Taiwan Today

While Taiwan was going wild over the World Baseball Classic, there was another story that moved everyone and made the nation feel proud. Three brothers surnamed Zhang, whose family raised millions from a personal charity appeal to treat a rare medical disorder, returned to Taiwan after treatment in the U.S. and gave the leftover money to the Taiwan Foundation for Rare Disorders. Including more than NT$30 million (US$1.01 million) they had given to National Taiwan University Hospital before leaving for the U.S., to be used in emergency by families of rare disease sufferers, their total donation exceeded NT$70 million. Known as “Taiwan’s Lorenzos”—after the movie “Lorenzo’s Oil” because the brothers suffered from adrenoleukodystrophy, the same disease that afflicted the boy in the film—the family originally made a media appeal in 2011 for donations to fund the expensive treatment. Such was the public response, with millions more NT dollars raised than would be consumed by medical expenses, that controversy arose over what would happen to the rest. The case gave the government the impetus to pass the Charity Donations Destined for Social Welfare Funds Implementation Regulations, aiming to stop individual charitable appeals from occurring in the future. The Zhang family’s decision to regulate themselves and return every penny left to society not only sets a great example, but clears up all outstanding doubts about the money. The parents suffering the turmoil of a possible loss of their children and the public demanding transparency for the donations, was an unbearable strain for the Zhangs and society. What really moved people about this case was that even though there were still two sick people in the family who needed care, the Zhang family decided after the death of the second son to quietly give away all the donations, solving the problems of family and social responsibility, and at the same time teaching a precious lesson to society. Although the Zhang’s case caused the Judicial Yuan to pass the charity donations regulations, the law’s broader purpose was to regulate fundraising so as to stop excessive concentration of money in the hands of a few organizations benefitting from the effect of broadcast media or marketing campaigns, and to address controversies arising from a lack of transparency. The government’s goal was to create a level playing field for nonprofit organizations to raise money and compensate for inadequacies in the market and administrative oversight, ensuring donations would be fairly allocated to deserving people. With the steady increase in the number of charities and events, the distribution of funds has become increasingly imbalanced due to media effects, making it hard for the weaker ones to maintain independence and achieve objectives, and forcing them to rely on government intervention to survive. Another problem is the accountability of nonprofits, which is donors’ most important criterion in deciding where their money goes. If charities wish to increase their accountability, apart from relying on external restraints, such as government regulation and oversight mechanisms, they must also establish reliable internal systems. In response to the law, some charities have voluntarily entered into a self-governing alliance, but the accountability and transparency of the nation’s charities is still insufficient. If charities find it hard to gain the complete confidence of the donors, how much harder is it for a private effort like the Zhang family’s? Because of this hurdle they launched a media campaign to raise money. The funds the Zhangs obtained were not governed by the charities regulations, but they decided to give away all of the excess, a selfless gesture Taiwan should be proud of. Besides charities bolstering their internal oversight systems, the government can further amend the laws, strengthen management and take other measures to help. Especially for the weaker charities, the government could assist them in getting more donations without impinging on their independence. Additionally, it could create new oversight mechanisms that would cause the funding discrepancy between charities to gradually shrink. In this way, the government would be pursuing the spirit that was behind the formulation of the charities regulations. (SDH) (This commentary first appeared in the China Times, March 17, 2013.)