Li Mu invited Xiao Fangfang to sit on the sofa in the reception area, and the two staff members who followed her took their leave. Li Mu poured a cup of tea for Xiao Fangfang, and Xiao Fangfang thanked him, then said, "Mr. Li, to be honest, I've been looking forward to meeting you. I'm getting on in years, and it's not easy for me to go to the mainland to visit you in person. I didn't expect that when the staff checked the name list of Miss Du and her party a few days ago, your name was actually on it. At first, I thought it was just a duplicate name, but after asking around, I found out that the boss of Makino Image is actually you. So I'm really happy that you can come to the Seedlings Protection Foundation's gala this time."
Li Mu guessed that Xiao Fangfang should have a certain understanding of his background, so he didn't hide it. "To tell you the truth, Du Wei is my friend's sister, and she's also a signed artist of my company. This is her first time attending an event in Hong Kong, so I have to accompany her to be at ease."
Xiao Fangfang nodded in understanding and said, "Actually, when I decided to invite Miss Du, I didn't know that you, Mr. Li, were the boss of Makino Image. At first, I paid attention to your 3321 Scholarship Foundation. I've been working on the Seedlings Protection Foundation for four years, and I've encountered many problems in the process. At one time, I thought that doing charity was one of the most difficult things in the world, but after understanding 3321's model, I realized that there was actually a good model. Charity can be very simple, and it can affect many people. 3321 has given me a lot of inspiration in the field of charity."
Li Mu said humbly, "President Xiao, you flatter me."
Xiao Fangfang waved her hands very seriously and said, "I'm not flattering you at all. You don't know how difficult it is to do normal charity. Take the Seedlings Protection Foundation for example. For every cent of the foundation's money, I have to go everywhere to ask people for help, or ask some business owners to donate, or ask some celebrities to donate something they don't want for a charity sale. But business owners are very realistic. If I only want money, they'll be like sending off beggars, donating tens or even thousands of dollars. If I want them to donate more, I have to first make a social impact, such as inviting some celebrities to a charity gala or a charity sale. Only when there's media attention will business owners be willing to donate more money. This kind of charity is like eating the last meal and not knowing the next one."
At this point, Xiao Fangfang sighed softly and said, "The funds of the Seedlings Protection Foundation are often cut off. Sometimes, when it's cut off, we can't even pay the salaries of the employees. This kind of model is too unhealthy. It's far from as brilliant as 3321, able to be self-sufficient and fully mobilize every role, allowing them to play their proper role."
Li Mu nodded and said to her, "To be honest, 3321 was able to develop because of a great coincidence. It's targeted at university and high school students. On the mainland, the college entrance exam is a major event that changes one's life and fate. Every student and student's parents take it very seriously. Before the college entrance exam, the freshmen will need tutoring and tutoring. With demand, there will be a market, and the market will create wealth. If this kind of model is transplanted to the Seedlings Protection Foundation, I'm afraid it won't work."
Xiao Fangfang also nodded in agreement and said, "I've done some research on this. 3321 does indeed have its own market. That's why it can expand to such a large scale without asking anyone."
After saying that, Xiao Fangfang looked at Li Mu and said, "That's why I really want to learn from you, and I also really want you to help us design an advanced model for the Seedlings Protection Foundation. To me, I really hope that the Seedlings Protection Foundation can continue to grow forever, helping those minors who have been or might have been sexually assaulted. But if it really can't find a healthy development model, then it'll die sooner or later."
Li Mu was speechless. He didn't know a thing about charity. The reason why he accidentally created 3321 was because during the National Day, Liu Nian was worried about not being able to find a job as a tutor. Li Mu had been in the Internet industry for many years, and he was acutely aware of the lack of communication between the supply and demand sides. That was why he created 3321 to test the waters. He didn't expect the results to be so good. After that, he vigorously promoted 3321 with a certain amount of selfishness mixed in. He hoped that 3321 could help him nurture this heaven-defying payment product, Alipay.
All aspects were compatible, and it was in the right place at the right time. That was how Li Mu was able to make 3321 bigger and stronger. If he really wanted to do charity properly, he wouldn't know shit. The biggest problem was that if he couldn't find a source of funds, he wouldn't know where to get the money.
Xiao Fangfang was a veteran celebrity, and she was very popular in Hong Kong and Taiwan's entertainment industry. Therefore, she could rely on her face to gain the support of celebrities and funds. She could rely on her face to raise the social profile of the Seedlings Protection Foundation. In this aspect, her resources were much better than his. If he didn't create 3321, but a charity that had no profitability, he was afraid that he could only throw his own money into it. If he asked him to go out and find money, how could his face be as useful as Xiao Fangfang's?
