Net Savings is a regular series in which we spotlight businesses and services that accept mobile payment methods like online banking, Alipay, WeChat Wallet, and Baidu Wallet.

This edition of Net Savings is a bit different; instead of teaching you how to save money, I’m going to write about how to give it away. It’s no secret that charitable donations experience a steep drop-off after the holidays. However, nonprofits are still in need of financial support to pay for overhead costs and keep their programs running.

In 2014, online charity platforms run by Tencent, Alipay, and Sina contributed to an upsurge in donations totaling more than RMB 100 billion. Though government departments and public charities still made up the majority of recipients, these online platforms accounted for RMB 428 million in donations – an increase of 43 percent from 2013.

The biggest drawback with these online and mobile charity platforms is that they’re only in Chinese. The second is the sheer number of causes (over 8,000 on Tencent Charity alone), which can make it daunting to decide which one(s) to support. In addition, it’s unclear to what extent these charities and nonprofits are vetted by Tencent, Alipay, and Sina.

That said, Tencent Charity did list some foreign nonprofits like Watsi, a Silicon Valley-based organization that crowdfunds medical treatments for people around the world. Users who set up a recurring donation are eligible to have their first month’s donation matched by Tencent. The unlikely partnership between Watsi and WeChat was even covered on CNN Money.

Tencent Charity (WeChat)

1. First, open WeChat and go to the WeChat Wallet screen. Tap “Tencent Charity” (known as 腾讯公益 Tengxun gongyi in Chinese).

2. The interface switches to Chinese. Here’s what the main Tencent Charity screen looks like:

Scroll down to find a list of causes with titles precision-engineered to tug at the heartstrings such as “I want to stay in school,” “Buying warm new clothes for children,” or “Free lunches – small kindnesses, big love.”

At the very bottom of the screen, you’ll find causes sorted by type.

The categories are:

• All (全部 quanbu)
• Medical assistance (疾病救助 jibing jiuzhu)
• Poverty alleviation and disaster relief (扶贫／救灾 fupin/jiuzai)
• Education and schooling assistance (教育／助学 jiaoyu/zhu xue)
• Environment and animal protection (环保／动物保护 huanbao/dongwu baohu)
• Other (其他 qita)

3. Once you find a cause you’re interested in, tap on it to open its page. The screenshot below shows the page for a free lunch program – the “small kindnesses, big love” one.

The numbers at the top of the page detail how much money has been raised so far (yes, that’s over RMB 20 million), the number of people who have donated to this cause, and the number of people who have led fundraising efforts on behalf of this cause.

Below that is a brief description of the cause: “RMB 3 buys them a nutritious hot meal; RMB 660 supports a full year of free lunches.”

The dark orange button with the heart icon allows you to donate (我要捐款 wo yao juankuan) while the light orange button allows you to invite others to donate (邀朋友一起捐 yao pengyou yi qi juan).

Scroll down further to find a more detailed description of the project and the name of the organization; many will even post progress reports, expenditure breakdowns, and financial statements.

4. Click on the dark orange button to donate. A popup with payment options will come up.

The first tap is for recurring monthly donations (月捐 yue juan). Choose one of the default donation amounts or enter one in the blank box. Not every cause supports recurring payments.

To set up a one-time donation, click on the second tab (单次捐 dan ci juan).

Same process – choose or enter a donation amount, then tap the orange button (立即捐款 liji juan kuan). Users will be taken to a payment screen where they can check out using WeChat Wallet or their linked Chinese bank card.

Organizations listed on Tencent Charity include:

• Ofund, a volunteer and advocacy network spanning 1,000 universities across the world  – click here for an English description on LinkedIn
• Wardrobe of Love (爱心衣橱), a nonprofit that provides warm clothes to children in need
• A number of public foundations administered by the Department of Social Welfare (社会福利基金会 shehui fuli jijin hui)

There are also one-time causes that raise money for individuals, such as those with urgent medical bills.

Sijia Chen is a contributing editor at beijingkids and a freelance writer who has covered travel, tech, culture, parenting, and the environment. Her work has appeared in Travel + Leisure, The Independent, the Beijinger, Midnight Poutine, and more. Follow her on Twitter at @sijiawrites or email her at sijiachen@beijing-kids.com.

Photo by Jim Larrison (via Flickr), screenshots by Sijia Chen

After successfully setting up Alipay, I planned to start using it on the Uber car-sharing app instead of my foreign credit card. However, I was told by customer service after a few failed attempts that only mainland China customers with a shenfenzheng number could link up Alipay to Uber.

That’s when I noticed a third payment option: Baidu Wallet (also known as Baifubao), launched last April by search giant Baidu. Within a few minutes, I had the service set up and was happily riding off into the distance (at a crawl ’cause it was rush hour, but still).

