Community Chest of Korea has beat its collection goal this year, as the nation’s only charity established by statute recovers from earlier scandals.

The CCK said it surpassed its two-month goal of 218 billion won ($191 million) with less than two weeks to go, an unexpected turn after it was marred in corruption scandals in 2010.

The nationwide charity network said the “Hope 2012 Sharing Campaign” could now possibly reach an all-time high, breaking its 2010 record of 224.2 billion won.

Outside its headquarters in Seoul, the CCK’s giant “Thermometer of Love” is bursting with red from donations collected since December.

The charity network has struggled to improve its image after it was found to have wasted large sums of donations on employee entertainment along with other cases of corruption and embezzlement.

This contributed to the charity missing its goal for the first time last year. The thermometer stopped short of its goal at 77.6 percent.

“When you donate you expect it to go to people in need and be used in an innocent way, but when I saw the articles last year, I felt betrayed that they used my money for dinner parties,” said 29-year-old Han Jae-duck.

Han now donates to other organizations.

And although others were wary as well, they were also willing to accept change.

“They need to show more of an effort, one that the everyday citizen can see,” said 24-year-old Bae Seok-hwan.

The CCK is trying.

“We worked really hard to recover from that incident,” said one CCK official.

“We have made a feedback service for those that donate 5,000 won and up so that they may see how their money is spent,” she said, adding that other efforts are constantly being made to become more transparent.

Coming back from a bad year, the charity saw donations from both individuals and corporations exceed expectations this year.

The charity, better know as “Sarangui Yeolmae” (Fruit of Love), also received larger sums from corporations, including Hyundai Motor Group, Samsung, LG and POSCO.

“If we consider the amount of time left and add the amount from various branches, it is very likely that we were able to collect the most ever,” said one CCK official.

Since the charity first began the campaign in 1999, it has collected over 1.8 trillion won.

The nationwide charity network was established in 1998 under the public fundraising law that offers income tax deductions of 100 percent for individual donations and 50 percent for corporations.

By Robert Lee
(robert@heraldcorp.com)