Alibaba’s Taobao Marks Banner Year of Philanthropy Efforts

Tech giant Alibaba announced a banner year of philanthropy efforts by its e-commerce subsidiary Taobao in 2018.

In the past year, Taobao raised 440 million yuan from two million merchants and 427 million shoppers and helped an estimated 8.7 million people, making it China’s largest online philanthropy platform, in terms of total participation.

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“As a marketplace with extensive reach in China, we have already enabled small businesses to engage with their customers and generated opportunities. We are thinking of different ways to utilize the influence of our marketplace,” said Jiang Fan, President of Taobao. “The accumulation of small, thoughtful and compassionate acts from individuals each day can make a big difference in the end.”

According to Alibaba, money and other resources raised via Taobao have gone beyond the border, helping people through programs in Ethiopia and Myanmar in addition to the poor and disadvantaged in China.

In 2018, Taobao implemented four philanthropy programs – “Goods for Good,” “Online Charity Stores,” the “Three hour Voluntary Service Platform” and “Steps for Charity” – and attracted participation from over 427 million users.

“Goods for Good”, in which over two million Taobao merchants participated, enabled merchants to pledge a percentage of the price of their goods and donate it to their designated charitable organization. “Online Charity Stores” allows consumers to purchase items from online stores set up by non-profit organizations on Taobao. The “Three hour Voluntary Service Platform”encourages its users to give service to designated charity organizations. “Steps for Charity” invites users to donate a sum based on the number of steps they’ve walked every day to charity.