How BTS members from RM to Jin spread the love through donations to BLM, schools and disaster funds

Every member of BTS has donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to good causes, and their fans are also generous

From Black Lives Matter to the Amazon rainforest and Unicef’s End Violence Against Children campaign, they keep giving

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BTS members have been donating to good causes for years. Photo: Big Hit Entertainment

Published: 10:15pm, 10 Nov 2020Updated: 10:15pm, 10 Nov 2020

K-pop boy band phenomenon BTS donated US$1 million to Black Lives Matter at the height of the movement’s US protests in June – and their Army fans matched the amount within 24 hours. This was just the latest in a series of donations by the South Korean group, whose members have a long history of philanthropy.

As a team, BTS notably launched their ongoing Love Myself campaign with Unicef in support of the End Violence Against Children campaign. Along with a donation of 500 million won (around US$448,000) from BTS and their label, Big Hit Entertainment, they also donated three per cent of income from physical sales of their Love Yourself album trilogy to the campaign.

These donations – combined with other funds including donations from fans and income from sales of Love Myself-related merchandise – had reached more than US$2.2 million by the end of September, according to Unicef’s Korean committee.

Along with donating to BLM this year, BTS also donated US$1 million to the Crew Nation campaign launched by Live Nation in March in support of live concert crew members across the world who have affected by the impact of the pandemic on the global music industry.

Jimin has given a large sum of money to his old school. Photo: @bts.bighitofficial/ Instagram

Another major contribution was in 2017 to the Family Council of the Sewol Ferry Disaster. Each member donated 10 million won and Big Hit gave an extra 30 million won for a total of 100 million won. The Family Council supports families who lost loved ones during the 2014 sinking of the Sewol Ferry, which left 476 passengers and crew dead, including about 250 students.

Other reported contributions have included rapper Suga gifting 100 million won to the Hope Bridge Disaster Relief Association’s Covid-19 relief efforts in his hometown of Daegu. BTS leader RM donated the same amount to Seoul’s National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art to help spread the institution’s publications to South Korean public libraries and schools.

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