CHINA-CIVIL SOCIETY
Jack Ma (Ma Yun) and Joe Tsai (Cai Chongxin), co-founders of Alibaba, have pledged to fund a new charitable foundation, which is yet to be named. They have earmarked US$3 billion in assets for the foundation, making it the most significant development in Chinese civil society of the past 15 years. At present the top two Chinese foundations by net assets are the Henan Soong Ching Ling Foundation (with about US$460 million) and the Tsinghua University Education Foundation (with about US$370 million). Ma's new foundation will be about 6.5 times the current largest Chinese foundation.
On a global scale, it is still below the Gates Foundation (around US$40 billion in assets currently) and the Ford Foundation (around US$11 billion).
Ma says their focus will include education, the environment, and health. They haven't decided on a name for the foundation yet.
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