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Philanthropy

Chris Su
     1075 words   5 minutes 

How it started: A seed planted

I grew up in a poor village in Henan. The government’s “Two Exemptions and One Subsidy” policy gave me a chance to go to school and see the world beyond my village. That experience stuck with me.

I know that even after compulsory education, high school and college remain out of reach for many families. If I can help some kids who are stuck at that starting line like I was, I want to do it.

The Plan: Tech Skills → Value → Giving Back

The Empty Cup isn’t just my blog - it’s also where I put this into practice.

Here’s how it works:

I offer professional tech services (DevOps consulting, project support, training, etc.) and donate 100% of after-tax income to children’s education charities.

When you work with me, you’re not just getting tech help - you’re directly supporting this cause. It creates a cycle: Your needs get met → Value is created → That value becomes donations → Kids get help.

Check out my Store to see what services I offer.

Right now it’s just me, which limits how much I can do. When the time is right, I plan to start a company built around “collaborative tech.”

Instead of just me, it would be a C2C platform connecting independent tech experts, consultants, and designers with clients who need them.

The idea:

  • Empower individual experts (C2C - Consultant to Client): Anyone with skills can showcase their work, take on projects, and earn fair income.
  • Match needs efficiently: Clients can find trustworthy experts to solve their problems.
  • Sustainable giving: The platform takes a service fee from successful collaborations, then donates a fixed percentage (like 50-70%) to the “Glimmer Plan” charity projects.

I want to build something that sustains itself - where individual value gets realized, client needs get met, and social good gets stable, scalable support.

That’s the “forest” I’m hoping to grow.

I hope this company can carry more than just commercial value. Once the platform is stable, I want to push it in three directions:

  1. Inclusive Employment & Growth
  • Accessibility-first hiring: Design barrier-free workflows and create an “Accessible Talent Pool,” prioritizing professionals with disabilities. Talent shouldn’t be limited by physical constraints.
  • Self-realization platform: Not just a place to earn money, but a community where people find belonging, build their personal brand, and achieve higher-level self-fulfillment.
  1. Supporting Innovation & Startups
  • Think tank & accelerator: The platform’s expert network is basically a think tank. We’ll run an “Startup Accelerator” program offering low-cost or free strategic consulting, tech architecture reviews, and advisory services to promising tech startups (especially social impact tech companies).
  1. From Aid to Empowerment
  • Direct project operations: When the company’s profitability and organizational capacity reach a new level, “Glimmer Plan” will move from just donating money to directly launching and operating charity projects - like establishing “Glimmer Classes” in middle and high schools nationwide, rural teaching programs, community kitchens, elderly visits, mental health education, etc.

Eventually, the company becomes a closed-loop ecosystem combining commercial value, individual empowerment, social innovation, and charitable execution. That’s the full vision.

Trust is everything. Every donation carries the trust of our collaborators. To ensure every resource through the “Glimmer Plan” actually makes a difference, I follow these principles for selecting and monitoring charity projects:

My selection criteria:

  • Legally registered: Only donate to legitimate charities officially registered with civil affairs departments and authorized for public fundraising. I cross-check via China’s “Charity China” national charity information platform.
  • Financial transparency: Prioritize organizations that regularly publish detailed annual reports and financial statements, especially those with low administrative costs and high project execution efficiency.
  • Focused expertise: Lean toward organizations with long-term focus in specific areas (like children’s education, serious illness assistance) and good public reputation, not short-term campaigns.
  • Clear feedback: Choose programs that provide donation tracking and project outcome reports (like completion reports, beneficiary follow-ups) so we can see the actual impact.

My current focus:

Right now, I’m focusing on children’s education, especially supporting students who, like me, face financial difficulties continuing their education after compulsory schooling.

This is a serious commitment and an ongoing learning process. If you know quality projects that fit these criteria, or have suggestions for my selection standards, I’d love to hear from you.

Let’s make sure every bit of kindness is treated with care.

To honor every bit of trust, I’m documenting and publicly disclosing two types of donations here.

This is my personal ongoing commitment, unrelated to blog collaboration projects. It’s my promise to “keep kindness in mind” and the foundation of the “Glimmer Plan.”

Date Organization/Project Amount Proof
Jan 8, 2025 Tencent Charity ¥10
Jan 30, 2025 Tencent Charity ¥10
Feb 3, 2025 Tencent Charity ¥30
Mar 7, 2025 Tencent Charity ¥1125
Mar 12, 2025 Tencent Charity ¥168
Apr 12, 2025 Tencent Charity ¥168
Apr 18, 2025 Tencent Charity ¥1325
May 12, 2025 Tencent Charity ¥168
Jun 11, 2025 Tencent Charity ¥168
Jun 12, 2025 Tencent Charity ¥168
Jul 11, 2025 Tencent Charity ¥168
Jul 12, 2025 Tencent Charity ¥168
Jul 15, 2025 Tencent Charity ¥300

To clearly show different types of tech collaborations, I’m categorizing project donations into two types, matching the Store page service list:

A. Individual & Developer Tech Support

This includes collaborations from “One-on-One Tech Support” and “Personal Training” projects. Thanks to every developer friend who trusted me.

Date Amount Source Organization/Project Proof
Nov 5, 2024 ¥80 lrzsz jq cross-compile to arm China Charity Federation
Nov 6, 2024 ¥38 openmpi installation issue China Charity Federation
Nov 10, 2024 ¥80 lfs boot failure fix China Charity Federation
Nov 10, 2024 ¥40 OSQP compile error - can’t link github China Charity Federation
Nov 11, 2024 ¥40 Nvidia cuda memory not releasing China Charity Federation
Nov 11, 2024 ¥40 Linux network connection issue China Charity Federation
Nov 11, 2024 ¥40 Docker deployment issue China Charity Federation
Nov 11, 2024 ¥80 Docker pulling ros image failure China Charity Federation
Nov 29, 2024 ¥100 Gentoo hyprland issue Tencent Charity
Dec 12, 2024 ¥70 Ubuntu system migration Tencent Charity

B. Enterprise Consulting & Infrastructure Services

This list is for disclosing collaborations from “Infrastructure Health Audit,” “Team Consulting,” and “Enterprise Operations” B2B services.

Looking forward to working with your company and lighting up the first enterprise service donation together.

Date Amount Source Organization/Project Proof
(None yet)
Updated on 2023-06-22
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