Connecting Holiday Sentiment with Gotgam... Sangju City Offers Extra Rewards for Donations

Hometown Love Donation Event Combines Festival and Holiday Season
Expanding Participation with Prize Draws and On-Site Benefits

Sangju City has organized a special event offering additional benefits to participants in the Hometown Love Donation program, in celebration of the 2026 Sangju Gotgam Festival and the Lunar New Year holiday.

From January 15 to February 28, anyone who donates to the Hometown Love Donation program in Sangju City will be eligible for both a prize draw and on-site giveaways. The city aims to naturally connect holiday spending and festival visits to local donations through this strategy.

2026 Sangju Gotgam Festival Lunar New Year Hometown Love Donation Event

To participate in this event, donors must contribute at least 100,000 KRW to Sangju City through the Hometown Love e-Eum website or at any NH Nonghyup Bank branch nationwide (including local agricultural and livestock cooperatives) and complete the reward application. Eligible donors are automatically entered into the event.

The city will select 30 winners through a computerized draw and present them with additional gotgam, the most popular reward item of the Sangju Hometown Love Donation program. Winners will be individually notified of the results on March 4.

To reach both former residents and tourists, Sangju City will display banners throughout the city and conduct promotional activities using electronic billboards, social media, and the Sangju newsletter, among other media channels.

In particular, during the 2026 Sangju Gotgam Festival, which will be held from January 23 to 26, a promotional booth for the Hometown Love Donation program will be set up at the festival venue to encourage on-site donations. Donors who contribute on-site will also receive an additional silk scarf, allowing them to enjoy both the festival experience and donation benefits at the same time.

A Sangju City official stated, "In addition to the basic benefits of the Hometown Love Donation program, such as tax deductions and reward gifts, we have prepared festival-linked prizes. We hope that the spirit of supporting one's hometown during the Lunar New Year will lead to more donations."

This Hometown Love Donation event in Sangju is regarded as a well-designed example of creating motivation for participation by combining two powerful touchpoints: the region's signature festival and the holiday season, rather than simply encouraging donations.

By using gotgam, a local specialty, as a medium, Sangju has created a structure that links donations, festivals, and consumption into a single flow, stimulating both the nostalgia of former residents and the desire for new experiences among tourists. This demonstrates how the Hometown Love Donation program is evolving beyond its original framework into a strategy for local marketing and mutual prosperity.

Meanwhile, the Hometown Love Donation program allows individuals to donate up to 20 million KRW per year to local governments other than those of their registered address. Donations up to 100,000 KRW are fully tax-deductible, while amounts exceeding that are subject to tiered deduction rates. Donors can receive local specialty products or other rewards worth up to 30% of their donation, and the collected funds are used for projects that promote regional development and improve residents' welfare.