BEIJING - China's Ministry of Civil Affairs (MCA) has announced that 60 percent of donated funds were given to government-supported organizations in 2010, a newspaper reported Thursday.

The MCA publicized the allocation information in the People's Daily, the flagship newspaper of the Communist Party of China (CPC), in response to online queries.

Of all the nationwide donations in 2010, the greatest amount, or 34.8 percent, went into various foundations, 22 percent into federations and 20.6 percent into civil affairs offices at all levels, an official with the MCA said.

Civil affairs offices can accept donations in special cases, and they accepted a relatively larger amount of donations in 2010 as an abnormal amount of natural disasters prompted people into offering more donations, the official said.

Liu Youping, vice director of the China Charity & Donation Information Center, said that China has enacted policies to help non-governmental charity bodies.

"However, compared to public service organizations in developed countries, China is still at the starting-phase for philanthropic causes, lagging behind by about 30 or 40 years," Liu added.

According to the MCA, to promote the growth of non-governmental organizations, China will enhance public service standards, including establishing an online platform to seek public supervision.