Ren Yuanlin (right) at a celebration for the establishment of his charity fund. (The lady in front is Ms Huang Lixin, Jiangsu Provincial Standing Committee and Party Secretary of Wuxi City).
Groundbreaking ceremony in Oct 2012 of the Jiangyin Yuanlin university. Mr Ren is fifth from the left.
Photos courtesy of Yangzijiang Shipbuilding
HERE'S AN uplifting story of the generosity of a Chairman and CEO. It is also about the dividends paid out by a S-chip company (when most S-chips pay no dividends) and, indirectly, about the prospects of more to come.
The man is Ren Yuanlin who heads Yangzijiang Shipbuilding. He has made possibly the highest charitable donation among China’s new generation of entrepreneurs.
Ren Yuanlin (third from right) at the opening of the Jiangyin Yuanlin university named after him.A staggering amount of RMB520 million donated by him to charitable activities in 2012-13 has firmly put his name on the Hurun Charitable Rich List for two consecutive years.
Ranking No. 533 on the Hurun China Rich List with a net worth of RMB3.8 billion, Mr Ren sat at No. 4 and No. 7 positions on the Hurun Charitable Rich List in 2013 and 2014, with donations of RMB270 million and RMB250 million, respectively.
The donations have been channelled into a charitable foundation, established in June 2012 and named after Mr Ren Yuanlin, with the intention to help vulnerable elders, as well as aid technological innovation and disaster relief.
Within a short period since inception, the Foundation has constructed and established its first three universities for senior citizens, with a collective GFA of approximately 29,000 sqm, in Jiangyin, Jingjiang and Taixing cities.
Mr Ren (4th from left) at the opening of the Taixing Yuanlin University.The three universities, offering a variety of courses such as science, literature, technical know-how, healthcare, music and dance, Chinese folk performances, martial arts and sports have enrolled up to 17,000 students for their first school terms, starting on 1st September 2014. Scholarships and subsidy money have been set aside to encourage participation.
Operated by a professional management team, the Foundation seeks to build 8-10 universities for senior citizens in Jiangsu Province and beyond, and to expand to the treatment of chronic diseases for senior citizens.
Press briefing on the Yuanlin Charity Fund donating to “Cataract Project” in Taixing City.For example, the Foundation has initiated the "Cataract Project" to provide free sight restoring surgery.
The first batch of patients, comprising close to 10,000 people from three cities, namely Jiangyin, Jingjiang, and Taixing in Jiangsu Province, have benefited from the project since August 2014.
Mr Ren’s donations came from dividend earnings from his one billion-shares stake in Yangzijiang.
Mr Ren has committed to give out his entire dividend earnings over a period of five years with the total donation expected to cross the one-billion yuan level.
This not only provides a stable funding source to the Foundation, but also strengthens its linkage with Yangzijiang’s business performance.
“Parents and relatives of Yangzijiang’s over 20,000 employees will benefit from the charitable activities, and this a means for me to give back to society,” said Mr Ren.
“Thousands of villagers have been contributing their youth and efforts to Yangzijiang’s development for decades, and providing better care to their family is always on my mind.” Mr Ren added. Charity, just like anything else Mr Ren does, is not for fame but for the benefit of all stakeholders.
The Chinese version of this article is here.
