Shanghai's lottery ticket sales hit 5.649 billion yuan (US$787 million) last year with 1.714 billion yuan collected as public welfare funds, a significant increase of 53.6 percent from a year earlier, data from Shanghai Civil Affairs Bureau showed on Monday.

The city's welfare lottery funds are used to support the elderly, the disabled, orphans and other needy people. Lottery sales also cover jackpots.

Also part of the weeklong events to mark the annual Shanghai Philanthropy Week beginning on Monday, a report on the city's development of philanthropic causes was revealed by the bureau. During the week, a wealth of activities including coffee-related charitable events, a lifestyle festival, and a group wedding will be held across Shanghai.

Donations received by the city reached 7.475 billion yuan last year, with 6.77 billion yuan in cash. Among them, 6.156 billion yuan went to foundations, and 5.746 billion yuan had been used for public welfare purposes, according to the report.

Last year, a total of 6,926 public welfare programs were carried out in the city, benefiting 68.86 million people, with a total expenditure of 5.432 billion yuan. Among them, 40.5 percent involved education, followed by poverty alleviation and community development (13.1 percent). The rest involved social services, medical and health, public welfare development, culture and arts, volunteer service, disaster relief, scientific research, sports and ecological environment, among others.

Also according to the report, the city had registered 641 social organizations with philanthropic purposes by the end of last year, accounting for 3.7 percent of the total. Their combined net assets amounted to 27.3 billion yuan by the end of 2023.

"Shanghai's civil affairs authorities will actively deepen the reform and innovation of the charitable cause, and promote better integration of the charitable cause into the overall urban development and into the daily life of citizens,"said Jiang Rui, director of the bureau.

Last year, the city's charitable organizations conducted more than 800 rural revitalization programs in areas such as Shigatse City in southwest China's Xizang Autonomous Region, Guoluo in Qinghai Province, Kashgar and Karamay in Xinjiang Autonomous Region, helping the poor, supporting local education and covering the improvement of local infrastructure, assistance in facilities and equipment for institutions, support for the development of rural industries, and the training of local medical staff.

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