On July 16, the Bed Race 2016 took place at Ttukseom Resort, located adjacent to the Han River. This fun fund-raising event involved not only human runners but also a medical bed, as a group of three participants pushed the bed throughout the race. The winner was rewarded with the honor of delivering the collected donation to children with tumors under their team name. What is worthy of notice is that Korea has been newly added to the list of the other international Bed Race venues, including 30 cities in the U.S., Canada, the U.K., France and six other countries. In Korea, such fun methods of donating, or “Funation,” are grabbing national attention and gaining popularity. The Argus investigated this rising trend and analyzed the background of its emergence and limitations.

What is “Funation”?
“Funation” is a Konglish term combining two words, fun and donation, referring to the addition of fun aspects to donating. Recently, this fun donation trend surfaced in both online and offline settings and successfully garnered people’s interest and participation.

Online funation examples

On the subway or bus, or in any setting, people are constantly looking at their smartphones ? busily tapping, scrolling and zooming in and out on the screen. In line with this smartphone phenomenon, funation took over the online scene by making an appearance on digital platforms ranging from mobile applications, online games and Social Network Services (SNS).

1. Mobile application: Big Walk
Created by the social venture bearing the same name, Big Walk is a mobile application that connects physical health with contributions to society. Within the application, the user may choose from a list of places in need of financial support, and every 10 meters that the user walks is converted into one Korean won worth of donation. The actual donation is made by the company or the organization that initially sought support.
Additionally, the user may view the amount of calories burned and time and distance walked. Users may also share their data through SNS. Released in 2012, Big Walk has been downloaded over 500 thousand times and has facilitated donations of more than 900 million won. An average number of 40 thousand people are using the app on a regular basis.

2. Game application: Tree Planet
Tree Planet, also developed by a social venture with an identical name, is a game that extends in-game activity to real life. If the user manages to raise the baby trees in the game, an actual small sapling is planted. The real-life cost of planting the trees is paid for through advertisement fees and in-app payments. Information about the trees such as species, location and visual images is recorded in detail, and the photos of a newly planted forest is sent to users via email, SNS and pop-ups within the game.
According to Tree Planet, 1.1 million gamers have planted 840 thousand trees in 10 countries, including China, Mongolia, and Korea. In response to favorable reviews and participation, Tree Planet released two more games, both in different genres in 2013 and 2014, respectively.

3. SNS: Habitat for Humanity
Earlier this year, an international non-profit organization named Habitat for Humanity Korea conducted a campaign where they promised to renovate a house of children living in poor conditions if the number of handwritten SNS messages reached one thousand. To be specific, a person must write the given phrase by hand, take a picture, upload it onto their SNS platform and lastly tag friends so that they may resume the campaign.
The Public Relations Team reported it was the first time they organized a campaign, revolving mainly through tag relays, instead of receiving support through sponsorship. Thankfully, more people participated than had been anticipated. Moreover, people continued to participate in this campaign even after it was over.
So far, Habitat Korea has selected the home of some children living in a poor residential environment in Cheonan, and started renovations on Aug. 9 as promised in the campaign. A report related to the project is said to be available on their website.

Offline funation examples

While online donations allow for enjoyable and convenient participation, offline donation platforms have sprung up all around us, transforming donations into a part of people’s everyday routine, not to mention their fun aspect.

1. Donating Healthy Stairs
In an attempt to promote healthier lifestyles and daily donations, the city of Seoul installed special staircases at frequented passageways in subway stations. Sensors attached beneath the stairs detect every footstep people take and calculate a 10 Korean won per step donation. The total amount of the accumulated donation funds is displayed on a billboard in real time. The funds are to be used to support the rehabilitation of children with disabilities. The donations are made possible through a sponsorship from nine private companies including Korea Yakult.
The first foundation of Donating Healthy Stairs was established at the City Hall Station in 2013. Furthermore, with every step taken on the stairs the plucking sound of a gayageum, a Korean traditional instrument, reverberates and presents auditory enjoyment for citizens. As a result, stair utilization increased more than three times as before the installation, climbing from 6.5 percent to 22 percent usage and led to four million won in donations. In the wake of such a pleasant achievement, 15 more special staircases were installed in Gyeongbok Palace, Sangdong Station and other stations, reaching 16 staircases in total by the end of last year.

2. Funation artwork
From early December to late January of this year, the Seoul Metropolitan Facilities Management Corporation temporarily displayed a unique artwork installation resembling a Christmas tree by the Cheonggye Stream. In reflection of the funation trend, a social enterprise named 2 Hope Bike created an upcycled bicycle model in which a red bucket at the top tilted automatically from the weight of stacked coins and poured downward, turning on a vibration sensor, which emitted a beautiful streak of LED lighting.
The collected coins were donated in the name of the Seoul citizens to the Korea Scholarship Foundation and UNICEF Korea Committee. Such a sculpture was the first fresh attempt after the typical Lucky Coin approach, which started in 2005. Chief manger Lee Se-won spoke on the issue, “The existent Lucky Coin seemed dull and plain, so we gave it a new twist, which many people found amusing and so gave it a try. Consequentially, we raised around two to three million won more than in previous years.”

