Donation of receipts to the Genesis Social Welfare Foundation last month fell 60 percent, or by about 2 million, from a year earlier, the foundation said on Saturday.
The foundation, which has receipt collection boxes in stores throughout the nation, linked the decline to a nationwide level 3 COVID-19 alert.
The Ministry of Finance runs a uniform invoice lottery program, which draws winning receipt numbers on the 25th day of every odd-numbered month for receipts issued in the previous two months.
Photo courtesy of Genesis Social Welfare Foundation
The foundation allows people to donate their receipts as an alternative way of donating to its cause of helping people in vegetative states and their families.
It has helped more than 2,500 families since it began collecting receipts in 1993, it said.
“Before the [COVID-19] outbreak in May, we were receiving about 40,000 receipts a month at our center in [Yunlin County’s] Douliou City (斗六). Last month, that dropped to 10,000,” it said, adding that nationwide it received 2 million fewer receipts than a year earlier.
While winnings from the invoice lottery cannot be known beforehand, the center has estimated its losses from the reduced donations to be about NT$2 million (US$71,667).
The center said digital receipts from payment cards can also be donated online or through ibon kiosks at 7-Eleven convenience stores using the donation code 919.
Separately, the Taiwan Mennonite New Dawn Education Center also made a rare appeal to the public for donations, citing a five-year low in donations last month.
Donations were less than half the monthly average for the past five years, it said, adding that there are concerns about affording food for people under its care.
“The center relies on donations for roughly half of its operating expenses,” center chief executive Liang Kuei-hua (梁桂花) said. “The center has had to delay fundraising events this year due to the pandemic.”
Liang said she was concerned that the center has disappeared from the public eye for too long, which might affect its ability to raise funds.
The center has temporarily halted its education and training section services, as well as its daytime community services, but it is still providing caregiving services to 88 center residents with special needs, she said.
Those who wish to donate can also do so through the JKo Pay app, or through an ibon terminal at 7-Eleven convenience stores, she said.
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