The CJ Welfare Foundation has supported underprivileged children and students for two decades through several initiatives providing guidance, education and cultural opportunities
On November 5, 1953, Korea witnessed the moment when the nation’s first white sugar was produced — a symbol of new beginnings after the war. More than 70 years later, CJ has evolved from a general food company into a future-oriented lifestyle leader, driving innovation across four core business areas: food, biotechnology, distribution and entertainment.
This is the story of CJ’s journey, built on a foundation of resilience, creativity and enterprise and continually shaping the ways in which life can be experienced.
In July 2010, the auditorium at the CJ Human Resources Development Center, in Jung-gu, Seoul, was filled with the sweet scent of freshly baked cookies. Dressed in jeans, an apron and a chef’s hat, CJ Group Chairman Lee Jay-Hyun baked cookies alongside employees and their families. Each batch was accompanied by a handwritten message of hope and delivered to nearby people in need.
The event marked the 5th anniversary of CJ Donorscamp, an online giving platform run by the CJ Welfare Foundation. “Even now, many of our neighbors are facing hardship,” said Chairman Lee, watching elementary school students knead dough with their small hands. “I hope this becomes a chance to show care and compassion for friends in need.”
“Poverty should never be passed down simply because of a lack of educational opportunity,” Chairman Lee said at an event attended by donors. “Rather than just handing out fish, we must teach people how to fish — so they can lead self-directed lives for a lifetime. CJ will continue to support educational programs for children from low-income families.”
As Chairman Lee emphasized, CJ’s approach to giving was never about financial aid alone. It was about sharing opportunities, helping children gain the strength to stand on their own and ensuring that learning becomes a part of their lives. In this way, CJ began to organize a systematic approach to giving back to the community.
From Crisis to Contribution: Giving Back in an Economic Downturn
CJ’s commitment to social contribution traces back to 1999, in the aftermath of the IMF financial crisis, a period marked by mass unemployment and family breakdowns that shook Korean society to its core.
“It’s precisely during difficult times that a company must think about what it can do for society,” Chairman Lee remarked about companies struggling to survive at the time. Acting on this belief, he established a dedicated social contribution department within the company. CJ Group also established guidelines to allocate a portion of its profits to social initiatives, building a system that pursued both business performance and social value in tandem.
One of the flagship initiatives launched by CJ’s social contribution department was the regular donations to the Food Bank, in which products manufactured by the company were donated to those most in need across society. The program played a crucial role in addressing two pressing social issues of the time — child hunger and homelessness — which had become widespread in the wake of the economic crisis.
At the time, most corporate social responsibility efforts focused on one-way giving, with companies simply providing aid. CJ chose a different path, emphasizing genuine two-way communication by identifying the real needs of communities before taking action.
To ensure meaningful impact, CJ recruited professionals with on-site experience to lead its social initiatives and provided strong institutional support. Recognizing that many organizations needed the help of volunteers during typical business hours, the company took the unprecedented step of designating a set number of employees’ annual work hours for volunteer activities — a bold decision in the business environment of the time.
Around the same period, CJ began supporting community children’s centers as family instability grew in the aftermath of the IMF crisis. In 2002, the company renovated a former police station near Korea University to launch a pilot children’s center, offering a safe space for children and teens in underprivileged areas. Witnessing the challenges faced by these communities firsthand, CJ saw the need for a more structured and sustainable approach to social contribution, a realization that ultimately led to the establishment of a dedicated foundation.
The CJ Welfare Foundation: Redefining Social Contributions
On July 21, 2005, the CJ Welfare Foundation was officially launched. Guided by the belief that while building a social safety net is primarily the role of the government, companies must also do their part to contribute to society. And so CJ declared its commitment to making philanthropy a structured and sustainable part of its business.
Building on CJ’s founding beliefs of contributing to the nation through business, placing people first and pursuing rationality, the foundation carried out its activities based on three core principles: small but consistent actions, initiatives that leverage CJ’s strengths, and direct employee participation. These three principles later evolved into the foundation’s four key values — authenticity, continuity, business alignment and employee engagement — which continue to define CJ’s approach to social contribution today. Chairman Lee personally took on the role of CJ Welfare Foundation’s first chairman. “A company should not only create economic value through business — it should also engage with society in meaningful ways and take part in building the nation’s future,” he emphasized. “True giving is not simply about donating money but about creating a social system that allows many people to take part and make a difference together.”
