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To date, some 20,000 mothers have gotten free training and funding to become online entrepreneurs.Jack Ma (circled), with fellow employees in Alibaba’s early daysThe company made a major commitment in 2010, when Alibaba started to earmark 0.3% of its revenues to philanthropy. He has returned to Newcastle to see the Ken family several times since his first trip.Ken Morley, who was a Newcastle electrical engineer, became Jack's friend, teacher and mentor. In April that year, about six months before Alibaba’s IPO on the New York Stock Exchange, Ma set aside options representing 35 million shares to be put into his foundation. Ken Morley died in 2004, and David, now a Newcastle yoga teacher, said his father’s relationship with Mr Ma would transform the lives of hundreds of students. Today the Jack Ma Foundation has 23 million Alibaba shares, worth about $4.6 billion.Since its founding, the Jack Ma Foundation by itself has already distributed or pledged at least $300 million, according to figures from Alibaba. “I want to develop a course with a university [in China] to train people in how to do philanthropy,” he says.
The majority of funding for its projects comes from the foundation, however, it does accept small outside donations to help in some projects.In addition, it also joined with the Alipay Foundation and Joe Tsai Foundation in a ten-year, $143 million pledge to support the development of women’s soccer in China (the Alipay Foundation is part of Alibaba’s affiliated Ant Financial and the Joe Tsai Foundation is funded by Alibaba Group cofounder Joe Tsai).Aside from China, the foundation has helped causes in Africa, Australia and the Middle East. “It is money that people have entrusted to you, and you want to spend it in a better, smarter way.” Ma is explaining his new focus, philanthropy, in an exclusive interview with “I will devote more time and effort to education, philanthropy and the environment,” he wrote in an open letter to shareholders (and the world). I've covered stories across the region, from Bangladesh to New Zealand, as well as having been an advisor to local Forbes editions in India, China, Japan, Mongolia, South Korea and Thailand. “The world won’t change because you donate money, but it will change if your heart is changed. Jack and Ken remained close friends until Ken's death in 2004.
The way I learned how to run a company, that is the way I learned how to run a philanthropic organization,” he says.Ma also wants to encourage the spirit of philanthropy in others. Among my projects at Forbes have been starting and running Forbes Indonesia, starting and running the Asia Rich Lists, and launching the Singapore bureau to cover Asia for Forbes. Only one, women’s soccer in China, is not wholly funded by the foundation.
The Morleys brought Jack Ma to Australia in 1985 for his first visit. He has an extraordinary opportunity to be a leader and role model in the field,” says Laurence Lien, CEO of the Singapore-based Asia Philanthropy Circle, in emailed comments.Ma says he also hopes to do more to support women’s causes. You are now subscribed to the SAYS newsletter! With $56 billion in revenues for the 2019 fiscal year, 0.3% would be $168 million (Alibaba doesn’t disclose the actual figure).Ma’s personal philanthropy started in 2014, when he set up the Jack Ma Foundation. It was a transition that Ma had planned for a decade.