Jack Ma fires back at domestic critics over charity giving ‘scandal’

You probably know the name Jack Ma. The man is, after all, the chairman and founder of Chinese ecommerce giant Alibaba, and his word carries some serious weight in Asian tech circles.

What you may not know is that Jack Ma occasionally blogs. So, once again, I’ve translated his latest piece below. In it, he talks about Alibaba’s philosophy for charitable giving, and fires back at domestic critics.

Recently, what I most dread reading are those unscientific, un-rigorous, irresponsible “authoritative reports” or “viewpoints.”

A few days ago, I was very surprised to see a so-called “authoritative report” saying that 80 percent of the money from China’s charitable giving is going overseas. I was even more surprised to read that according to the report, since Joe Tsai and I accounted for 80 percent of China’s charitable giving last year, most of our money was going overseas. The ‘killing power’ of this report is really shocking. Over the Spring Festival holiday period many people criticized me, and even the government said it was paying attention.

In 2014, Joe Tsai and I did donate a ton of assets. Because China’s system for charity funds is not yet perfect, and because we were donating assets from a foreign-listed company [Alibaba], to ensure we could start as soon as possible we registered our fund outside of China, so that as soon as the mechanisms in China were set up we could begin work. Where the charitable fund is registered is not the same thing as where the money is spent. Joe Tsai and I had an agreement from the very beginning: the bulk of this money will be spent on environmental protection, education, and health in China, as well was the establishment of a Chinese charitable foundation and the training of local talent [for the foundation]. Of course, as global citizens, a part of the money will also be invested in charitable projects outside of China.

When you donate to society it’s not just money that’s donated, but your heart, your actions, and your conscience. Of course, your heart and concscience are also the most easily hurt, and the hardest thing is to act with intention…