Macau Foundation hands over millions to celebrate MSAR anniversary

During the third quarter of the year, Macau Foundation granted subsidies worth MOP348.2 million to a variety of educational and social organizations. According to a notice published in the Official Gazette this week, the largest amount went to the Macau University of Science and Technology (MUST), which received a total of MOP89.7m. Of that, MOP27.2m was to support the sports installations of the university and the rest to be used on educational activities, and in MUST’s hospital.

Other major beneficiaries of Macau Foundation subsidies in the last quarter include the Women’s General Association of Macau, which was granted MOP20m to fund the first stage of the Fu Luen School building works. The Macau General Union of the Neighborhood Associations (known as “Kai Fong”) and the Taipa Residents Association are also investing in schools. The first received MOP5.1m (plus MOP11.2m to support the annual plan) and the second MOP4.8m to build or renovate schools. In the educational sector, the City University received MOP8m, and the University of Saint Joseph MOP4m.
A large amount of support was given to several institutions to organize events celebrating MSAR’s 15th and the PRC’s 65th anniversary, with the Macau Youth Federation receiving MOP4m, the Chinese Cultural Exchange Association MOP3.2m, and the Macau Federation of Trade Unions MOP1.7m for that purpose, with the latter receiving an extra MOP20.2m for other activities.
An association that is listed in the Official Gazette only with the Chinese name 澳門月刊讀者公益慈善會 (translated as the Macau Monthly Readers Charitable Association) cashed in MOP1.3m to produce the album “Brilliant Years,” also related with the celebrations, and the International Institute of Macau was granted MOP1.5m to mark the MSAR’s anniversary abroad. The Macau Buddhist Center Association received MOP3.6m as a first installment to support the “Buddhist blessing ceremony of return of Macau to the motherland.” Newspaper “Macau Presente” was granted MOP720,000 to publish a supplement about the MSAR’s 15th anniversary.
Other recipients of FM subsidies include the Macau International Brand Enterprise Commercial Association, which was given MOP4.5m to organize the Macau Shopping Festival 2014, to be held in December.
Caritas Macau received MOP3.8m to support community work with the elderly and the disabled. The Fujian Fellow General Association was granted MOP3.5m to support its annual plan. The Holy House of Mercy was given MOP3.6m to organize joint activities with Bambu Sociedade de Artes at Albergue SCM.
Casa de Portugal received support for its activities totaling MOP3.6m and the A-Má Goddess Foundation MOP4.5m to host a tourism festival.
Finally, the students who won FM scholarships were given a total of MOP7.3 million to continue their studies.

Report questioned funding criteria

In June 2012 the Audit Commission (CA) released a report slamming the Macau Foundation (FM) for not exercising stricter inspections on subsidized organizations, resulting in over subsidies and repeated subsidies financed by public funds. The CA accused the FM of only conducting casual reviews of the subsidized bodies’ written accounts, without careful verification of the data, “that constitute relatively higher risk from a supervisory point of view.”