1. To find payment setup in the Uber app, click on the profile icon in the upper left corner of the home screen.

2. Select “Payment.”

3. Choose “Baidu Wallet.” Enter your Chinese bank card number (online payment must be enabled first through your bank).

4. On the next screen, enter your name and surname exactly as they appear in your bank account details, then your mobile number.

5. A six-digit verification code will be sent to your mobile phone. Enter it in the pop-up box.

That’s it! Baidu Wallet will appear in your payment options screen; it’ll be available to use next time you call an Uber.

Update [August 29]: We’ve heard from a couple of readers that not all domestic banks are supported with passports (such as ICBC and Agricultural Bank of China) and there’s a 20-character limit on names.

Sijia Chen is a contributing editor at beijingkids and a freelance writer specializing in parenting, education, travel, environment, and culture. Her work has appeared in The Independent, Midnight Poutine, Rover Arts, and more. Follow her on Twitter at @sijiawrites or email her at sijiachen@beijing-kids.com.

Screenshots: Sijia Chen

Net Savings is a regular series in which we spotlight businesses and services that accept mobile payment methods like online banking, Alipay, WeChat Wallet, and Baidu Wallet.

Answering the question “What do you guys feel like for lunch?” is a daily struggle at the True Run Media offices. Though we’re located in south Sanlitun, the area immediately around our building sorely lacks in food options. As a result, we order a lot from places like Annie’s, Gung-Ho, Obentos, and Biteapitta.

However, there are times when I just feel like simple, healthy, and clean Chinese food. A few weeks ago, I noticed Taodiandian (淘点点) – Taobao’s food delivery service – and decided to give it a whirl. It didn’t disappoint.

Taodiandian can be accessed through the Taobao app (available for iPhone, Android, and Windows phones) or online.

The first step is to enter your Chinese address on the homepage. Tip: Make your life 100 times easier with pop-up Chinese-English dictionary extensions like Zhong Wen (available for Chrome and Firefox).

2. Taodiandian will return a list of results based around your address. At the top, they can be filtered by cuisine type (Chinese, Western, Japanese, fruit shops, cake shops, etc.) as well as popularity, distance, sales volume, and newest. There’s also the option to see only restaurants with free delivery.

3. Pick a restaurant. You’ll see an itemized menu (usually with pictures) with the address, contact details, opening hours, delivery fee (if any), and minimum order total.

4. Once you’re ready to check out, click on 立即计算 on the right side of the screen. Many restaurants have great lunch promotions such as spend RMB 20, get RMB 10 off. One day, I had a big bowl of malatang for only 13 kuai.

5. Review the order and check out. Accepted payment methods are the same as Taobao (Alipay, online banking, and Chinese credit cards).

The process is even more straightforward on the Taobao app, which can also be used to make purchases on Tmall. Bon appétit!

Sijia Chen is a contributing editor at beijingkids and a freelance writer specializing in parenting, education, travel, environment, and culture. Her work has appeared in The Independent, Midnight Poutine, Rover Arts, and more. Follow her on Twitter at @sijiawrites or email her at sijiachen@beijing-kids.com.

Screenshots: Sijia Chen

You might have already heard of WeSecretary, the recently-launched service that helps foreigners find whatever they need in Beijing. The idea is simple: add “we-secretary” on WeChat, tell the real live human on the other end what you need, they find it for you, and you pay a 10 percent commission charge. My friends and I had cause to try WeSecretary last week, and it was great.

We’d planned a weekend camping trip to Yunmengshan, but our usual driver was unavailable. We needed to find private transportation large enough to fit 11 people plus equipment and only had a few days to do it.

One person suggested WeSecretary, which he’d heard about through one of the expat magazines. He added them on WeChat, explained what we needed, and got a quote for a van within ten minutes. The concierge was friendly, prompt, and spoke good English.  

The only hiccup was that she originally quoted us the wrong price, thinking we needed a van for a day trip rather than an overnight camping trip. However, she made up for the mistake by charging us a lower commission fee. After the price was agreed on, my friend paid the commission charge through WeChat Wallet and got the driver’s mobile number.

The van itself was smaller than our usual ride, so we had to do some creative re-arranging of the seats in order to fit 11 people, backpacks, tents, ground mats, and sleeping bags. But considering the short notice and how easy the overall process was, we were impressed by WeChat Secretary’s services.

On WeSecretary’s website, the company says it can also help expats “buy stuff on Taobao, get an Alipay account, book an ayi on demand, have water delivered, find a repairman,” and more. Accepted payment methods include WeChat Wallet, credit card, Alipay, bank transfer, and even Bitcoin.

To contact them, just scan the QR code on their website or email service@wesecretary.com.

Screenshot by Sijia Chen