Seoul City, 124.8 Billion Won in Voluntary Donations Over 10 Years... Annual Increase Trend

Last Year, 41.1 Billion KRW at Peak... Donations Used for Library Construction, Scholarships for Vulnerable Groups, and Public Healthcare

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] Over the past 10 years, the voluntary donations received by the Seoul Metropolitan Government amounted to 1,545 cases totaling 124.8 billion KRW, showing an increase in donations despite the COVID-19 pandemic and difficult economic conditions. Last year's donations reached 41.1 billion KRW, the highest in the past decade.

According to Seoul City on the 15th, in 2020, when the spread of COVID-19 began, donations related to COVID-19 response such as protective masks and hand sanitizers significantly increased, accounting for 62 out of 160 cases, or 39%. During the shortage of urea solution at the end of last year, donations of urea solution were made to support emergency vehicles such as fire stations.

In the past five years, voluntary donations have mainly been received in fields such as culture and arts, education and scholarships, parks and green spaces, and medical and health care. Last year, the culture and arts sector received the largest amount of 33.5 billion KRW, including support for the construction of the Seoul Metropolitan Library and donations of collections for the Seoul Photo Art Museum. This was followed by 3.9 billion KRW for education and scholarship projects such as expanding affiliated kindergartens, scholarships for vulnerable groups, and sharing boxes for vulnerable students. Approximately 1 billion KRW was also provided to the medical and health sector for public medical support, support for critically ill patients, and improvement of medical environments.

Over the past five years, the types of donors were 259 cases from corporations, 213 from individuals, and 183 from organizations. In terms of amounts, individuals donated 41.2 billion KRW, corporations 15 billion KRW, and organizations about 7 billion KRW. Overall, the number and amount of donations from individuals are increasing.

In the past five years, the institutions receiving donation amounts were Seoul City Hall with 467 cases (67.8%), Seoul Metropolitan Government investment and affiliated institutions with 140 cases (20.3%), Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education with 37 cases (5.4%), and fire stations with 45 cases (6.5%). In terms of amounts, Seoul City Hall received 55.593 billion KRW (83.0%), Seoul Metropolitan Government investment and affiliated institutions 6.886 billion KRW (10.3%), fire stations 288 million KRW (0.4%), and Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education 4.181 billion KRW (6.2%).

Lee Won-mok, Director of the Seoul Metropolitan Government's Citizen Cooperation Bureau, said, “A significant amount of donations is received by Seoul City every year, and we will ensure that these are returned to citizens in accordance with the purpose of the donations, meaningfully contributing to citizen safety and the recovery of livelihoods.” He added, “Operating the exceptional donation receipt system for public institutions, as stipulated by the Donation Act, transparently and soundly will be Seoul City's way of giving back.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.