Ansan Medical Welfare Social Cooperative (Ansan Medical Cooperative) has taken a step towards a new model of social finance with the Korea Social Value Solidarity Fund to revitalize the social economy. On the 13th, the two organizations signed a business agreement at the members’ room on the 6th floor of the Ansan Medical Association Building (31, Sangrokwangjang-ro, Sangrok-gu, Ansan-si, Gyeonggi-do, Republic of Korea) to participate as members in the social assetization project of the Saesan Healthcare Center and Integrated Care Center promoted by the Ansan Medical Association.

Through this agreement, the Ansan Medical Association succeeded in procuring KRW 90 million out of the total required funds of KRW 4.4 billion through member contributions from the Korea Social Value Solidarity Fund. The value of member investment in the Korea Social Value Solidarity Fund is that Ansan Medical Association uses the financial savings from this investment to give back to the community through medical welfare services such as quarantine for local residents and other vulnerable groups. This is the first social financial support model that the Korea Social Value Solidarity Fund is attempting, and it is a new model that pays interest for social value through social performance projects.

The Korea Social Value Solidarity Fund is the first wholesale social finance institution in Korea, established in January 2019 to develop a sustainable social finance ecosystem and revitalize the social economy. Through this business agreement, the Korea Social Value Solidarity Fund, as a wholesale social finance institution, has presented a transitional funding model for medical social cooperatives (medical welfare social cooperatives), which remain in the blind spot of the priority investment system even after the passage of the Basic Cooperative Act due to the non-dividend rule. It also created a new multilateral cooperation model in which social finance-related organizations such as the Gyeonggi-do Social Economy Fund, social finance intermediaries, credit guarantee funds, and credit unions, including local governments, intermediaries, and wholesale funds, can participate together.

The signing ceremony was attended by Father Song Kyung-yong, chairman of the Korea Social Value Solidarity Fund, and Park Jung-hwan, head of the investment team; Kim Young-rim and Kim Cho-hwan, vice directors of the Ansan Medical Welfare Social Cooperative; Woo Se-ok, vice director; Shin Yoon-kwan, executive director; and Choi Hyun-soo, director of the Ansan Medical Welfare Social Cooperative and director of the Ansan Social Economy Support Center. The ceremony consisted of greetings from each side, an agreement signing ceremony, a union signing ceremony, commemorative photos, and a tour of the workplace.

Rev. Song Kyung-yong, chairman of the Korea Social Value Solidarity Fund, said, “In the era of the pandemic, the social values and philosophy of medical associations need to be deepened.” “In this time, we need to propose a little bold imagination that can change the world and try to realize it in practice, and I hope it will start here at the Ansan Medical Association.” Regarding the multilateral cooperation model, he expressed his ambition to “show that we can work together to create a common good through this opportunity.” Regarding the model of paying interest on financial support received by social economic organizations as social value, he vowed, “As a new model, we signed an agreement with Ansan Medical Association for the first time, and will develop a plan that considers the characteristics of their organizations and the situation of the local community with various cooperatives and social enterprises.”

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