OREANDA-NEWS. November 11, 2015. Doosan celebrated the grand opening of the Dongdaemun Future Foundation. The foundation started off with assets of 20 billion won, a combined fund of 10 billion won from Doosan Group and 10 billion won from a private contribution by Doosan Group Chairman Yongmaan Park.

The foundation will be chaired by Dongho Kim, chair-professor of Dankook University (former chairman of the Presidential Committee for Cultural Enrichment). The opening ceremony was attended by local traders and representatives of a small business owners’ association in Dongdaemun, politicians and the local government chief of Dongdaemun as well as members of the fashion design industry.

The Dongdaemun Future Foundation aims to systematically promote the development of the Dongdaemun area through a public-private-academic partnership. The local traders will share their views on the current business status and propose ideas to stimulate business in the region. The foundation plans to request administrative support from the local government, if necessary. The academia in the urban design field will also take part by proposing how to use the Dongdaemun space systematically through development. Doosan will be in charge of operational planning and management as well as finance and investments.

The Dongdaemun Future Foundation is designed to act as a community foundation. Under the system, local residents are directly involved in addressing local issues; similar community foundations overseas are funded mostly by donations made by the local residents and business owners. The Cleveland Foundation* was established in 1914 as the first charitable organization to use this concept, and the Dongdaemun Future Foundation aims to set an example of a community foundation in Korea by becoming “the Cleveland Foundation of Dongdaemun.”

The Dongdaemun Future Foundation consists of three elements: think tank, marketing and accelerator. First, as a Dongdaemun think tank, the foundation will draft and propose local development models. Together with experts, the foundation will implement local development projects, hold a public hearing to collect ideas and arrange a pool of experts to provide consulting to the local traders and residents.

As for marketing, the foundation will lead the effort to collect and promote the attractions of the Dongdaemun district in terms of tourism, shopping, food and culture. To this end, the foundation has decided to create a special website to provide information on the Dongdaemun district, develop a mobile application, host a special event reflecting the community and publish a newsletter featuring the district.

The foundation has borrowed the “accelerator” concept from the IT industry and applied it to the fashion industry to focus on nurturing fashion startups from the industrial perspective. After identifying young designers with potential from across the nation, the foundation will provide workspace as well as financial, marketing and promotional assistance. The workspace will be created using empty spaces in Dongdaemun malls. After three to four months of preparation, a fashion show will be held to present the work to buyers, and popup stores will open at Doota to create sales routes.

*The Cleveland Foundation: The Cleveland Foundation was established in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1914 as the world’s first community foundation. There are now 1,700 such foundations worldwide. Under the mission of “enhancing the lives of all residents of Greater Cleveland,” the Cleveland Foundation laid out a local development blueprint, implemented a variety of programs in seven areas, including culture, education and the environment, and operated cooperative federations. In the 1910s, the foundation conducted research on Clevelanders’ leisure activities and helped create a park to expand leisure opportunities in the city. In the 1970s, the foundation made a grant to prevent historic buildings from being demolished and helped transformed a decayed district into a desirable place to work, play and live.