Sixty years of small coins, given daily
Tzu Chi means “compassionate relief”. The foundation's story begins not with a large donation but with the smallest imaginable one — and that beginning still shapes how we ask people to give today.
In 1966, in the poor east-coast town of Hualien, Taiwan, a young Buddhist nun named Cheng Yen gave thirty of her followers — most of them housewives — a bamboo savings bank each. Her request was deliberately modest: put aside the equivalent of a few pence every day, before the shopping, and give it to families in need. When people asked why she did not simply collect a monthly sum, she answered that the point was not the amount. It was the daily decision to think of someone else.
“Giving is not the privilege of the wealthy. It is the daily practice of anyone with a willing heart.”
From that beginning grew one of the world's largest humanitarian organisations: a network of volunteers in more than sixty countries delivering disaster relief, medical care, education and environmental work. The UK chapter carries the same method. We are not a grant-maker at arm's length; our volunteers deliver help in person, respectfully, and stay in touch afterwards.
The charity lottery is the newest chapter of a very old idea. A pound a week is a bamboo bank with a draw attached: most of every ticket goes straight to the missions, and the weekly rhythm builds the habit of giving that Master Cheng Yen asked of her first thirty followers. We run it calmly and carefully — it is a way of giving first, and a game second.
The road from Hualien to here
1966
A bamboo bank in Hualien
Dharma Master Cheng Yen founds Tzu Chi in eastern Taiwan, asking thirty followers to save a few coins in a bamboo bank each day before buying groceries — proof that small, steady giving can change lives.
1970s–80s
Charity becomes medicine
The foundation grows from poverty relief into medical care, building hospitals and free clinics so that no one in hardship is turned away from treatment.
1995
Tzu Chi comes to the UK
Volunteers establish the UK chapter: Buddhist Compassion Relief Tzu-Chi Foundation Limited is incorporated on 15 November 1994 and registered as charity 1050821 in England and Wales in 1995.
2000s–2020s
A global relief network
Tzu Chi volunteers respond to earthquakes, floods and conflict displacement in more than sixty countries — and UK volunteers serve their own neighbourhoods through the four missions.
2026
The charity lottery begins
To give supporters a steady, affordable way to fund the work, Tzu Chi UK launches its charity lottery — a weekly draw in the spirit of the bamboo bank: a little, often, from many hands.