The One Foundation was founded by Chinese Red Cross ambassador Jet Li on April 19, 2007 as the Red Cross Society of China Jet Li One Foundation Project which operated under the Red Cross Society of China. Li stopped his film work throughout 2008 to devote all of his time to developing the foundation. In a Newsweek article, Li cited his personal experience with the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami as a source of inspiration for starting the foundation. At the time, Li, his wife, and two of youngest daughters were vacationing in the Maldives when the tsunami struck. His youngest 1-year-old daughter and her nanny were briefly swept away before being rescued by bystanders. In October 2008, the One Foundation registered in Shanghai as a private equity fund under the name Shanghai Jet Li One Foundation Charity Fund. Through pilot regulations on public fundraising enacted in the Shenzhen special economic zone, the One Foundation was able to register as an independent public fundraising foundation on December 3, 2010, thus ending its affiliation with the government-run Chinese Red Cross and becoming the first Chinese NGO not affiliated with the government or a government-sponsored organization. Commentators regarded this development as a "breakthrough" in the development of Chinese NGOs. Institutional funding for the Shenzhen-based organization came from the Shanghai Jet Li One Foundation Charity Fund, Lao Niu Foundation, Tencent Charitable Foundation, Vantone Foundation and Vanke Foundation. Each founding organization donated 10 million RMB for a total of 50 million RMB start-up capital.
Chinese Red Cross Affiliation
Before its establishment in Shenzhen as an independent foundation, the One Foundation was an affiliate of the Chinese Red Cross, with its funds managed by the latter. Li cited the lack of independence as a motivating factor for the One Foundation to end its cooperation with the Chinese Red Cross in 2010. Following the Chinese Red Cross' Guo Meimei scandal in 2011, the One Foundation tried to distance itself from its former connection with the organization. After the 2013 Lushan earthquake, web users in China discovered that the English section of the One Foundation website still claimed there was a direct link to the Red Cross, and that donations to One Foundation would be "deposited directly into an account held by the Red Cross Society of China, earmarked for use by the One Foundation." One Foundation promptly took down the English site and issued a statement that the information was outdated, representing the situation before December 3, 2010, and that only information on the site in Chinese should be considered correct. Director of OperationsRob Hemsley successfully took charge of limiting fallout from the Guo Meimei connection.
Volunteers
Volunteers for the foundation pledge themselves to donating a set amount each year and/or committing one hour of their time each month to the community through their line of work or other form of volunteer work. Volunteers are classified into four groups: Academic, Individual, Student, and Organizational. Notable volunteers include Yao Ming, Andy Lau, Michelle Yeoh, Kang Xiaoguang, Jack Ma, Xu Yongguang, Zhuang Ailing, Li Bingbing, and students of Beijing Normal University.
Donations
The One Foundation promotes donations under the slogan "1 person + 1 dollar + 1 month = 1 big family," with the goal of pooling together individual donations to encourage participation in philanthropy and charity, particularly in China and Asia.
