growing force for good everywhere
Looking ahead, we will focus on three key themes to build a healthier, more sustainable charity ecosystem:
1. Long-term Commitment: To acknowledge the dedication of long-term donors and encourage more of it, we will introduce exclusive donation matching for programs selected by those donors. This will also encourage enhanced services from participating charitable organizations.
2. Sustainable Development: To support charitable organizations to become self-sustaining, the initiative will offer incentives to provide year-round philanthropic programs that attract long-term backing from more users.
3. Mutual Trust: Trust is a cornerstone of public philanthropy, driven by the power of digital technology. We will continue to promote transparency through improved financial disclosure and progress feedback. We’re also exploring new digital tools to track donation usage and provide full-circle feedback to donors.
On its 10th anniversary, we’re also excited to share that 99 Giving Day will be officially elevated to “Giving for Good.” This change reflects our belief that acts of kindness should not be confined to a specific day or week but instead should be a long-term, sustainable commitment to make every day a giving day.
Our commitment to giving for good and driving more meaningful change in the social sector is stronger than ever. We thank you all for your incredible support as we continue this remarkable journey together to make acts of kindness a constant part of our lives.
