Korean companies' interest in social contribution has increased significantly since the foundation of the Korean Business Council of the Arts in 1994. This enabled many Korean companies to pursue positive images by actively participating in social change rather than simply concentrating in profit-making. A company's social contribution can be implemented through various activities, and the importance of Mecenat activities has been emphasized as interest in culture and arts increased with the growth of GDP per capita.
In the case of Daegu Bank, it first started scholarship programs and charity projects after forming Women's Association Volunteer Organization in 1975. Since the establishment of scholarship foundation in 1990, it mainly focused on scholarship programs under the new name, ‘Daegu Bank Scholarship and Culture Foundation.’ Furthermore, along with the ‘Fundraising for Undernourished Children’ in 1996, Daegu Bank’s social contribution diversified with activities in areas such as culture and arts, social welfare administration, physical education, and other regional activities. From 2006, Daegu Bank volunteer organization has formed relationship with 23 cities and rural communities in Gyeongsangbuk-do province. Since then, it has participated in various activities including helping and experiencing farming, buying farm products, and improving rural environment.
When the Korean Financial Supervisory Service examined 12 Korean Banks' expenditure on social contribution from 2004 to June 2007, Daegu Bank ranked top for expenditure in social contribution against net income. For instance, Daegu Bank expended 9.6 billion won, amounting 4.0% of its net income in 2006, and expended 9.2 billion won in 2007 for social contribution. According to a survey by the Korea Manifesto Center conducted in 2008, Daegu Bank received the highest appraisal for its social contribution among the 16 other Korean Banks.
As such, Daegu Bank has shared social responsibility for development and improvement of the local community, and has maintained social contribution activities in positive and active manners. After analyzing Daegu Bank's social contribution activates, however, the following problems have been revealed. Both the amount of social contribution and the activities eligible for the funds has shown steep variation from year to year, and volunteer activities are largely restricted to short-term activities such as ‘creating clean streets,’ ‘farm-loving helping hand,’ etc. In addition, despite the enormous amounts of aids in scholarships and sports related activities, aids in area of culture and arts remain unsatisfactory and expert work force for Mecenat activities is insufficient. As a result, it is having difficulties in promoting active cultural policies that are differentiated from other companies.
As the study recognizes such limitations, it will focus on the Mecenat activities amongst other contributory activities performed by the Daegu Bank, and would like to propose the following revitalization plans. First of all, DaeguBank should provide a pacesetting role to Daegu city, which is struggling to resuscitate as a center of culture and arts. Therefore, Daegu Bank should gradually increase the amount of aid to culture and arts in context with the main intension of Mecenat, and should establish mid and long-term plans for such cultural projects. It should provide higher levels of cultural activities that convey the local residences' desire to pursue higher level of culture as their income increases, while providing a focused and consistent aid to certain areas of culture and arts. Diverse Mecenat activities that take into consideration of customer base with diverse age, tendency, and hobby, will not only retain current customers, but also provide great help in gaining new customers. Also, it needs to hire experts to create specialized programs and needs to utilize various performance centers and exhibition halls, which are operated by the local government. If Daegu Bank can establish itself as the backbone of cultural sponsorship, it will attain a positive image that friendly approaches the local residents, while it will provide great support to Daegu city that is trying to stretch itself as an international cultural city.