1,000 won in project funds offered per new member recruited

Current membership stands at about 30% of total elderly population

Korea Senior Citizens Association President Lee Jung-keun (center) presents the top prize and prize money to Seoul Federation President Ko Gwang-seon (right). [Provided by Booyoung]
Korea Senior Citizens Association President Lee Jung-keun (center) presents the top prize and prize money to Seoul Federation President Ko Gwang-seon (right). [Provided by Booyoung]

The Korea Senior Citizens Association announced Thursday that it will hold award ceremonies and forums for regional federations and branch offices nationwide in June and July to recognize results from its membership-doubling campaign.

At the Seoul and Gyeonggi Province ceremonies and forums held June 29 and 30, participants also received a report on the first membership-doubling drive of the year and heard an explanation of the campaign's upcoming plans.

Through the first membership-doubling drive, conducted over four months from Feb. 11 to June 20, the association recruited 149,872 new members — 65,528 full members and 84,344 general members. Total membership rose to 3,347,628, representing about 30 percent of the country's total elderly population.

The association paid out about 180 million won ($116,000) in prize money for the campaign's results. Based on a performance project fund of 1,000 won per new member, branch offices received about 156 million won and regional federations received about 16 million won. An additional 6 million won in incentive payments went to 11 branch offices that, as of Feb. 11, had a membership rate of 50 percent or higher and recorded the highest rates of new sign-ups relative to non-members.

"The Korea Senior Citizens Association is pushing the membership-doubling campaign as a priority project to further strengthen its standing and influence as the representative senior organization in South Korea," President Lee Jung-keun said. "The strong results from the first drive this year were made possible by the determination of federation and branch presidents and the active participation of staff and senior center heads." He added that the central office would evaluate monthly membership growth figures going forward and continue to award prizes based on performance.

Meanwhile, Lee set a target of 8 million members by September and announced a new incentive plan. The association will pay 1,000 won per new member each month to senior centers and staff who recruit new members, and plans to conduct a comprehensive evaluation of results from July through September at the end of that month, with separate prizes for federations and branch offices.


hope@heraldcorp.com