However, most similar operations approached by China Daily said they either did not know about the permits or had no intention to apply because of the time and cost involved.
An application costs 30,000 yuan and takes about three months.
"I've never heard of this license, and I don't think we need to spend such a large amount of money to have other people inspect our work regularly, as we are just serving free tea to passers-by," said Wang A'nong, who runs the Hongriting tea stand. "We're not causing problems for anyone else."
He added that he felt larger organizations do probably need such a license as they have to manage more volunteers and deal with larger donations.
Civil affairs official Su said his office had not received any applications in the past six months, and conceded that "it's a bit difficult for small charity groups to prepare the documents and the money".
Authorities are trying to simplify the process and minimize the costs to encourage more applications, he said.
According to Deng Guosheng, director of the NGO Research Center at Tsinghua University, such licenses are important for charities with long-term aspirations.
"They bring more benefits to NGOs that aim to get more people involved in their activities and gather more donations," he said.
'Gangnam style' life of young rich in Chongqing
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