Alibaba releases first philanthropy report, highlights importance to business model

Alibaba has released its inaugural philanthropy report which highlights the charitable efforts of the organisation and its employees.

Over the past year, two of its philanthropy-focused platforms - Alibaba Philanthropy, Alipay Philanthropy – raised donations amounting to over 1.27bn yuan (US$184mn).

Simultaneously, 15mn people have registered with Alibaba’s ‘Each Person Three Hours’ platform which connects Chinese volunteers with organisations in need of charitable assistance.

SEE ALSO:

• Alibaba Q4 revenue jumps 51% to $13.9bn as retail and cloud profits accelerate

• Alibaba is the world’s most valuable non-US retail brand

• Gartner names Alibaba Cloud the leading IaaS and IUS provider in Asia Pacific

• Read the latest issue of Business Chief, Asia edition, here

According to Alizila, Alibaba’s dedicated news outlet, the Each Person Three Hours platform listed more than 3mn volunteering opportunities across 937 local non-profits over the past year.

“Here at Alibaba, philanthropy is the core of our business model. Our foremost priority is providing effective and sustainable solutions to problems faced by society,” said Sun Lijun, Head of the Alibaba Foundation, according to Alizila. 

“Through these small acts, we hope to be a responsible stakeholder to generate positive energy, create big impact and encourage more people to participate in public service.”

Alizila noted the firm’s longstanding commitment to charitable operations, adding that the Group has set aside 0.3% of its annual revenues for corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives since 2011.