TAIPEI (TVBS News) — Taiwan leads Asia in corporate philanthropy. Yet 84 percent of its nonprofits cannot find enough staff. Fubon Financial Holdings — which runs one of Taiwan's largest marathon series and gives hundreds of millions of New Taiwan dollars annually to social causes — thinks it has a solution: let runners decide where corporate donations go.
The company launched the "Fubon's Donation Program" (邦助計畫) on Tuesday (July 28) at a philanthropy forum in Taipei. Under the program, completing 40 kilometers in designated races unlocks a choice: direct Fubon to plant a native Taiwan seedling or donate funds to one of four partner organizations focused on environmental sustainability, disadvantaged education, rural community support, or adaptive sports.
"We hope to use corporate resources to inspire others, giving every citizen the choice of which cause to support," Vice Chairman Tseng Ming-chung (曾銘宗) said. The expansion marks Fubon's 65th anniversary; the company invests "more than several hundred million" New Taiwan dollars annually in philanthropy through five foundations.
Here is how the program works, what it has achieved, and why it matters for Taiwan's evolving corporate philanthropy landscape.
Fubon's Donation Program extends Fubon's Run For Green initiative, which since 2021 has converted running mileage into environmental action. Participants join the Fubon Online Run or other designated marathon events and track their kilometers through the program's platform. "Every step runners take can accumulate strength for Taiwan's environment and the corners that need support," Tseng added.
The four partner organizations are the Association of Taiwan Forest Restoration (AFTR, 臺灣山林復育協會), Dreamers (第一社會福利基金會), Mustard Seed Mission (基督教芥菜種會), and the Chinese Taipei Baseball and Softball Association for the Disabled (中華民國身障棒壘球協會). The program caps total donations at NT$10 million (around US$308,600), which participants collectively unlock through their running achievements.
Since Run For Green launched in 2021, 425,000 participants have logged 11.24 million kilometers across the initiative's online runs and partner marathon events. The program has cultivated 128,000 native Taiwan seedlings, exceeding its five-year goal of 100,000 trees ahead of schedule. Earlier this year, Run For Green obtained what Fubon describes as a "green trademark" (綠色商標).
Taiwan's Philanthropy Landscape
Fubon's Donation Program launch came during the "Doing Good in Action: Fubon × Asia Philanthropy Index Forum" (共好進行式：富邦 × 亞洲公益指數行動論壇), where Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Chuang Jen-hsiang (莊人祥) joined researchers and nonprofit leaders.
The 2026 Doing Good Index, produced by the Centre for Asian Philanthropy and Society (CAPS), surveyed 2,166 social service organizations and 132 philanthropy experts across 17 Asian economies. Taiwan ranked in the "Doing Well" tier for the fourth consecutive edition — the second-highest performance category.
The survey found that 86 percent of Taiwan's social service organizations received corporate funding, and 84 percent had worked with corporate volunteers — both figures the highest in Asia. Yet 84 percent of organizations reported difficulty recruiting talent, underscoring a structural gap that corporate funding alone has not solved.
Dr. Ruth Shapiro, co-founder of CAPS, told the forum that Taiwan's corporate sector is "punching above its weight" in community engagement — but argued that international ESG reporting standards, particularly those from the International Sustainability Standards Board, fail to credit such efforts.
"In ISSB standards for ESG, there is no criteria for community engagement or for CSR," Shapiro said. "So it's not counted. Companies are doing all kinds of great work, but they're not being incentivized or recognized through international reporting standards."
Fubon's Donation Program represents a bet: that participatory philanthropy can bridge the gap between Taiwan's world-leading corporate engagement and its struggling nonprofit workforce.
International standards do not yet credit such efforts. But in a region where, as Shapiro noted, "relationships matter" and "ties to the community matter," letting runners choose may be the most Taiwanese solution of all. ◼ (At time of reporting, US$1 equals approximately NT$32.40)