[Consumerwide - HueSoung Jun Reporter / Yohan Bok Reporter] Businesses are donating one after another as a part of their social contribution and ESG. I hope that more businesses will care about shared growth through the act of donation.

Volvo Car Korea has donated 0.35 billion won for the Family Safety campaign, which is based on Swedish family-friendly culture and aims to make a happy society for parents and children, along with enhancements in delivery and childcare, in cooperation with the Korea Childcare Promotion Institute. The campaign includes a variety of sectors: providing online contents for promoting childcare value, making and distributing play materials for infant transportation safety, developing and facilitating family-friendly programmes (local childcare support centres), installing diaper changing stations at rest rooms and refreshment rooms (making childcare infrastructure for men), encouraging daddies to use childcare leave, which is based on Swedish Latte Papa culture that fathers are actively engaging in childcare, and strengthening parental capacity. Besides, 

11,000 sponsors donated 0.26 billion won, and Baemin donated 1.18 billion won (in total of 1.45 billion won) until February, and the donation was used to give away 101,500 lunchboxes to 4,180 children from 285 schools located in 7 provinces. (Busan, Jeonbuk, Daejeon, Gangwon, Incheon, Gyeonggi, Seoul) They also facilitate an online donation box for 365 days in order to encourage more participation. This project, the Baemin Banghak Dosirak campaign, has been facilitated for the last four years in cooperation with Worldvision to give out lunchboxes to children during vacation, and this time 28 staff members from Baemin (Wooahan Ttambangul) have passed on the Happy Kit, which contains snack pouches, stationery, food, and handwritten letters, to 60 children chosen by welfare centres.

170 staff members of Amorepacific have donated 0.118497663 billion won to 105 welfare institutes, including Worldvision, Childfund, Unicef, and Compassion Korea, through the "Matching Gift" (19th year) campaign, in which staff and company donate the same amount of money, referring to the year-end donation record of the staff.

Lotte Homeshopping produced 25 voice books with fairytales and study contents, which were recorded by 170 broadcasting expert staff on March 13, and donated 70 million won for the Dreamvoice project (producing voice books). The contents book is available on six online library platforms for visual impairment users (a library that tells happiness), facilitated by the Korea Foundation for Persons with Disabilities.

BAT Rothmans facilitated a donation campaign, which gives out female sanitation product boxes to single-parent families and female teens through the Social Welfare Society, in connection with activities of taking and sharing photos of hand-heart on the company platform to celebrate 2024 International Women's Day with a theme of "Inspire Inclusion."

BBQ has passed on 2,134 units of chicken worth 42 million won to 22 institutes by 22 times (January 1,179, February 955), including 100 chicken donations to Suwon and Gunpo group homes (child welfare/each 8 and 2 places) through Chicken Relay and Chicken Univ. Good Donation (25th), where trainees of the school cook and donate chickens to local social welfare facilities.

Franchisees and franchise headquarters of BHC Chicken have been participating in social welfare chicken donation activities as a part of staff and franchisee training programmes since 2014 and have donated 12,000 units of chicken to 15 facilities located in Gyeonggi and Seoul, including a forstercare facility (Myeongjin Deulkkot Sarang Maeul) in 2023 through 170 times, a facility for citizens with disabilities (Small House of Anna), Shinah Rehyubilitation Centre, and the New Vision Local Child Centre for the last 11 years.

KyochonFNB has donated 414 chicken boxes and 83 sauce boxes worth 27 million won to the Redcross Gwangju and Jeonnam branches, and 37 facilities located in Gwangju and Jeonnam, including the voluntary home care centre, Goryeoin Village, and Namgu Social Welfare Centre for the Elderly, have distributed them to elderly people in the area. Besides, KyochonFNB has passed on 0.22 billion won to Childfund (Seoul Junggu) for various projects for teens and children (age out of foster care or under protection), including scholarship, facilitation of self-help groups, and social, mental, and psychological support projects for children in need (Maeum Chaeum project).

Cuckoo, a household product business, has donated household products, including air fryers, microwaves, and electric rice cookers (377 units), worth 44 million won, to citizens of Yangsan in vulnerable conditions through the Yangsansi Welfare Fund. Cuckoo has been sponsoring household products worth 0.6 billion won since 2016 on an accumulated basis for citizens of Yangsan in vulnerable conditions through the Yangsansi Welfare Foundation.

Uniqlo is continuing their 2nd "Slow, Together" campaign along with a 1 billion won donation to Kidsfuture to support slow-learner children with customised training. Children can participate in the programme through the schools or institutions they are in, and they offer one-on-one mentoring for fundamental learning (basic arithmetic operations) and growth in character through retired teachers, teacher certification holders, slow learner experts, and students of the university of education for 8 months starting in May, along with group activities for experimentation in achievement, enhancement in self-sufficiency, and enhancement in cognitive capacity.

Legoland Korea Resort has donated products for children in vulnerable conditions in the Gangwon area through Childfun in December 2023; additionally, it has donated 8,200 Legoland toys worth 0.1 billion won through Goodneighbours this year. They plan to continue activities for children and people in vulnerable conditions through local and voluntary institutes.

KB, which has been constantly donating since 2007 (accumulated basis: 4.4 billion won), donated 0.2 billion won to Redcross on March 15, aiming to support citizens in vulnerable conditions, disaster relief activities in Korea and overseas, and health and safety projects.

Kakao has launched the "Every Month Donation" beta service, which is an advanced version of their instant donation service "Kakao Gatchi Gachi" (accumulated basis: 73.5 billion won, 17,300 boxes) that began in December 2007 while involving users to donate the same amount of money in the area of interest every month.

Donation areas include supporting children and families in domestic areas, citizens with disabilities, young adults, the environment, overseas children, and abandoned pets. Categories include supporting "youth who age out of foster care," "children in family crises," "young adults to overcome isolation," "young farmers' culture and art," "zero-waste practice," "tree planting in the city," "overseas children emergency relief," "relief and protection of abandoned animals," and "adoption of abandoned animals."

The partner institutes, including Life Forest, Kara Animal Rights, and Worldvision, cooperate to pass on the donations. The user has the option of donating in a random category. The category is recommended each month by Kakao Gatch Gachi.

The donation option varies between 3,000 won and 1 million won; besides, Kakao is donating the same amount of user donations at a maximum of 0.1 billion won to celebrate the beta service.