By Bae Ji-sook
The scandal-ridden Community Chest of Korea (CCK), the nation’s largest charity group, is teetering on the brink of collapse as its leaders are resigning en masse amid a dismal performance in collecting donations.
The chairman and directors of the board of the charity group offered to resign Sunday after an embezzlement scandal involving its staff broke last month and to take responsibility for the failure to achieve the donation target of the year’s end when charity needs for orphans, the elderly and other socially vulnerable groups are at their peak.
However, the rather belated response may be insufficient to settle public distrust and doubt over the management of charity organizations in general.
Chairman Yoon Byung-chul, Secretary General Park Eul-jong and 20 other executives said they will take full responsibility of the irregularities committed by their staff. “Due to the scandal, the amount of donations collected by charity groups nationwide this year has shrunk at a dramatic pace. We humbly accept any criticisms of the CCK, but at the same time express regret that other groups have been affected by our scandal,” Park said.
He stressed that the resignation is to regain nationwide trust and support.
Yoon made an apology through a press release. “We regret that our workers have disappointed the people who spared their precious time and assets for the welfare of the less privileged. We understand that their donations were to make our society better. But some of our workers’ demeanors were out of moral hazard, something that cannot and should not be accepted. I take full responsibility for everything that has happened,” he said.
He said the group now needs new leadership to recover the damage and suggested a blueprint for the group and the industry. According to the CCK, new leadership will be formed in days. Until then, Vice Chairman Lee Gyeong-sook will take the helm.
The group resignation came after the charity had been tarnished by several internal scandals, which were revealed by lawmakers last month during a National Assembly audit of government offices. The workers were found to have manipulated account records to cover up spending infractions. They were also accused of receiving kickbacks for selecting subcontractors for events, and are suspected of having given special favors in hiring staff at the request of senior officials of the organization.
The Ministry of Health and Welfare confirmed Sunday that the workers were slack in distributing the donated funds but were passionate on raising their salaries _ in three years, the wage amount rose by 9 percent while the general public organization staff saw a mere 3 percent rise in the same period of time. The workers were also accused of hiring unqualified staff.
Since CCK is the only organization endorsed and sponsored by the state to collect donations, it was reported to have received a substantial amount of money from government departments, public organizations as well as civil servants since its establishment in 1998. The organization was reported to have raised 200 billion won last year.
Therefore, the criticisms were harsher and more significant.
“Community Chest is not a simple charity group. About 90 percent of its income is from public donations and the rest is from governmental subsidies including the lottery. The mismanagement is a moral hazard ― something extremely immoral,” Rep. Lee Ae-ju of the ruling Grand National Party said.
Minister of Health and Welfare Chin Soo-hee also said she would consider designating plural charity organizations for sponsorship. Her ministry on Sunday requested the organization to fire the secretary-general, discipline 43 workers while giving administrative warnings to an additional 113. The authorities also decided to confiscate 755 million won revealed to have been misappropriated.
The group faced a shrewder response from the public. According to its spokesman, it has already suffered a decrease of more than 2 billion won in collected funds from last year.
The scandal has also affected other groups’ fundraising activities. Save The Children, World Vision and several others have said they have received phone calls for cancellations and are struggling in their street campaigns.
“It is true that the sandal also hit us hard,” said a charity worker of an international organization in a previous interview with The Korea Times.
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