The Community Chest of Korea is racing toward its goal this year, as the nation’s only charity established by statute shows signs of recovery from its earlier scandals.

According to the CCK, it has already reached 91.3 percent of its two-month goal with more than three weeks left to go.

The nationwide charity network said the “Hope 2012 Sharing Campaign” has already hit 199 billion won ($170.9 million) since December, leaving it only some 19 billion won from its goal.

The charity, better known as Sarangui Yeolmae (Fruit of Love), said the amount collected thus far is 1.3 times that received during the same period last year, leaving little doubt it will reach its goal this month.

Outside of the headquarters in Seoul, the CCK’s giant “Thermometer of Love” shows nothing but bright red, displaying how much of the charity goal has been met.

The charity network had struggled to polish its tarnished image after it was found that it had wasted large sums of donations on employee entertainment, along with other cases of corruption and embezzlement.

This contributed to the charity missing its goal for the first time last year.

Coming back from a bad year, the charity saw this year’s donations from both individuals and corporations exceed expectations.

Individuals’ smaller donations totaled 269.3 million won as of Friday, 68.1 percent more than the amount collected during the same period last year.

The charity also received larger sums from corporations including Hyundai Motor Group, Samsung, LG and POSCO.

“This is believed to be the first time since 1999 the charity has collected nearly 200 billion won by the first half of January,” said one CCK official, who declined to be named.

“We hope to see more donations from both individuals and corporations,” said the official.

The nationwide charity network was established in 1998 under the public fundraising law that offers income tax deductions of 100 percent for individual donations and 50 percent for corporations. 



By Robert Lee
(robert@heraldcorp.com)