Hometown Love Donation System Raises '88 Billion Won'... Non-Capital Areas Triple Contribution

Thank-you Gift Purchases Also Increase by 36%

Last year, the second year since the implementation of the Hometown Love Donation System, donations to local governments outside the metropolitan area amounted to more than three times those of the metropolitan area. The total amount raised was approximately 88 billion KRW.

The Ministry of the Interior and Safety announced on the 22nd that the interim verification of the Hometown Love Donations collected over the past year showed that the total amount raised by 243 local governments nationwide was 87.93 billion KRW, with 774,000 donation cases. In the first year of implementation in 2023, 52,600 donation cases raised 65.06 billion KRW, representing increases of 47% in the number of cases and 35% in the amount.

An official from the Ministry of the Interior and Safety explained, "The Hometown Love Donation System, introduced with the main goals of regional balanced development and revitalization of the local economy, is analyzed to be settling in accordance with its original purpose."

Among all 17 metropolitan cities and provinces, the amount raised increased compared to the previous year, with donations to local governments outside the metropolitan area reaching three times that of the metropolitan area. The average amount raised by non-metropolitan local governments was 450 million KRW, while the average for metropolitan local governments was 140 million KRW. The proportion of donations from the metropolitan area to non-metropolitan regions was 38.7%, up 2.8 percentage points from the previous year.

Donations were mostly concentrated at the end of the year. Of the total amount raised, 49.4% was collected in December, an increase of 9.3 percentage points compared to the same period in 2023. Expanding the period to include November, 61% of the total donations were concentrated in the last two months of the year.

There was also a trend of increased donations from younger age groups. By donor age, those in their 30s accounted for the largest share at 33.2%. Combining donors in their 20s and 30s, the proportion was 45.5%, an increase of 7.9 percentage points compared to 2023. Following the 30s were donors in their 40s at 27.0% and those in their 50s at 22.3%.

The effect of revitalizing the local economy through the sale of thank-you gifts also expanded. Last year, the purchase cost of thank-you gifts by Hometown Love donors was 20.5 billion KRW, a 36% increase compared to 15.1 billion KRW in 2023. The number of thank-you gift items also increased by more than 3,000 to 14,989 during the same period. Excluding local love gift certificates, the best-selling thank-you gift was Jeju’s 'Gyulrojangsaeng Nojigamgyul' with 5,292 sales. Daejeon’s 'Seongsimdang Gift Certificate (30,000 KRW)' and Chungnam Nonsan’s 'Winter Season Nonsan Strawberries' ranked second and third, respectively.

The Ministry of the Interior and Safety plans to enhance the system this year by raising the per-person donation limit from 5 million KRW to 20 million KRW and opening six additional private platforms, as well as expanding the scope of full tax deductions. Acting Minister of the Interior and Safety, Ko Gi-dong, stated, "Building on the achievements of the second year, this year we will promote the expansion of tax deduction scope and improve donor convenience so that the Hometown Love Donation System can play a greater role with the support of many citizens."

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