Nam Hyun-woo has worked as a staff writer at The Korea Times since 2013, mostly covering business and politics. He currently belongs to the Business Desk where he covers topics such as emerging tech, AI, ICT and Korea's chaebol community. Prior to joining the team, he was the paper's correspondent for the presidential office of Korea during the Yoon Suk Yeol and Moon Jae-in administrations.
INTERVIEW Partners for the Future Foundation marks 25 years contributing to Korean society
Jeffrey Jones, chairman of the Partners for the Future Foundation, attends the 18th CEO Servers' Night hosted by the American Chamber of Commerce in Korea (AMCHAM) at the Conrad Seoul hotel, Thursday. Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul
By Nam Hyun-woo
Jones hopes to deepen foundation’s social mission beyond scholarships
Established in the wake of the Asian financial crisis in the late 1990s, Partners for the Future Foundation marked its 25th anniversary this year, standing as a lasting example of American businesses’ contributions to Korean society.
Chairman Jeffrey Jones, who has worked to strengthen business cooperation between Korea and the United States since the 1970s, believes the foundation has grown into a platform for companies to implement corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities and will further expand its mission to support disabled workers and students at regional universities.
“We provide a platform for companies to implement their CSR activities,” Jones said during an interview with The Korea Times. “A lot of companies have specific CSR activities that they want to do, but they don't have the personnel or know-how to implement those activities. So we help them achieve that CSR goal.”
Partners for the Future Foundation is a nonprofit organization and the charitable arm of the American Chamber of Commerce in Korea (AMCHAM). It was founded in 2000, when Jones was the chairman of AMCHAM, based on a $1 million fund raised through a charity concert in 1999.
At the time, Korea was reeling from the aftermath of the Asian financial crisis, as many small and medium-sized enterprises went bankrupt and countless workers lost their jobs. To support affected families, the foundation launched a scholarship program, believing that educating children is essential to securing the country’s future.
“One day I read a newspaper article about a lovely young student whose father's business failed, and the picture of the article had a young lady sitting on the curb holding her head because she didn’t have money for tuition,” Jones said, citing a survey at the time that revealed nearly 70 percent of young people regretted being born in Korea.
“And I just felt very bad for the people suffering, so we decided, ‘Let's send these kids to college. They need to have a future.’”
Since its establishment, the foundation has provided scholarships to around 200 students every year, with total contributions reaching approximately 11 billion won ($7.6 million) to date. Through the scholarship programs, many recipients have gone on to work at leading companies, while some have joined the donor firms that supported the foundation.
Notably, the foundation has decided to focus its scholarships on students attending universities outside Seoul, reflecting the country’s reality that opportunities in Korea remain heavily concentrated in prestigious schools in the capital region.
Jeffrey Jones, chairman of the Partners for the Future Foundation, speaks during the 18th CEO Servers' Night hosted by the American Chamber of Commerce in Korea (AMCHAM) at the Conrad Seoul hotel, Thursday. Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul
One case Jones recalled was that of a dental student who was on the verge of dropping out due to financial hardship. With the foundation’s support, he was able to complete his studies and eventually open his own clinic. After establishing his practice, the dentist began dedicating one day a week to providing free dental care to underprivileged neighbors, embodying the foundation’s philosophy of giving back to society.
“One of the things I’m very happy about is that it helped Korean people feel better about foreigners doing business in their country,” he said. “My philosophy has always been to highlight the good that donor companies do, not what the foundation does, because it’s the donors who really make it happen.”
He noted that CSR activities do not necessarily work as a cost for companies but can bring actual benefits as well. As an example, he cited the foundation’s Race to the Future program, launched in the mid-2000s when a U.S. company in Korea was suffering from severe labor disputes.
At that time, Jones and the company’s CEO agreed to introduce a donation-matching system in which the company would match the amount its employees contributed. The initiative drew a positive response among employees, improving their perception of the company and eventually helping ease the labor conflict.
“By you giving, you are forcing the company to also give, and the employees really liked that,” Jones said. “It was unique because they felt like they were causing the company to do good and it made them feel better.”
The foundation is currently focusing on expanding its Happy Together program, which provides job training and employment opportunities for people with disabilities. Through the initiative, the foundation connects participating companies with qualified candidates and helps them create a more inclusive workplace culture.
“Under Korean law, companies are required to hire a certain percentage of disabled workers,” Jones said. “But most of them just opt to pay the fine and don’t bother hiring disabled people.”
Through the Happy Together program, the foundation encourages companies to change that approach by connecting the firms with trained job seekers with disabilities. Jones said this not only helps companies meet their legal obligations but also improves employee morale, as staff members can feel proud of working for a more inclusive organization.
“At this point, we have just a few companies participating, but I would like to see it expand,” he said. “Through that expansion, I hope the foundation can help raise awareness about people with disabilities and show that they too can be productive, contributing members of our society.”