In line with this philosophy, CJ launched CJ Donorscamp alongside the establishment of the CJ Welfare Foundation. As South Korea’s first online donation platform, CJ Donorscamp introduced a new model that combined transparency in giving with open participation. Chairman Lee personally named the platform and was deeply involved from the planning stage.
Focusing on community child centers as its primary beneficiaries, CJ Donorscamp has played a key role in supporting education for underprivileged children and spreading a culture of sharing. Every stage of the donation process, from contributions to distribution, was made public online, allowing anyone to track activities and progress. CJ also enhanced trust by matching each individual donation on a one-to-one basis.
Soon after the foundation’s launch, the CJ Donorscamp Cultural Activity Proposals initiative became one of its signature programs, establishing a sustainable giving system. Teachers at community child centers could directly propose educational programs tailored to their students’ needs, while donors chose projects they most resonated with and provided support. This approach ensured that every contribution led to meaningful, on-the-ground impact.
From the Heart: Doing What CJ Does Best
From that point forward, the CJ Welfare Foundation’s social contribution efforts remained closely aligned with the group’s identity. Leveraging its expertise as a food company, CJ supported child meal programs and nutrition education, while its strength in entertainment inspired the development of cultural and arts education initiatives.
“We must focus on what we do best and what we can continue for the long term,” shared Chairman Lee. This belief captures the essence of CJ’s philosophy on social contribution — creating ongoing, sustainable systems rather than one-time acts of giving. To achieve this, CJ built an organic connection between food sharing, cultural sharing and cultural education.
Equally important was the voluntary participation of CJ employees. As the joy of sharing became a central part of the company’s culture, employees actively visited community child centers across the country, engaging in meaningful volunteer activities that brought CJ’s spirit of giving to life.
20 Years of Growing with Children’s Dreams: A Legacy of Sharing
In 2009, the CJ Welfare Foundation launched the Kkum Kium Camp (Dream Growing Camp), an innovative program designed to help children develop their unique talents and abilities through customized curricula. The camp drew strong attention for its originality and impact, and later expanded to cover a wide range of areas including culture, character development and English-language education.
From 2010, the foundation introduced Stage for You, an experimental cultural education program focused on the arts. The initiative provided children with opportunities to explore their artistic potential, build self-expression through performance and ultimately showcase their talents on stage.
Building on these successes, the CJ Welfare Foundation continued to develop creative and character-building programs such as the Kkum Kium Creative School and the Aureum Humanities Education, all rooted in CJ’s cultural expertise. In recognition of its long-standing commitment to children’s growth, the foundation received a Presidential Commendation in 2014, cementing its role as a true supporter of children’s development.
In 2017, CJ established the CJ Donorscamp Academy, offering job training and employment connections within CJ affiliates for young people from vulnerable backgrounds. The following year, it launched the CJ Donorscamp Scholarship, a fund dedicated to supporting students who strive to pursue their dreams despite difficult circumstances, ensuring that no child has to give up on their future because of financial hardship.
Twenty Years of Supporting Youths’ Dreams
In 2019, the CJ Welfare Foundation took its commitment to the next level. Moving beyond educational support, the foundation began focusing on helping children nurture their dreams through culture — a vision embodied in the Cultural Dream Keeper model.
As a Cultural Dream Keeper, the foundation helps children and teenagers discover their talents and passions through culture and the arts while also guiding them to chart their own growth paths. It offers age-specific programs that connect learning with creativity. Elementary school students experience cultural content firsthand through the Cultural Proposal program, while middle and high school students participate in the CJ Donorscamp Youth Culture Club, engaging in cooking, music, performance and film projects. For high school students with strong potential in the arts, sports, or technical fields, the CJ Donorscamp Scholarship provides the support they need to grow into outstanding talent.
Many students have written and staged their own plays, performed songs they created together and even hosted concerts. During the COVID-19 pandemic, they adapted by showcasing their work through online platforms, expanding their creative horizons in new ways. Such moments reflected the remarkable transformations the students experienced on the journey toward their dreams.
Over the past 20 years, the CJ Welfare Foundation has provided educational and cultural opportunities to more than 2.2 million children and teenagers. Working in partnership with over 4,400 organizations, it has helped build a strong social infrastructure for philanthropy, supported by more than 550,000 donors. Guided by its four core principles — authenticity, continuity, business alignment and employee participation — CJ continues to expand access to learning and cultural experiences for children across the country.
Looking ahead, the CJ Welfare Foundation remains committed to creating a world where every child can dream from an equal starting point and where those dreams become the foundation of society’s future.
