In Chongqing's Minzhu village, residents queue up to buy snacks from a food vendor. (Photo/Chongqing Daily)
Chongqing - In a community canteen in Chongqing's Jiulongpo District, a full meal costs as little as 15 yuan (about 2.2 U.S. dollars), and still, a share of every plate sold goes back to neighborhood charity work.
Chongqing's version of managing and utilizing community charity funds is the Community Sunshine Fund, one per community, started by the Chongqing Charity Federation in 2019 to help households in difficulty and to pay for neighborhood improvements.
The federation works with 35 district and county charity bodies and has set up 1,164 funds, covering every central urban district.
Since 2025, those funds have raised 52.28 million yuan in cash and goods and spent over half of it, reaching 316,000 people. Projects focus on emergency relief, medical help, care for older and disabled residents, and school support.
More resources are being pooled in. At an October 29 meeting organized by the Chongqing Municipal Bureau of Civil Affairs, the city promoted a joint action inviting companies to back community charity.
Backed by the Tencent Charity Foundation, it selects 100 communities and gives each 20,000 yuan for work with people in difficulty. Through the platform, 2,684 businesses have given 1.66 million yuan in cash and goods.
With more income, Community Sunshine Fund spending has also shifted from bulk handouts to strategically paying for what people need more specifically.
For example, Tongnan District issues digital vouchers to families and to children whose parents work away. A child takes the e-voucher into a participating corner shop and picks a basketball, new clothes or sneakers.
Some grants answer the needs of a specific household's crisis. Chen, who lives in Renhe Community in Yuzhong District, has ALS, a serious motor neuron disease. The cost of his care weighs on the family.
The community partnered with a company that offered directed donation, which paid for a ventilator and suction machine. Employees then raised more than 4,000 yuan to keep helping.
Naturally, donors ask where their money went, and a digital platform keeps track of the money. A fast-food owner in Jiulongpo can use the app to see that the rice, oil, paper goods, and drinks he gives become help cards; residents claim what they need at a nearby shop, and every transfer stays on record.
Nan'an District keeps the same books: every donated item is logged there are records of prize redemptions and care visits.
"Online records and offline witnesses match. Every yuan and every item is accounted for," a Mingjiayuan worker said.
The federation plans to add online fundraising and directed donations.
The local communities themselves are also trying to make the fund more sustainable.
Wangjiaqiao Community in Liangjiang New Area includes a resettlement compound finished in 1998. In 2023, the idle corner was turned into a parking lot, at rates residents voted on. Parking income goes to the fund: 309,000 yuan so far, part keeping the lot running and part paying for neighborhood projects.
Wangjiaqiao also turns companies into partners by linking charity projects to what a firm already wants for its staff. It invites them into employee matchmaking and social events, holiday child care, a table tennis tournament, and a charity market. Firms gain employee benefits and a better public image, and in return they offer venues, money, and volunteers.