Hey! Where did the donated money go? Casual chat about Qiu Zhenyu and the crowdfunding charity donation issue related to Shell.

Stop worrying about the coin price and inflation! Whenever everyone is frugal and still donates money to help others accumulate virtue and blessings, who supervises whether the donated money has been properly utilized? Taiwanese people are very compassionate, often seeing passionate youths on the streets holding official documents issued by the Taipei City Government's Ministry of Health and Welfare to solicit donations for certain organizations. When I wanted to understand more details, such as financial reports and real-life cases, these volunteers were completely clueless. The Social Affairs Bureau under the Ministry of Health and Welfare has registered thousands of non-profit charitable organizations. Some of them at least understand that they are fundraising for the disadvantaged, while some organizations like the XX Clan Association can also register. I don't understand why we should donate money to them? I also don't understand why the Ministry of Health and Welfare issues permits for them to fundraise but does not track the financial statements of these organizations. God knows where everyone's donations have gone!

A well-known Youtuber, Yisuo Dang'an, cited reports from Sanli and Jing News, exposing that Qiu Zhenyu, the head of the Turkish Taiwan Center, did not use all the donations from Taiwanese people for the reconstruction after the Turkish earthquake on the disaster victims. There are even allegations of sexual harassment involving employees. Initially, the crowdfunding platform "Beike Fangda" managed by Qiu Zhenyu withheld 80 million in donations and has yet to return all of it to the donors. The reason given is that the fundraising entity has the right to withhold problematic funds. Can Taiwan's crowdfunding platforms legally withhold donors' donations? This article discusses the news content and opinions compiled by the author.

What is the business model of the Shell Amplify crowdfunding platform?

Generally, foreign crowdfunding platforms do not offer paid integrated marketing services. According to a report by the Current Weekly, Lin Dahai, co-founder of "Shell Amplification", in addition to taking a commission, also charges consulting fees and production costs. Most crowdfunding platforms in Taiwan charge about 6-8% of the total fundraising amount as service fees, while Shell Amplification's charging standard ranges from 6% to 20% of the fundraising amount, along with a fixed production cost of around 200,000.

Taking the foreign GoFundMe crowdfunding platform as an example, applicants or organizations do not have to pay any fees to the crowdfunding platform when launching a project, but they need to provide a list of five early backers. The GoFundMe platform has very strict lending standards. After setting the fundraising target amount, if the threshold is not reached within the deadline, the funds will not be obtained, and all donations will not be withheld by the platform, but will instead be fully refunded to the donors and backers.

In addition, the GoFundMe crowdfunding platform itself "does not charge fundraisers or fundraising entities (Fundraiser)", GoFundMe only charges third-party financial transaction fees of 2.9% + $0.30 USD to donors (donators) or supporters (backers).

So how does GoFundMe make a profit? Donors can select "donate to support GoFundMe" when making a donation; this option is optional. If donors choose to make recurring donations (Recurring Money Donations), a 5% recurring fee will be charged along with a third-party financial transaction fee of (2.9% + $0.30 USD).

The Controversy of the Enlarged Shell

In a free market, how to make money depends on individual abilities. However, the controversy surrounding "shell amplification" in Qiu Zhenyu's fundraising case lies in the unclear explanation of why the platform needs to withhold donors' charitable contributions. Below the video of the unusual file, there is a comment from a user named Doraemon-z8z that states:

First, let me explain why WeChat should not withhold any funds from the beginning to the end. This is because in 2021, Article 15 of the revised Business Management Rules for Electronic Payment Institutions stipulated that electronic payment institutions operating on behalf of the actual transaction payment business must ensure that the designated institutions are the final recipients. This means that the electronic payment institution (BlueNew Flow), when assisting in the collection and payment of funds, must directly transfer the received funds to the final recipient (the proposer on the fundraising platform, which is the Turkish Taiwan Center).

The fundraising platform is not the final recipient of the funds, so it cannot collect this amount from Allpay. Therefore, in practice after the change, the fundraising platform will require the proposer to open an account on payment platforms like Allpay, and the money raised through the platform's website will be directly collected by Allpay into that account, with WeBan not having any claim to the funds at any stage.

Author's opinion: If Shell Amplification incurs marketing planning fees or other production costs, it is possible that some amount will be withheld, but we do not know what kind of contract Shell Amplification signed with Qiu Zhenyu's Turkey Taiwan Center. Therefore, both sides are passing the buck and accusing each other. It is worth noting that this case involves the flow of funds and charitable donations made in the name of national image. Can the Financial Supervisory Commission and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs not intervene in the investigation?

Hey! Where did the donations go? Zhiqi Qiqi is also helping to raise awareness about this incident.

The usually rational-speaking YouTuber Zhiqi also rarely made a high-profile appeal on Threads, asking "Do you know that your compassion is simply a cash machine for bad people?" Don't let your compassion be exploited. He urged everyone to quickly apply for refunds, hoping that Beike and Qiu Zhenyu would come out and clarify. The unfortunate Turkish disaster victims are being exploited, yet they cannot receive timely assistance.

The author encountered countless supporters and angel investors during previous entrepreneurial ventures, and I am also happy to help others in need. However, the charity under the name A money cannot clearly explain the flow of funds, which is akin to fraud. According to a report by Sanli News, leaked audio recordings have confirmed that Qiu Zhenyu falsified accounts, and to this day, many donations are stuck in the middle of nowhere in the metaverse, with no one knowing where the money has gone. This is just the tip of the iceberg, and I believe there are many charitable frauds rampant in Taiwan. Next time you encounter charitable fundraising on the street, remember to do proper KYC to safeguard your wallet and avoid being exploited by fraud.

This article, hey! Where did the donated money go? A casual chat about the crowdfunding charity donation issues of Qiu Zhenyu and Shell Amplification first appeared in Chain News ABMedia.