3. Shoot for Love campaign
Be Kind, a social enterprise, carried out a campaign called “Shoot for Love.” In this campaign, participants kicked soccer balls at certain targets in order to raise funds. It was first introduced in 2014 on ad hoc soccer fields across the country, and every successful goal made culminated in donations for pediatric cancer patients. At the time, a number of celebrities and about five thousand people took part. 4,608 goals were made by the participants, and donations were made to five children.
This campaign is currently underway with a slight change of rules. This year, the participants are challenged with a seemingly impossible mission. Former soccer player Lee Chun-soo completed his task of kicking a ball into a basketball net from 35 meters away. As a result, not only did he accumulate one million won worth of donations for the young patients, but also the video clip of his feat was viewed five million times, drawing nation-wide attention.

Why did it occur?

Increase in approachability
The improved accessibility of the platform created an environment in which people could utilize it without much pressure or conscious effort. A small and simple change of action, such as installing an application and taking the donation stairs, allowed for contributions to be made to society. The idea that everyday activities could make a meaningful impact to people in need of help showed donations do not necessarily need a big commitment that interferes in the lives of donators.
Choi Woo-young, a student from the Department of English Linguistics ‘16 agreed. “I participated in the Habitat Campaign because a friend tagged me, and I was amazed by how such a trivial action that does not require much of me could actually help someone else.”
Jeon Hyun-gyeong, the Inspector of the Research and Training team within The Beautiful Foundation, emphasized the importance of switching the vague notion of wanting to help others into a tangible action when devising ways to trigger donations. She stated, “Nowadays, the mechanism of donating has diversified into allowing people to donate through small actions. This appeals to the inherent motivation.”

Decrease in financial burden
Until now, the primary means of donation has been limited to money, so it has been recognized that economic capacity is indispensable to donating. The Social Survey Result 2015 study revealed the percentage of donations has shown a steady decline, at just 29.9 percent today, which is down from 34.6 percent in 2013 and 36.4 percent in 2011. In addition, 63.5 percent of the survey respondents attributed such a decline to their economic instability, demonstrating the widespread belief that donating requires money. However, funation generally operates based on the actions of corporate sponsors as a way of fulfilling social responsibilities and improving their image to the public.
Therefore, people need not pay an unaffordable price in order to donate, relieving their previous financial pressure undertaken when donating. Also, the younger generation members who have not yet achieved financial independence can freely participate in the donation culture, expanding the usual donor age bracket.
Yang Se-yeon, a student from the Business Administration Division ‘16, said, “I thought donating would be difficult for me as a student, but Donating Healthy Stairs allowed me to easily make contributions to society, which was a new and rewarding experience.”

Change of generation
Trend Monitor, a brand specializing in the consumer market from the research agency Macromill Embrain, conducted a survey of 900 people nationwide aged from 19 to 49 years old in 2014. In response to a question about why people donate, 60.5 percent in their forties answered it felt like their social responsibility to help out others especially in hard times, while 60.8 percent of respondents in the younger generation pinpointed the psychological satisfaction they receive afterwards.
As such, young people take into account their individual economic situation as well as the psychological aspects received when donating. In order to encourage their participation, the donation trend has changed from its conventional manner to involving donors in the donating process so that they may better empathize with the needy and have fun. In other words, the role of donors has moved from that of a one-sided sponsor to an active donor playing a part in the donation process.
Yun Min-hwa, a professor of Industrial Welfare Department at Daegu University, remarked that traditional fund-raising schemes appeal to people’s emotions by showing children in pain. In contrast, she commented, “Funation accompanies certain activities through which people are truly engaging in the donating process, so they become more satisfied as they have directly put in effort.” 

Limitations of Funation

Entertainment shadowing the purpose of donation
While funation encourages voluntary participation among people by presenting them with a sense of satisfaction, experts on fundraising and the donation culture express concerns about placing too much emphasis on the fun aspect and blinding people from understanding the fundamental causes for donation.
Head of International Council for Nonprofit Management, Bekay Ahn mentioned funation is an example of how the donation culture evolved through creativity to foster participation. However, he stressed that the fun factor obscures the purpose of collecting donations, saying “It is crucial that people remind themselves of the big issues that fundraising events represent.”

Insignificant influence
Although funation has contributed to society in various aspects, professors cast doubt on its impact in terms of overall donation statistics.
Kang Chul-hee, a professor at Yonsei Graduate School of Social Welfare, said “Funation fosters one-time participation from the young generation, but it has not shown statistical significance. Therefore, the level of impact and effectiveness is not assessed positively.”

In conclusion, funation is a constructive donation trend in that both the beneficiary and the benefactor benefit from participation, which is not only meaningful but fun. The donation culture has changed in a way that anyone can donate anywhere. The advent of donating becoming more involving may indicate the advent of a better world we have been waiting for.