However, Li Mu couldn't directly reject her and say that he couldn't help her. After all, she was a veteran in the entertainment industry, and he couldn't just brush her off like that.
After thinking about it, Li Mu asked her, "President Xiao, how much is the fixed monthly expenditure of the Seedlings Protection Foundation?"
Xiao Fangfang said, "We have more than 20 full-time employees who receive salaries, and more than 300 volunteers who help out from time to time. Including our office space, business expenses, and some other miscellaneous expenses, the fixed monthly expenditure is about 200,000 HKD. However, the largest expenditure is the charity fund. We have now sponsored more than 200 minors who have been sexually assaulted in Hong Kong, helping them settle down, study, and have regular psychological counseling. The total expenditure of this project is more than 600,000 HKD per month. Under normal circumstances, the funds are tight every month, so our average expenditure on this project is about 500,000 HKD."
Li Mu nodded. 700,000 HKD a month's expenditure didn't sound like much, but in the current situation, the value of HKD was slightly higher than RMB. 700,000 HKD was almost 100,000 USD, and its purchasing power was still very high.
In fact, charity funds all over the world faced the most fundamental problem, and that was the difficulty of raising funds.
For large charity funds, they had their own survival model. For example, a billionaire like Bill Gates would take out hundreds of millions of USD to set up a charity fund. The capital of this charity fund was basically untouched. It would be used by the foundation to make appropriate financial investments, and then the money earned from financial investments would be used for charity. In other words, money made money, only spending money on her son, and the mother would never touch the money.
But this was the trick played by large charity funds. Even if hundreds of millions of USD were thrown into the bank for interest, there would be at least tens of millions of USD a year. However, for a small charity fund like the Seedling Protection Fund, there might not even be a million HKD on the books. If they wanted to use this money to make money, they probably couldn't even support themselves, let alone do charity.
Xiao Fangfang said that the current accounts of the Seedling Protection Fund could only support about one month's expenses, so she had to keep thinking of ways to find money in various ways. However, the Seedling Protection Fund had been operating for almost four years. At present, the effect of showing face had begun to be greatly reduced. In the past, Xiao Fangfang went to beg various celebrities to auction something, and she could still raise two or three million HKD. But now, many celebrities no longer bought it, and even those who did buy it were getting more and more difficult. The things that everyone took out were becoming less and less valuable. At the last charity auction, there was even a celebrity who donated a broken golf club, which made Xiao Fangfang's heart suffer.
Although Li Mu didn't understand charity, he clearly knew that the Seedling Protection Fund itself had no ability to make money. It was impossible to find a business model for it. So Li Mu was going to change the topic for the time being and said to Xiao Fangfang, "President Xiao, I will think about what you said seriously, but I'm afraid I can't come up with a really effective plan in a short time."
Xiao Fangfang also nodded in understanding and said, "This is not urgent. I have been able to hold on for the past four years, and I don't mind waiting a little longer. But Mr. Li, I hope you can think about my request as an important matter. No matter what the result is, I, Xiao Fangfang, will be very grateful!"
Li Mu hurriedly said, "You're too kind. This is what I should do. I will think about it seriously."
Xiao Fangfang smiled gratefully at Li Mu and said, "With your words, I am relieved."
Li Mu nodded and asked her, "By the way, President Xiao, I have a question in my heart. I want to ask you to answer it."
Xiao Fangfang said, "Mr. Li, please go ahead."
Li Mu asked, "Why did the Seedling Protection Fund invite Du Wei to be a guest?"
Xiao Fangfang smiled slightly and said, "It's Leslie. I told him that it is too difficult for the Seedling Protection Fund to raise money in Hong Kong now. I want to find an opportunity to enhance the influence of the Seedling Protection Fund in the mainland, hoping to attract the attention of businessmen or people in the mainland, so I want to invite a mainland star to our charity party. I asked him to help me think if there is a suitable candidate. If it is someone he can invite, it will be even better. Originally, I hoped that he could invite Gong Li. After all, they have worked together before, but he recommended Du Wei to me. He said that he admires Miss Du's voice and thinks that she has the potential to become the next Ah Fei, so we sent an invitation to Makino Image."
At first, Li Mu wanted to ask her who Leslie was, but after listening to what she said later, he guessed that the Leslie she was talking about was Zhang Guorong, which made him very surprised. Although Du Wei was now famous in China, she was still very young and had not had time to accumulate her foundation. Her current works were only three songs and a micro film. How could she be in the eyes of Zhang Guorong?
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