Gwangju Sees Hometown Love Donations Triple Compared to Last Year

360 Million KRW... A 321% Increase from the Previous Year

Hometown Love Donation Poster. Provided by Gwangju City

Last year, the amount of hometown love donations in Gwangju more than tripled compared to the previous year. This increase is attributed to the expansion of return gifts and customized promotional strategies.

According to Gwangju City on the 15th, a total of 360 million KRW in hometown love donations was collected last year. This marks a 321% increase compared to 112 million KRW the previous year, making it the second highest growth rate among the 17 cities and provinces nationwide, following Daejeon.

To revitalize the hometown love donation system last year, the city significantly increased the variety of return gifts and implemented customized promotional strategies, such as events timed with the year-end tax settlement period. The number of return gifts was expanded from just 14 to 62, including popular restaurants, tourism, and experience products. As a result, new return gifts introduced over a four-month period from August accounted for 40% of total sales.

In particular, on-site promotional events such as "National Assembly, Gwangju Day" helped raise awareness of Gwangju's hometown love donation program. Additionally, the "Gwangju Hometown Love Peojeoping" event, held in anticipation of the year-end tax settlement in November, raised approximately 170 million KRW in just two weeks.

Park Yunwon, Director of the Autonomous Administration Division, said, "We are grateful to those who consider Gwangju their hometown at heart and participated in the hometown love donation. This year, we will prepare a wider variety of return gifts and meaningful projects to encourage even more people to take part in the donation program."

Meanwhile, Gwangju City is planning to offer an even greater variety of return gifts this year, including sports merchandise for baseball, soccer, and volleyball, care services, and meal kit products from outstanding food companies.