Jack Ma, founder of Alibaba, speaks at the launching ceremony of the Alibaba Poverty Relief Fund in Hangzhou city, East China's Zhejiang province, on Dec 1, 2017. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Jack Ma, founder and chairman of Alibaba, announced that Alibaba plans to spend 10 billion yuan ($1.51 billion) on poverty alleviation in the next five years, at the launching ceremony of the Alibaba Poverty Relief Fund in Hangzhou city, East China's Zhejiang province, on Friday.

Contributions to the fund will come from Alibaba's 36 partners, its employees and the Alibaba Foundation, a charity established in 2011 that takes in 0.3 percent of Alibaba's annual revenue to support social responsibility initiatives. Poverty alleviation work will be a key focus of Alibaba Foundation for the next five years.

"We welcome other companies' contributions of time, but not money,"  said Ma.

The poverty relief course will be carried out as part of the strategic business of Alibaba.

Jack Ma and other Alibaba partners pose for a group photo at the launching ceremony of the Alibaba Poverty Relief Fund in Hangzhou city, East China's Zhejiang province, on Dec 1, 2017.[Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]