Organizations get average of 35.49 on 100-point scale

On average, Chinese charities got a score of 35.49 in a 100-point transparency assessment, a recent report said.

The report, conducted by a research center affiliated to the Law School of the Peking University, said that of the 93 organizations surveyed the most transparent charity got 83 points, 16 got less than 20 points and four got zero, including two organizations based in the Tibet Autonomous Region.

From March 2014 to January, research was conducted into provincial-level Red Cross organizations, provincial-level charitable associations and top-ranking local public funds from 31 provincial regions in China, which are all obliged to disclose information to the public and receive the lion's share of public donations.

Each organization was assessed on multiple aspects of their performance, including how effectively they disclosed information about fund-raising and their programs, as well as their financial reports and work evaluations.

"It is disappointing to learn that the charitable organizations did not do well in disclosing their finances. Only when people know exactly how every cent they donate is used can they begin to trust the organizations," Li Yuanyuan, a deputy director of the research center, told the Global Times.

China lacks detailed regulations on how charitable organizations should disclose information, added Jin Jinping, an associate professor at Peking University, reported the news portal nbd.com.

Among the three kinds of organizations surveyed, the charitable associations got the highest number of points on average with 37.65 out of 100, while the Red Cross organizations had the lowest points on average with 33.29.

"We used to think that the Red Cross organizations would do better with their government background and our report was partly conducted in order to clear their name, but unfortunately the report read otherwise," Li said.

Many netizens have held a grudge against the Red Cross Society of China (RCSC) since 2011 when a young woman that claimed to be a general manager of the "Red Cross Chamber of Commerce" became notorious for showing off her wealth online.

Li said that the government should set up a specific law to promote self-discipline among charitable organizations, and called for more supervision from the public and third-party watchdogs. "We still believe that by disclosing more information to the public, charitable organizations can do better."