Campaign Closing Update - 05 March 2020

Thank you to everyone who donated to our COVID-19 fundraiser for Hubei province. For every £/$1 you donated, our company has donated an additional £/$1.76 amounting to a total of £2,622/$3,375 (or thereabouts, depending on exchange rate - RMB23,500).

Our original intention was to purchase and ship N95 masks directly. Conditions in Hubei province are evolving every day (as are the markets for anti-epidemic materials). Our fundamental goal was maximum positive impact. Throughout, we’ve worked with the Hubei Charity Federation (HBCF), getting to know a few people on their team, particularly Guo Jingli. Having reviewed the HBCF’s audit and reporting procedures, we are confident in their work; they have access to economies of scale we cannot achieve, and their people are right in the midst of the ongoing challenges faced by Hubei. We’ve judged their Epidemic Prevention and Control Project (湖北省慈善总会新型冠状病毒感染的肺炎疫情防控专项募捐 | http://www.hbcf.org.cn/pv.html?id=2c1f3ab8-9a4e-4383-90c2-8dbfa920066d) the most appropriate and impactful route for the funds at this time and our donation is documented in the certificate below.

Thank you so much to everyone who donated. It really did make a difference both to the immediate impact of the funds, but also to the statement of international solidarity and care projected by our team in China. This epidemic has green-lit racism worldwide, both outright and subtle, seen and felt. That has been reported and amplified here in China (where I am now). Propagation of hatred and racism can be as dangerous as any virus. I hope our fundraiser can be some tiny part of a contrasting story of shared humanity and showing love for other people, whether you know them or not.

Thanks for donating. It means a lot.

—Andy & the ZHISHIQ team.

N95/ face-masks for Wuhan

My business, ZHISHIQ employs 20 people in Nanjing, China. When I first came to mainland China in late 2011, my plan was to study Chinese for six months. I had no conception of forming a long-term connection to Nanjing, meeting people I will love for the rest of my life, or starting a business that has had a positive impact on so many others.

We are highly concerned by the COVID-19 epidemic and we are particularly focused on alleviating horrific conditions in Hubei province whose 58,500,000 people are living under wartime conditions, confined to their homes, and in desperate need of the correct medical supplies.

Our office has been closed since 17 January, but our team are highly-flexible and the business is operating remarkably well under long-term remote-working conditions. We are well-positioned to: [1] Identify medical equipment that will have the greatest impact on the front-line. [2] Coordinate logistics for shipment of these supplies to the point of greatest need.

Our campaign goal is to raise funds for the purchase of N95 (or FFP2/FFP3) masks at scale, and arrange for immediate shipment. We will purchase for maximum impact on the front-line. It is imperative that the epidemic be contained at its source.

The latest guidance from the 湖北省慈善总会 (Hubei Charity Federation) calls for masks without exhalation valves; this request exceeds CDC recommendations and may be attributed to the (extremely chilling) concern that there has been widespread COVID-19 infection among medical personnel in Hubei.

Please donate to our campaign directly. ZHISHIQ will match the donation target.

If any organization wishes to offer a substantial donation or would like to donate relevant equipment, we will gladly express our gratitude for your wonderful deed by displaying your logo on the front page of zhishiq.com for an extended period in 2020. We will name-check your brand in every press interview our team conducts relevant to this emergency. Please email andy@zhishiq.com if you would like to have a discussion.

On-the-ground perspective

Here you can meet some of our team, get perspective on the situations they face, and hear our thanks, expressed to all who have donated so far.

Everyone is effectively confined to their homes due to the extremely limited availability of face-masks.

Conditions in Nanjing are tense, but stable, where circumstances in Hubei are an outright emergency. People are living under wartime conditions.

The circumstances of our team are nothing compared to the scale of the crisis in Hubei. For further reading on the desperate need for masks in Wuhan, I would point you toward 'China’s Doctors, Fighting the Coronavirus, Beg for Masks' in the 14 February 2020 edition of the New York Times.

More about ZHISHIQ

ZHISHIQ is a unique skills exchange platform that connects Chinese students to admissions counseling and support around the world.

Since 2012, we've served over 30,000 clients, received the much sought-after accolade of “Influential Brand” in our field of overseas education:

We were listed on the Jiangsu Equities Exchange in 2019 (reg. code 694668):

We have been a constant visible presence in major universities colleges throughout China for many years:

If you'd like to know more please don't hesitate to contact me at andy@zhishiq.com. We will update this page frequently with messages from our team and photographs to show the positive impact of your donations.

Thank you for your time.

—Andy and the ZHISHIQ.com team