Why Does Thai Society Depend on Donations? On the Crisis of Trust in Foundations When Society Punishes Donations Instead of Building a Fair, Verifiable System - Thairath English

In fact, the root of the problem may not lie in the existence of foundations but rather in establishing fair systems, management, and collective responsibility. There is a need to elevate governance to be more transparent and genuinely accountable.

Thairath Plus It raises the question of whether society is discouraging people from giving charity, and why we have become so dependent on donations in the first place. It also asks who would be the first to be affected if donations stopped, and looks at how to build a system that makes donations transparent, verifiable, and does not leave citizens to bear the state's responsibilities alone.

Academic observations suggest that the main problem with charitable organizations in Thailand is not their existence but an imbalance between personal popularity and foundation reputation versus management standards. Associate Professor Praipaipis Mutitajaroen told a news agency that many foundations arise from personal fame on social media, enabling rapid fundraising before transforming into legal entities without standard management structures.

Operating without legal understanding and lacking internal controls has become the starting point for opacity and misuse of funds, potentially constituting fraud against the public or money laundering offenses.

This aligns with analysis by Associate Professor Atchara Chalayannawin, Dean of the Faculty of Social Work at Thammasat University, who explained that key weaknesses are governance gaps, especially the mixing of personal and foundation accounts, lack of audit trails, and conflicts of interest among board members. These issues may cause procedural lapses and create perceptions that the organization never intended to genuinely help society.

However, as social backlash has led many to campaign for a blanket stop to donations, the groups most quickly and severely affected are the vulnerable—bedridden patients, disadvantaged children, and disaster victims—who rely on agile immediate aid rather than waiting for government support. Cutting off donations without alternative mechanisms may directly harm beneficiaries unconnected to the transparency issues.

This situation may reflect structural problems well and prompts us to question why Thai society has long depended on donations or fundraising from the public, especially for helping strangers and monetary contributions.

According to the World Giving Index by the Charities Aid Foundation (CAF), Thailand ranks among the highest in Southeast Asia for donation rates. On one hand, this reflects Asian culture and religious beliefs, but on the other, it reveals large gaps in social protection systems and structures that remain unequal and unfair.

Behavioral science research on philanthropy further explains that when trust in civil society declines, small donors immediately reduce aid and turn to self-protective mechanisms by disengaging from society.

Meanwhile, welfare system research by the Thailand Development Research Institute (TDRI) and the World Bank's Thailand Economic Monitor reports that Thailand's social welfare budget, excluding government pension funds, remains 'low' relative to the overall economy.

This results in social safety nets like social security, workers' compensation funds, universal healthcare, disability allowances, and elderly pensions being unable to comprehensively cover informal workers and low-income groups. In crises, the bureaucratic system—with its complex, slow procedures—often fails to respond promptly, pushing civil society to play a crucial first-line role in assistance, fundraising to fill structural gaps and provide timely help.

Therefore, addressing transparency issues cannot be achieved by prohibiting citizens from helping each other, nor by leaving society to shoulder responsibilities alone.

The key solution is to design a system that concretely connects state protection with civil society assistance, including oversight, laws, and all stakeholders. Currently, audits are slow and focused on annual paperwork. The government must reform oversight to be proactive, require foundations receiving donations to strictly separate accounts, and publicly disclose income, expenses, and project outcomes for real auditability.

Scholars and stakeholders have proposed overhauling the audit system, suggesting the Ministry of Interior collaborate with professional accounting associations to 'rebuild the system' and require foundations to disclose financial and spending information publicly for transparent oversight.

Ultimately, maintaining the credibility of public benefit organizations must begin with establishing effective, transparent, and fair audit systems. Choosing to stop donating may be a superficial solution that harms disadvantaged groups.