Input 2021.02.18 08:46 | Revision 2021.02.18 09:18
According to the elegant brothers and business world on the 17th, Chairman Kim was named to the United States”The Giving Pledge’, known as’the world’s richest donation club’, along with his wife Bomi Seol. The Giving Pledge is a voluntary donation campaign that began in August 2010 when Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates and Chairman Warren Buffett Berkshire Hathaway made a promise to return to society.
Currently, 218 people from 24 countries are participating in this charitable organization (the joint name of couples and families is counted as 1). Members include Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, Tesla CEO Elon Musk, film Star Wars director George Lucas, Oracle’s chairman Larry Ellison, and former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
In order to join The Giving Pledge, two conditions must be met:’more than 1 billion dollars of property’ and’donate more than half of the property to society’. They must donate at least 500 million dollars (about 550 billion won). Chairman Kim’s fortune is known to be around 1 trillion won, including the value of DH shares received from the sale of the People of Delivery to Delivery Heroes (DH) in Germany. More than half of this will contribute more than 500 billion won.
As for the reason I decided to donate, “I was born on a very small island in Korea, and when I was in high school, I wasn’t enough to sleep in the dining room where guests used to sleep. “It is difficult to explain outside of that,” he said. “I think that promised to donate 10 billion won in 2017 and kept it was the best decision in life so far, and now I am trying to make a bigger return.”
Chairman Kim said, “I ran a small company with fewer than 20 people in the beginning of the founding 10 years ago, and while watching the articles by Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, I vaguely dreamed that if I succeeded, I would like to declare the Douging Pledge. I am thrilled.” He said, “If the dream I had dreamed of becoming the dream of many founders who challenged to change the world, I would be very happy.”
Chairman Kim founded’Elegant Brothers’ in 2010 with a capital of 30 million won. Afterwards, it is a myth of the Korean startup industry that expanded its business around the nation of delivery app delivery and sold it for about 4.43 trillion won ($4 billion) in nine years. In 2019, Delivery Hero in Germany gave 40.1 million shares of its own stock and 1.9 billion euros in cash (about 2.5 trillion won) to take over the People of Delivery.
Chairman Kim became the first Korean donor and the 219th donor in the world after several months of registration. As a result, Korea has become the 25th country in the world and the 7th in Asia with a pledge of Giving Pledge.
Next is the pledge of Giving Pledge of Chairman Kim Bong-jin and wife Seol Bo-mi
Hello, this is Bongjin Kim and Bomi Seol. First of all, I would like to express my deepest respect and appreciation to Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, and the 218 former donation declarers.
You have deeply inspired many founders like me and delivered a message of hope to many more people. This story has to be continued by someone and I am honored to be one of the people who continues the story. Me and my wife, Seol Bomi, declare to give back more than half of their wealth to society before they die.
I would like to inform you that our dear children, Hannah and Joa, also agreed with this decision. (Even the picture above is a picture taken by Hannah. And the third Daniel is still two years old, so I can’t explain it. If I grow up in the future, I will persuade my sisters well.
I am convinced that this donation declaration will be the best legacy of anything we give to our children. I think that the donation pledge is to openly confess that the wealth I have accumulated is not only because of God’s blessings, social luck, and the help of many people beyond individual ability and effort.
I was born on a very small island in Korea, and when I was in high school, I didn’t have enough room to sleep in the dining room that guests used. I graduated from art college with difficulty, but it is difficult to explain that I was lucky and blessed by God.
As John Rawls put it, I think the value shines even more when the wealth is shared according to the principle of’minimum beneficiary first consideration.’ In 2017, through Facebook, we made a donation pledge to return 10 billion won in 3 years and kept that promise. I think this has been the best decision of our life so far, and now we are going to make a bigger return.
In the process, I experienced the happiness and rewarding of my life, and even thought that I should grow my business better through this, and I learned many things through the practical difficulties of the donation process.
Through that learning, we and I are step by step envisioning the future of solving the problem of educational inequality, supporting cultural arts, and creating an organization that helps charities do their job better.
It is also a small force in improving the cognitive and institutional problems that hinder the donation culture, but we are trying to add it. However, in a world that may live much longer than expected, it seems difficult to make all plans now. It is even more so when you see that problems that were not a problem in the past are now becoming a big problem.
As I did during startups, I will continue to learn through various donations and challenges and failures in solving social problems, and I would like to continue working to share that experience with many people and spread the donation culture.
Lastly, 10 years ago, when I was running a small company that had fewer than 20 people in the beginning, I vaguely dreamed that if I succeeded, I would like to declare The Giving Pledge if I saw articles by Bill Gates and Warren Buffett. I am very thrilled to announce today.
I would be delighted if the dream I had dreamed of became the dream of many founders who challenged to change the world. So, I hope someone continues this story. Thank you.