Blockchain charity platform CHERRY, accumulated donation amount exceeded 4 billion won

Blockchain charity platform CHERRY, accumulated donation amount exceeded 4 billion won - Achieved 4 billion won in about 4 months after reaching 3 billion won in accumulated donations in January, accelerating donation growth

- The driving force for growth is the active participation of Millennials and Gen Z in donations

<Photo> CHERRY Charity Platform achieved a cumulative donation of 1 billion at the end of February of last year, about 15 months after its launch, and has shown rapid growth, reaching the cumulative donation of 4 billion this time.

The cumulative donation amount of CHERRY, Korea's first blockchain-based charity platform operated by IT company E4Net (CEO Lee Sujeong), has exceeded 4 billion won on the 29th, according to E4Nnet. Until this day, a total of 270 organizations have conducted 1,268 donation campaigns through CHERRY. The total number of donations exceeds 60,700. This is a feat achieved in about two and a half years since CHERRY was released.

CHERRY's accumulation of donations is accelerating. CHERRY, which was officially launched in December 2019, achieved a cumulative sponsorship amount of 1 billion won in 15 months since its launch at the end of February last year. Six months later, in August, the cumulative donation amount exceeded 2 billion won, and it took about 5 months to reach 3 billion won, followed by 4 months to 4 billion won. This is an achievement that shows CHERRY's rapid growth.

While blockchain-based charity platforms that were emerging like mushrooms after rain have recently been unable to overcome operational difficulties and are shutting down services one after another, one of the driving forces behind CHERRY's continued growth is the active participation of Millennials and Gen Z (a.k.a. MZ generation; 20-39 years old). In the meantime, it has been known that the MZ generation has a relatively low participation in donations. The ratio of cash donors by generation over the age of 20, surveyed by the National Statistical Office in 2021, was the lowest at 12.1% for those aged 20 to 29, followed by those over 60 (16.5%) and those aged 30-39 (21.3%).

But with CHERRY, it's different. 4 out of 5 of CHERRY's largest individual donors are from the MZ generation (1st in 1990s, donated 14 million won), and 4 out of the 5 largest individual donors are also from the MZ generation (1st in 1990s with 87 donations). The MZ generation accounts for about 35% of all sponsors.

Behind the emergence of the MZ generation, who are not accustomed to cash donations, as the protagonists of donations, there was Lee Sujeong, CEO of E4Net, who had a strong will to build a platform to nurture the next generation into future philanthropists. Ms. Lee encourages donations from the MZ generation in various ways, such as CHERRY Sneaker Day, where donations are made by walking, CHERRY Dance Challenge, where donations are made by dance cover, and ZEPETO Challenge, which links ZEPETO missions with donation campaigns in collaboration with the metaverse platform ZEPETO.

In addition, last year, the 'CHERRY Webtoon Contest' was held to contest webtoons on the theme of donation and voluntary service experience with a prize of 12 million won, and to provide education and online publicity opportunities for students on volunteering and donations. And Ms. Lee took the lead in conveying the value of donation to the MZ generation in many ways, including running the online volunteer school 'CHERRY School'.

“The ‘CHERRY Blossomers’, which is a donation group, beneficiaries, and supporters of the next generation, ‘CHERRY Partners’, a group of small business owners and corporate donors, a steering committee centered on donation organizations, an expert advisory group, and research members, and so on," said CEO Lee Sujeong said. "CHERRY will continue to play a role as a platform to nurture future philanthropists," she added.

Meanwhile, CHERRY, the first blockchain-based charity platform in Korea, is widely recognized for its technical excellence. CHERRY, which proved its excellence by beating prominent conglomerates in the 'Privately Led Blockchain Project Competition' hosted by the Ministry of Science and ICT already in March 2019, even before the official release, was the first exemplary use case listed in International Organization for Standardization (ISO) standard on Blockchain and Distributed the ledger sector. Up to now, four domestic patents have been registered, and two overseas patents are pending.