Seoul City Announces Public Interest Activity Support Project for Nonprofit Private Organizations Call for Proposals

Support up to 30 million won

[Asia Economy Reporter Kiho Sung] The Seoul Metropolitan Government announced on the 20th that it will publicly recruit participating organizations for the ‘2023 Seoul Metropolitan Government Non-Profit Private Organization Public Interest Activity Support Project’ to guarantee the voluntary activities of non-profit private organizations and support their growth into sound private organizations through public interest activities.

Eligibility for support is non-profit private organizations registered in Seoul Metropolitan City, and a total of 2.3 billion KRW will be supported across six fields including welfare and health, social integration, livelihood economy, culture, tourism and sports, transportation and safety, and environmental conservation and resource saving, with up to 30 million KRW per project.

Projects applied for by private organizations will undergo a three-stage review (individual, subcommittee, and comprehensive review) by the ‘Seoul Metropolitan Government Public Interest Project Selection Committee,’ based on criteria such as the organization’s capability, the public interest, originality, and ripple effect of the project, and the appropriateness of the requested budget. In particular, projects that complement and synergize with Seoul city policies, such as walking with the vulnerable, and projects that citizens can empathize with and feel directly will be prioritized.

However, organizations that gave up projects among the ‘2022 Seoul Metropolitan Government Non-Profit Private Organization Public Interest Activity Support Project selected organizations,’ organizations with poor comprehensive evaluation results, or those involved in overlapping projects with central government ministries or autonomous districts will be excluded from selection.

This year, a differential scoring system based on the applicant organization’s self-funding ratio will be introduced to strengthen the responsibility of selected organizations, and a mid-term evaluation will be conducted before the final evaluation to ensure that selected projects proceed appropriately.

Additionally, selected organizations will receive detailed training on accounting standards and execution guidelines before starting the project, and after the project begins, consulting from specialized institutions will be provided to ensure the project proceeds smoothly as intended.

Applications can be submitted from the 2nd to the 13th of next month through the local subsidy management system Botam-e, and the final selection results will be announced on the Seoul city website at the end of March.

Before the application period, on the 1st of next month at 14:00, a non-face-to-face (YouTube) briefing session will be held to guide detailed information on the public offering project contents and procedures, project plan writing, accounting standards, and other detailed application methods.

Jungsang Hoon, Director of the Seoul Metropolitan Government Administration Bureau, said, “We will do our best to support and manage projects so that the diverse public interest activities of non-profit private organizations practically help citizens’ lives and serve as a catalyst for the sound growth of non-profit private organizations,” and added, “We look forward to the active participation of capable organizations.”