Several fundraising platforms start charging service fees
Regulating Internet fundraising is a must!
Our reporter Jin Chen "People's Daily Overseas Edition" (Page 08, April 20, 2022)
With the promotion of the Internet platform for fundraising for serious illness, many families in need of illness have used this method to raise funds, and relevant information about help appears frequently in WeChat groups and circles of friends.
However, many netizens reported that some platforms have recently begun to collect "support fees" and service fees from donors and recipients, which has aroused concern.
Gather love and send warmth
Recalling her son's treatment for more than a year, Ms. Li, who lives in Liaoning, is full of emotion.
In February last year, Ms. Li's son, Xiao Huan, was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia and required multiple chemotherapy treatments. The treatment cost of hundreds of thousands of yuan made this ordinary family face a huge financial burden.
At the suggestion of relatives and friends, Ms. Li's family decided to seek help from caring people in the society.
She wrote a letter of help through a fundraising platform and submitted relevant certification materials for her son's illness.
After seeing the information for help, relatives and friends confirmed and forwarded it, and caring people from all walks of life donated generously to raise part of the treatment fee for Xiao Huan.
With the assistance of the platform staff, Ms. Li also got in touch with charitable organizations qualified for public fundraising, and raised nearly 20,000 yuan, all of which were used for Xiao Huan's treatment.
As one of the important parts of China's critical illness relief social forces, the Internet critical illness fundraising platform has provided fundraising assistance to many families in difficulty in recent years, and has formed an effective supplementary channel for the supply of medical funds in addition to medical insurance and commercial insurance.
For people who are in distress due to unexpected events and sudden major diseases, it is more efficient and faster to raise funds through the Internet and social media. Families in need provide timely help.
After years of development, the operation mode of the Internet critical illness fundraising platform has now been widely recognized by the society.
According to data released by Shuidichou, as of the end of 2021, the platform has helped nearly 2.4 million critically ill patients with financial difficulties to raise medical aid funds, and 394 million caring people have supported critical illness relief projects on the platform.
Platform fees lead to controversy
Seeing the help information posted on the Internet, many people donated generously. However, some netizens recently reported that they found that they were inexplicably deducted a few yuan in "support fees" when they donated.
It is reported that the so-called "support fee" refers to donations made by donors to support the operation and development of Internet fundraising platforms.
The reporter found in the actual test on multiple platforms that when the donation is settled, most platforms will charge the donor a "support fee" of about 3 yuan, regardless of the amount of the donation.
Some platforms turn off this charge by default, and the user will voluntarily tick to agree, and then the charge will be deducted.
Some platforms charge this fee by default, and users will be charged more if they do not read the rules carefully, but the fee is refundable.
In addition to collecting "support fees" from donors, there are also platforms that draw a fee from the money raised by fundraisers.
For example, in January this year, Shuidicho started to collect service fees on a pilot basis. Each fundraising will charge a service fee of 3% of the actual fundraising amount, and the service fee for a single project will be capped at 5,000 yuan.
In this regard, the relevant person in charge of Waterdrop Funding said that during the pilot process, many fundraisers understood and agreed with the way of charging service fees.
Platform operating costs and labor costs exist for a long time. The service fee is not for profit, but to ensure the normal operation of the platform and provide better services for fundraisers and social caring people.
"The major platforms promised not to charge any fees for promotion, but now they have to 'take a cut' from both the donor and the recipient." Zou Ran, who is engaged in community work in Beijing, has made donations through online platforms many times. She said that she can She understands that the platform faces greater operational pressure, and as a donor, she can also accept voluntary and public "support fees", but it is emotionally difficult for the platform to deduct service fees from the recipient's "life-saving money".
Improving credibility is the key
In response to a series of controversies caused by the collection of fees from donors and recipients by Internet fundraising platforms for serious diseases, industry insiders believe that although online fundraising platforms are commercial organizations, they still have a certain public interest background.
Regardless of whether the platform charges fees or not, the operation must be standardized and transparent. While ensuring the sustainable operation of the platform, it can better win the trust of the public and protect the rights and interests of users, so as to achieve the goal of long-term healthy and orderly development.
Gu Hai, director of the Center for Health Policy and Management Research at Nanjing University, said that from the perspective of the platform, the free service model is not enough to support the sustainable development of the business, but if the platform wants to charge fees, it must obtain the consent of the donor and recipient in advance. , the proportion and method of charging also need to be fully demonstrated.
"An association of the Internet fundraising industry should be established as soon as possible, and industry self-discipline should be used to strengthen supervision and standardize the development of the industry. In addition, through third-party intervention, establishing channels for donors' right to know, etc., let the society understand the operation of online fundraising platforms, so that the It is open, reasonable and transparent to ensure that the credibility of the platform is not compromised.”
The healthy development of online fundraising platforms is also inseparable from sound laws and regulations and strong supervision.
In the context of the rapid development of emerging Internet formats, the relevant laws and regulations of Internet fundraising platforms are still relatively lagging behind.
Legal experts suggest that relevant departments should establish and improve relevant laws and regulations as soon as possible to provide regulatory authorities with a basis for law enforcement.
At the same time, guide and urge relevant enterprises to operate in good faith and law-abiding, ensure the public welfare attributes of public welfare projects, promote the healthy and sound development of the industry, and allow more people in need to become real beneficiaries.