China Development Foundation (“the Foundation”) held the annual CDF “Corporate Philanthropy Day” at its headquarters, inviting 14 public welfare organizations across Taiwan to sell their goods before the Chinese New Year. Mr. Stefano Paolo Bertamini, President and CEO of CDF, participated in the event for the first time and called on colleagues to show support through actions.
“CDF has been realizing the UNSDG (United Nations Sustainable Development Goals) to make "Responsible Production and Consumption" by increasing the procurement amount of socially innovative goods year by year,” said Mr. Bertamini. In 2020, CDF and its life insurance team, China Life both were awarded the “Buying Power Award for Socially Innovative Products and Services” by the Ministry of Economic Affairs. ” The “Corporate Philanthropy Day” has been a CDF tradition for years. Mr. Bertamini came to the market to taste a variety of local Taiwanese foods, and to learn about the social enterprises, shelter workshops and small farmers in Taiwan.
This year, the stand put together from the 26 schoolchildren and teachers of Daxing Elementary School in Yunlin County drew crowds who purchased sweet potatoes produced in Dagou Village to raise funds for the school’s talent program. “The sales of the potatoes exceeded NT$300k nearly enough to pay for the after-school writing and dance classes,” said Principal Chen Ying-ru. Meanwhile, the first and second graders put on lively Chinese New Year-style performances, and the fifth and sixth graders introduced their school in fluent English to Mr. Bertamini.
The Foundation has long supported Daxing Elementary School, located in remote-area in Yunlin. In addition to the charity sale, KGI Bank planned a "Money Management Master Course for Kids,” which introduced to the children the basic concepts of financial management. They not only learn about personal credit and income and expenditures balance, but learn about the foreign exchange market. They also attended a special guided tour of the branch, learning how ATMs, the counter service, and the wealth-management center function.
Every year, CDF organizes the “Corporate Philanthropy Day” through the Foundation to show support for the public welfare organizations. The Foundation also runs other ESG projects, such as “Heritage 100 X Tutelage 100”, “Nutrition 100”, “The Little Flying Elephant in Our Class”, “Vocational Education Scholarship” and the “Ai Xin Chan Bao Bao” (loving, hungry babies) which encourage employees to make year-long purchase of bread from the shelter workshop as a way of giving back to society.
