Companies Did Not Reduce Social Contributions Even During the Peak of COVID-19

Survey of 232 Companies Among Top 500 by Revenue in 2021
50.5% Increased, 45.5% Decreased, Similar to Previous Year
Average Spending 13.35 Billion KRW per Company... Support for Vulnerable Groups and Transition to Non-Face-to-Face

Kim Jun, Vice Chairman of SK Innovation (second from the left), participating in a Sanhaejinmi volunteer activity with new employees on April 11 last year in Gwancheol-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul.
[Photo by SK Innovation]

[Asia Economy Reporter Moon Chaeseok] Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, it has been revealed that companies maintained the scale of their social contribution activities.

The Federation of Korean Industries (FKI) investigated the social value reports of 232 companies among the top 500 companies by sales in 2021 and announced the results on the 25th.

The total social contribution expenditure amounted to 2.9251 trillion KRW, with an average expenditure per company of 13.35682 billion KRW. The expenditure per company was similar to 13.67685 billion KRW in 2020. Among the companies, 50.5% increased their spending compared to the previous year, while 45.5% decreased it.

Both companies that increased and decreased their spending stated that 'COVID-19' had a significant impact. The top reason for increasing spending was 'Increased social support demands due to the COVID-19 pandemic' (22.1%). The top reason for decreasing spending was 'Difficulty in implementing face-to-face social contribution programs due to social distancing' (46.5%).

Lee Sang-yoon, Head of Communications at FKI, evaluated, "2021 was a year in which companies resumed their contracted social contribution activities in various ways despite the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic."

By sector, 'Support for vulnerable groups' accounted for the largest share (55.9%). Last year, it increased by 43.1% from 236.2 billion KRW to 337.9 billion KRW.

The most important factor for companies was 'Solving local community problems and contributing to regional development' (33.2%) as the highest response rate.

As a key focus area, 'Responding to climate change such as reducing carbon emissions' (24.3%) was selected first.

The FKI presented 10 recent characteristics of corporate social contribution activities, grouped under the keyword 'RE:10.' These include Reform (transition to non-face-to-face), resource circulation, veterans and elderly respect, community support, support for marginalized and vulnerable groups, treatment and rehabilitation, disaster recovery, stakeholders, sponsorship and compensation, and culture and experience.

The transition to online and non-face-to-face activities was the most prominent. For example, offline education was converted to online one-on-one video lessons. Walking events were changed to YouTube and SNS campaigns.

From the ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) management perspective, activities related to resource circulation such as upcycling projects have also increased. Upcycling refers to creating new products from recycled plastics and waste materials.

Lee emphasized, "It is urgent to create a social atmosphere that encourages and supports companies' efforts, such as establishing non-face-to-face social contribution programs."

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