Monday, May 29, 1972
whether because of a temporary economic exigency, or an increase in the
number of Member Agencies, or because of the rising costs of those Agencies
along with a general rise in costs in Hong Kong in general. I need hardly
remind ourselves that, as the Report indicates, the present Member Agencies
touch the lives in one way or another of over one million of our people.
It is, therefore, with pleasure that the Chest received a further specific
donation of 500,000 dollars, to raise to 7 million dollars the Stuart
Taylor Williamson Endowment Fund, the income from which, under a Trust
Deed, is available for the approved allocations to Member Agencies.
Annual Report expresses the hope that other philanthropically minded
persons will follow this splendid example, and so arrange for endowments
to be made to the Chest, either in their life time, or by bequest under
their wills.
The
Donations
"Another matter touched on in the Report is the fact that deductions
may be claimed on Salarics or Income Tax Returns in respect of charitable
donations. Whilst a number of donors kindly increased their donations
in anticipation of this relief, it is perhaps disappointing that relatively
so few did so. I hope that many more firms and individuals may consider
increasing their donations in the next campaign of the Chest.
"The matters I have raised of increasing the amount of future
donations to charity, and of still further widening the base of the number
of donors to the Community Chest, are justified by the facts that, firstly,
the number of the Chest's Member Agencies has increased from 43 to 60 and
then to 64 over the years.
Secondly, the annual needs of the Chest's
Member Agencies, after a most careful study of their requests, have risen,
/respectively