Can the donation be withdrawn?

　　[Q&A Civil Code · Statement by Case]

　　●Keywords

　　Charitable donations

　　●Overview

　　In recent years, social philanthropy has developed vigorously, and social caring individuals and charitable organizations have practiced public welfare, dedicated their love, and carried out activities to help disadvantaged groups in society.

However, there is also a phenomenon in which individuals or organizations refuse to perform their donation obligations after earning public praise in the name of donations, and they are frequently exposed on the Internet, which has aroused public attention and reflection on the "donation fraud".

　　●Case

　　A love organization contacted a Hope Primary School in a certain city, saying that a certain company would organize an auction to make donations to the school.

At the auction, the host announced that the donating company would donate 200,000 yuan to the elementary school. The donating company would send a cash check model of 200,000 yuan to the school leaders, and asked the recipient students to take a group photo. The local media carried out this special report.

After the ceremony, the donor company did not pay 200,000 yuan in donations to the Hope Primary School.

When the love organization asked about the 200,000 yuan donation afterwards, the company said that the 200,000 yuan check was a prop and should not be regarded as a donation, "just for the audience to see."

After that, the legal representative of the company indicated that he would withdraw the donation on the grounds of economic difficulties.

After actual investigation, the caring organization found that the company did not experience financial difficulties.

　　●Law

　　The donator may revoke the donation before the right to the donated property is transferred.

The provisions of the preceding paragraph shall not apply to a notarized gift contract or a gift contract that has the nature of public welfare and moral obligations such as disaster relief, poverty alleviation, and disability assistance that cannot be revoked according to law.

(Article 658)

　　If the donor’s economic situation has deteriorated significantly, which seriously affects his production, business or family life, he may no longer perform the obligation of donation.

(Article 666)

　　●Experts

　　Wei Hua (Dean of Law Department, Beijing Forestry University)

　　Regulated charitable donations, don’t “fraud”

　　Charitable donations refer to the activities of natural persons, legal persons and unincorporated organizations that donate property voluntarily and free of charge for charitable purposes.

Charitable donation is the establishment of a gift contract relationship between the donor (donor) and the donee, which is one of the types of public welfare gifts.

The donation contract is a kind of promise contract, and the contract is established when the donator and the donee have reached a consensus on the donation.

The law stipulates that the donator has the right to arbitrarily revoke the donation. The donator can withdraw the donation before the transfer of the donated property rights. That is, the donated property is movable and the donation can be withdrawn before delivery; if the donated property is real property, it can be revoked before the transfer of the real property Gift.

　　However, certain types of gifts have been notarized or have a public welfare purpose, and have been publicly reported. They have already had a certain impact in society. If they are allowed to withdraw the gifts arbitrarily, the behavior of the gifts is obviously The color of bloggers’ eyeballs and deceiving the public. Therefore, the Civil Code of our country imposes corresponding restrictions on the exercise of the donator’s arbitrarily revocation right. Notarized donation contracts and non-cancellable donation contracts of disaster relief, poverty alleviation, disability and other public welfare and moral nature. It cannot be revoked at will.

　　In this case, the company contacted the school through a caring organization and expressed that it would make a donation to the school and the students in need. This is a typical gift with a social welfare nature.

According to the provisions of Article 658 of the Civil Code, the donation of the public welfare nature of the enterprise is irrevocable.

At the same time, if there is a situation that “the donor’s economic situation has deteriorated significantly, which seriously affects his production, business or family life, he may no longer perform the gift obligation” as stipulated in Article 666 of the Civil Code, the gift contract can be cancelled.

Since the investigation did not find that the company had financial difficulties, its claim to withdraw the gift had no legal basis.

　　Since the company had publicly announced at the auction that it had donated 200,000 yuan to the school, after winning public praise, it refused to pay the donation without justified reasons. This is already a "donation fraud".

According to Article 41 of my country's Charity Law, if a donor publicly promises to donate through radio, television, newspapers, and the Internet, the donor shall perform the donation obligation in accordance with the donation agreement.

If the donor violates the donation agreement and fails to deliver the donated property within the time limit, the charitable organization or other recipient of the donation may request delivery; if the donor refuses to deliver, the charitable organization and other recipient of the donation may apply to the people’s court for a payment order or file a lawsuit in accordance with the law.

Therefore, the company should abide by the law and continue to fulfill its pledge of 200,000 yuan in charitable donations.

If the company refuses to fulfill the donation promise, the school can apply to the court for a payment order or sue.

　　The act of “fraud” for personal gain in the name of donation consumes the trust of the public and corrupts the social atmosphere. The law provides zero tolerance for this.

Only by strictly implementing the relevant provisions of the Civil Code and the Charity Law can charitable donations play an important role in promoting social righteousness and promoting social harmony, and promote the sound development of charity.

　　(Interview by our reporter Wang Jinhu)