Li Ka-shing launches new round of philanthropic campaign
Li Ka-shing, Hong Kong's richest man, is launching the second round of a campaign calling for creative philanthropic proposals from the public. Those chosen will be funded by the Li Ka Shing Foundation.
In the first round, in September, 177 charity projects were selected from more than 1,000 proposed by 74,000 people. The foundation eventually gave out about HK$28 million.
'Our spirit of generosity defines the essence of our community. It is wonderful to make a difference together,' Li said.
The second round of the 'Love Ideas, Love HK' campaign will accept proposals from today until May 16.
The charity foundation will invite the public to vote for projects during the three weeks from June 13. The results will be announced on July 7, and the winners will receive grants within a month.
Grants are divided into five categories: HK$25,000, HK$50,000, HK$100,000, HK$200,000 and HK$300,000. As in the first round, only the first category will be open to individuals and the rest mainly to educational institutions and charitable organisations.
Most winning projects in the first round were under way, a spokesman said.
In the first round, a project to help stray or abandoned animals won the most votes in the HK$300,000 category, while a project to restore the hearing of deaf people was the winner in the HK$200,000 category.
The billionaire hand-picked 12 ideas in that round that he found innovative and moving and allocated an extra HK$2.15 million for them. Among the projects Li selected, four also received a winning number of votes. As a result, they received twice the amount they applied for.
Li has pledged a third of his assets to the foundation. Most of the HK$12.1 billion in donations it has made have gone to the Greater China region.
Li's flagship company, Cheung Kong (Holdings), has attracted the ire of young protesters, some grass-roots organisations and the more radical lawmakers because of its market dominance in such sectors as property and utilities.
Creativity rewarded
To the 177 projects selected in the first round of the campaign, Li's foundation handed out a total of, in HK dollars: $28m
