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| A pedestrian makes a donation at the Salvation Army's red kettle located in Seocho Subway Station in Seoul, Monday. The charity group's iconic campaign will continue until the end of this year. / Korea Times photo by Choi Won-suk |
COVID-19 empties streets, yet people still donate for those in need
By Park Han-sol
The sound of a small tin bell echoes throughout Seocho Subway Station, catching the attention of some of the rushing pedestrians on a December mid-afternoon. Following the sound in the middle of the hustle and bustle, they soon come across an iconic sight of the Christmas season here: a bright red kettle accompanied by a sign reading "The Salvation Army."
Kim Geon-rae, 34, firmly grips his bell while he adjusts his black uniform coat amid a stiff breeze. As a student at the Salvation Army Graduate University for Officer Training, he has been ringing the bell and collecting donations for eight hours a day since the start of December.
"I've been volunteering at a Red Kettle since middle school, long before I joined the organization's graduate program," he recalled.
For the last 20 years, Kim has stood by the kettle in a number of different areas including Chungcheongbuk-do, Gyeonggi Province and Seoul. Compared to last year, he can definitely see the decline in the number of passers-by, he said.
"There are just fewer people, sometimes none, on the streets. I also feel that everyone is trying to be extra careful."
As Korea continues to experience a significant decrease in the number of people going out and the shrinking economy amid the pandemic, concerns have risen that charity organizations will face difficulties in their fundraising campaigns, especially the ones conducted in-person.
"As of Dec. 11, the amount of donations made through our Red Kettle campaign has decreased by around 40 percent compared to last year," a Salvation Army official told The Korea Times. "It is because we started this year's drive in 328 locations nationwide ― already 10 percent less in number than the year before ― and had to further reduce it down to 250 after the social distancing level rose in the greater Seoul area in the second week of December."
What seemingly added fuel to the fire was the controversy surrounding the two nongovernmental organizations ― the House of Sharing and the Korean Council for Justice and Remembrance for the Issues of Military Sexual Slavery by Japan ― that riled the nation earlier this year.
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| Lee Yong-soo, one of the victims of Japan's wartime sex slavery, speaks during a press conference at a hotel in Daegu in this May, 25, 2020 photo. She criticized the Korean Council for Justice and Remembrance for the Issues of Military Sexual Slavery by Japan for failing to use public donations to care for the surviving women. / Yonhap |
In May, Lee Yong-soo, one of the victims of Japan's wartime sex slavery, claimed that the Korean Council formerly led by Yoon Mi-hyang, now a lawmaker of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea, misused funds donated for the welfare of the surviving women.
Soon, another advocacy group, the House of Sharing, was marred by allegations regarding the embezzlement and misappropriation of donations worth billions of won. Just a few weeks later, 23 donors to the organization filed a lawsuit to demand the return of their money.
The occurrence of such incidents that sow distrust in charity management, albeit infrequent, have even caused some donors like Yoon Ki-jung, 56, to stop making contributions.
"The process of selecting the students in need was unclear and I realized later that they were not in fact underprivileged," Yoon, who has donated for over a decade to a local organization providing scholarships to disadvantaged students, told The Korea Times. "It seemed to me that the group's executives were intervening in the selection process to favor those they knew well."
However, in spite of some major setbacks posed by the COVID-19 and a series of distrust-inducing events, many charity organizations have in fact reported no significant decrease in the overall number of small donors and their contributions.
According to charity group Leftover Love Sharing Community, better known as "Busrugy," even though it saw a temporary decline in the number of small donors after the outbreak, it was able to retain recurring donors and successfully acquire new ones through additional campaigning.
The situation was similar for Joseph Clinic Philippines, which provides free medical services to the underprivileged.
In the case of ChildFund Korea, an official said the group cannot yet know for certain whether any significant change occurred as the relevant information will not be available until early next year. However, he added that the pandemic does not necessarily mean there will be a decrease in donations and it may instead lead to additional contributions to help those in need.
This surprising result is partially due to the recent shift in many charity organizations' fundraising efforts toward digital platforms, which has been further accelerated by the pandemic-led contactless services boom.
"As a result of COVID-19, we developed new aid programs relevant to the current state of affairs, including the provision of computers, online mentoring and learning programs and emotional healing sessions for those experiencing depression due to self-isolation," Busrugy official told The Korea Times.
"We have also actively used our online channels for fundraising and promotional campaigns to help children in need, which includes our own website, YouTube account and social media channels."
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| A person scans their credit card to donate money at the Salvation Army's red kettle in Seocho Subway Station in Seoul, Monday. In addition to cash, donors can also use QR Codes to make contributions. / Korea Times photo by Choi Won-suk |
The Salvation Army has also more actively embraced the digital medium for its Red Kettle campaigns. "To ensure that people can safely and easily make donations, we are utilizing many contactless means including QR Codes for Zero Pay and Naver Pay, credit card scanners and online platforms," it said.
Moreover, both organizations emphasized the importance of maintaining transparency and restoring proper trust in current and prospective donors. While the Salvation Army makes such efforts through audits conducted by the Ministry of the Interior and Safety and its annual statement of accounts, Busrugy releases the detailed budget, statement and the source of each donation online.
Rho Yeon-hee, professor of social welfare at the Catholic University of Korea and researcher at The Beautiful Foundation's Center on Philanthropy, stated that the act of making donations is not something that abruptly changes depending on external factors such as economic downturn and even something like the pandemic.
"It's rather a habitual behavior that becomes fixed over time. People who make donations will continue to do so and they do not usually waver when faced with uncertain situations."
This type of behavior in turn makes the number of donors and the amount of their contributions to charity groups relatively steady, she said.
This trend was reflected in the survey conducted by Rho that analyzed donor behavior during the COVID-19 outbreak. In August, 54.4 percent out of 1319 donors showed no change in their behavior; they did not stop donating to the existing charities but also did not donate to new groups. Similarly, 63.9 percent of the respondents answered they did not increase nor decrease the amount of contributions they made to the foundations.
But it is equally important to note that even though many charity organizations have apparently not experienced a drastic decline in their donations this year, the number of those in need have sharply increased due to the pandemic. This means that the amount of contributions received by the organizations, which remains largely unchanged, may not reach all those seeking financial help.
According to the Busrugy official, the number of applications for assistance that the group received has nearly doubled compared to that of last year.
"More than 70 percent of the applicants are seeking assistance in basic livelihood and residence, which has worsened after the COVID-19 outbreak due to job losses, failure to pay rent on time and the status of being underprivileged," she added. "In the case of applicants looking for assistance in counseling and psychotherapy, many of them were suffering from anxiety and depression due to social distancing, which led to the abuse and neglect of their children."
In order to fundamentally stimulate and support the culture of giving and thus increase the overall amount of donations, Rho stressed the significance of education, especially that of the humanities.
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