Announcement 20180103: Inquiries into Donations

Inquiries into Donations

        by the World Buddhism Association Headquarters:

        This is because there have always been people who come to our World Buddhism Association Headquarters (WBAH) to check and inquire about the amount of donation made by donors and that some of these people inquired about the amount of donation from donors who are not related to the inquirers in any way. In this type of situation, WBAH will not accept the inquiry for checking the amounts of donations. We remind you to note that the inquiry must be from the donor himself or herself or from one who is authorized by the donor through a written document of authorization, which must have stated that the donor has agreed to let the inquirer know his/her private information concerning the donation. Only under such circumstances will WBAH accept the inquiry and verify the donation because such matters involve laws of privacy.

        We specifically notify you all here to know a fact. Regardless of whether the donation is from an institution or organization, individual, or authorized representative making donations on behalf of someone else, WBAH will issue a receipt to the donor or the authorized representative donating. However, please note that if the donation is made in the form of a bank wire, a check, or a cashier’s check from a bank, the receipt we issue will only be to the person sending the wire, or the person whose name is on the check or the cashier’s check. In other words, the receipt that we issue is only to the donor. Whenever someone claims that he/she has made a donation from himself/herself or on behalf of someone else but could not produce a receipt or states not having a receipt, this person has not donated regardless of what reason is used to explain!!!

        Everything that WBAH has done is transparent. WBAH will not issue a receipt to anyone who has not donated. Conversely, WBAH also will not omit to issue a receipt to the person who donated. WBAH does not decline any inquiry from the subject person who donated or from a person authorized by the subject person who donated to check a specific donation and the amount. When requesting to inquire about a donation made, the donor or authorized representative donating on behalf of someone else must show his/her identification. If the donor is unable to come in person, it is acceptable to authorize someone else to come to verify the donation made by the donor. However, the authorized representative must show a photocopy of the identification of the donor or the subject person, a document of authorization requesting the inquiry on the donation, and the receipt issued by WBAH when receiving the donation. If WBAH’s records of donations received do not have an entry of the inquired donation, it means that there is no such donation from this donor. This fact would show that the so-called donor did not make this donation. Therefore, not having a receipt means the person who claims having donated actually did not make the said donation, and therefore there would be no such entry in WBAH’s record-keeping on donations received.

World Buddhism Association Headquarters
July 14, 2018

(translation by Benxin)