Members of the university volunteering activity team, “Beyond” are participating in the construction of the POSCO Steel Village in Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province, Vietnam. (Photo: POSCO)

POSCO has been conducting social contribution activities since its 1968 founding.Starting with volunteer activities in sister villages and “shared growth” with local communities in 1988, POSCO’s social contribution activities have evolved with the inauguration of the “POSCO Volunteering Corp” in 2003. With leaders, including CEOs and other executives, taking the lead and staff participating on a volunteer basis, their activities have become part of POSCO’s corporate culture. POSCO has established the monthly “Friday of Sharing” initiative. The company has participated in volunteer activities in welfare facilities. POSCO executives, making the most of their experience and education, tour POSCO’s cooperative SMEs in Gwangyang and Gyeonggi-do up to four times a month to provide “pro bono” expertise to those companies that might be having management difficulties, counseling them in areas such as legal matters, taxes, personnel and labor affairs. All POSCO executives spent an average of 28 hours volunteering last year. For POSCO, local communities are major stakeholders. POSCO is a company that focuses on reinvigorating economies and improving the social welfare situations in the Pohang and Gwangyang areas. It strives to create jobs for the underprivileged and help local communities by letting each department conduct volunteering activities with a “sister village.” POSCO, going beyond Korea, spearheads efforts to help developing countries become more self-sufficient, including Indonesia and Vietnam, where the company has a presence or plans to enter. 
 Recognizing the need for evolving “Posconality Programs,” specializing in volunteering services tailored to comply with the company’s unique characteristics, POSCO is aggressively providing support to develop “talent-donating” volunteer services using its executives and staff’s capabilities and talents, through which they can build upon their self-development. Thanks to these efforts, 24 volunteer teams are now up and running in such areas as Pohang, Gwangyang, Seoul and Songdo, Incheon. One of the teams repairs agricultural equipment, operated by executives armed with machinery and electric technologies. There are also teams specializing in hanging wallpaper; and ecological and cultural maintenance. POSCO’s ”Steel Village Project” is designed to reflect the company’s business feature, and the needs of local communities. The project calls for the construction of houses using steel products (the mainstay business of POSCO) and the building of safe and strong village structures, including steel playgrounds and steel bridges to make contributions to local communities. Since 2009, POSCO has supported fire-hit households by conducting volunteer activities for the construction of steel-framed houses. Starting this year, beneficiaries have been expanded to include low-income families. Steel-framed homes are significantly stronger compared to general concrete structures, and they are much less vulnerable to earthquakes. In particular, outer materials of steel-framed houses are upgraded with PosMac, POSCO’s world premium product, starting last year.  Overseas, POSCO is working on the construction of the POSCO Steel Village, which will have 104 houses in Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province, Vietnam, with steel grounds and steel bridges. In the village, scheduled to be dedicated by 2017, POSCO executives and staff participate in volunteer groups. The university volunteer team “Beyond” is also part of the project. The POSCO 1 Percent Sharing Foundation is a charity foundation established in November 2013 by POSCO Group, partner company executives and staff members. Donations equivalent to 1 percent of employees’ monthly salaries fund the charity. About 23,000 executives and staff members are part of the program. The company also contributes donations equivalent to those of their executives and staff members. The donated money is used to promote the wellbeing of the underprivileged, provide support for the self-sufficiency of local communities, and promote culture preservation at several places around the world where POSCO has a presence. In particular, the Chinchin (winding tightly) Rainbow Project offers educational support to youth from poor and multicultural families. The program offers youth an opportunity to apply for Korean language tests for general equivalency diplomas and learn such skills as nail art, beauty treatment, and car maintenance. About 50 students have been selected every year since 2014 for scholarships, mentoring and conducting volunteer activities.