Taiwan civic groups to be honored for philanthropic giving: MOI

Taipei, Nov. 3 (CNA) Taiwan maintained its top ranking among 17 Asian economies for social sector charitable giving in the 2024 Doing Good Index, with events planned in Taipei on Wednesday to showcase the results and honor best-performing civic groups, the Ministry of the Interior (MOI) said.

Taiwan and Singapore both maintained their ranking of "doing well" in the 2024 Doing Good Index, which has been published by the Hong Kong-based Centre for Asian Philanthropy and Society biannually since 2018, according to a statement released by the MOI Saturday.

The ministry will hold an awards ceremony on Wednesday to honor civic groups for their public charity work and best-performing professional associations this year, including the Taiwan People's Food Bank Association and the Taiwan Bar Association, it said.

On that day, Angel An-chi Chiang, the center's director of research and advisory in Greater China, will present key findings drawn from a survey of 2,183 organizations and interviews with 140 experts used to compile a report for the index, at a forum co-organized by the MOI to address topics involving charity work in Taiwan.

The awards ceremony and the forum will take place at National Chengchi University conference center in downtown Taipei, the ministry said.

According to the center in Hong Kong, the ranking is meant to show the readiness of social sectors to thrive in the economies of East, Southeast and South Asia, including Hong Kong.

Taiwan has a "relatively mature" social sector, thanks to its well-established regulatory framework and policies that encourage civic groups to drive private investment toward address pressing issues in society, the center said in a report released in June.

Favorable tax and fiscal policies are highlighted as supporting Singapore's top ranking, while Hong Kong and China are both "doing better," the report says.

Cambodia, India and six other economies are "doing okay," with Bangladesh being the only economy "not doing enough," it says.

There is growing interests in public affairs in local society, the MOI said, citing the 24,829 registered nationwide civic groups as of Sept. 30.

The ratio of non-profit organizations to population in Taiwan is one for every 376 people. It is one for every 2,369 people in Singapore, one for every 1,596 people in China, and one for every 748 people in Hong Kong, according to the report.

The number of days to register a non-profit organization, fiscal incentives for philanthropic giving and whether the social sector is perceived as trustworthy are a few of the factors used to rank economies, the center said in its report.