Making everyday life easier, while fulfilling our social responsibility.
Together with its flagship brand AKEI, YBK provides ongoing support to The Big Issue, a social enterprise that helps people experiencing homelessness become self-reliant, and donates goods to Goodwill Store, which creates jobs for people with disabilities.
Together with its flagship brand AKEI, YBK provides ongoing support to The Big Issue. Our executives serve as outside directors of The Big Issue, putting corporate social responsibility into practice.
About The Big Issue
The Big Issue is a magazine that began in London, UK, in 1991. It was founded on the principle of ‘A Hand Up, Not a Hand Out’, giving people experiencing homelessness the right to sell the magazine on the street and returning half of each sale to them as income.
The Korean edition launched on July 5, 2010. Big Issue Korea is a public-interest corporation and a social enterprise certified by the Ministry of Employment and Labor. It supports vendors on their path to self-reliance, from temporary housing to moving into rental housing and job training. In 2026, it received a Minister's Commendation from the Ministry of Employment and Labor for its contribution to fostering social enterprises.
A vendor handing out The Big Issue on the street · Photo: Big Issue Korea
₩12,000Cover price of one copy of The Big Issue
₩6,000Price a vendor pays for each copy
₩6,000Vendor's earnings from each copy sold
Half of every sale goes to the vendor. New vendors receive their first 10 copies free to get started.
IMPACT
Big Issue Korea in numbers
Cumulative 2010–2025 · Figures from Big Issue Korea
648 vendorsPeople experiencing homelessness or housing insecurity
₩6.3 billionIncome earned by vendors
102 householdsMoved into rental housing
2.74 million copiesMagazines sold to the public
COVER STORY
The faces on the cover
The Big Issue's covers have long been made possible by well-known figures donating their talent. When a cover catches someone's eye and they pick up a copy, half the price becomes the vendor's income. Actors Kim Young-dae and Park Ha-sun, who appeared on the November and December 2025 covers, are also part of the Be The Change Alliance, which a YBK affiliate has joined.
Park Ha-sunNo.342 · 2025
Kim Young-daeNo.341 · 2025
Uhm Tae-gooNo.331 · 2025
IUDream film special edition · 2023
Kim Ji-wonNo.276 · 2022
Lee Je-hoonNo.251 · 2021
Pak Se-riNo.241 · 2020
Jeon Hye-jinNo.240 · 2020
Lee Jun-hyukNo.238 · 2020
Kim Go-eunNo.108 · 2015
Byun Yo-hanNo.103 · 2015
Benedict CumberbatchNo.72 · 2013
WITH YBK
How YBK takes part
Support
Steady support, together with AKEI
Together with its flagship brand AKEI, YBK provides ongoing support to The Big Issue. As a company that makes everyday household products, we help protect the basics of daily life that everyone deserves.
Participation
Executives serving as outside directors
Our executives personally serve as outside directors of The Big Issue. Going beyond sponsorship, we stay closely involved in helping people experiencing homelessness become self-reliant.
Solidarity
Affiliate Keepgoing · ArtheL, first members of the Be The Change Alliance
In September 2025, Keepgoing and ArtheL, of YBK affiliate Keepgoing · ArtheL, became the first companies to join the Be The Change Alliance, a giving alliance that Big Issue Korea formed with companies and artists. Each month, they donate part of the revenue from brand ads featuring actors Park Ha-sun (ZIGBEE, FLOCALM) and Kim Young-dae (MONFRI) to Big Issue Korea, and they co-planned ‘Wash Away’, a public-interest campaign about the meaning of housing and dignity.
Organizations and brands in the Be The Change Alliance · Photo: Big Issue KoreaActors Park Ha-sun (left) and Kim Young-dae, both part of the alliance · Photo: Big Issue Korea
In April 2026, we donated 12,000 AKEI health and beauty items to Goodwill Store, a vocational rehabilitation facility for people with disabilities run by the Miral Welfare Foundation. The donated items are sold in Goodwill Store shops, and all proceeds go toward employing people with disabilities and paying their wages.
About Goodwill Store
Goodwill Store is a nonprofit organization that supports the independence of people with disabilities, employing them with the proceeds from selling donated goods. Guided by the principle of giving people with disabilities ‘not charity, but a chance’, it turns every donated item into job training and employment.
Starting with its Songpa store in Seoul in 2011, Goodwill Store has expanded nationwide, with employees with disabilities handling everything from receiving and collecting donations to logistics, merchandising, and sales. It received Presidential Commendations for its contributions to revitalizing the social economy in 2022 and to environmental conservation in 2026.
A Goodwill Store shop · Photo: Goodwill Store
12,000 itemsHealth and beauty products donated
₩50.4 millionApproximate value of donated goods
“We are pleased to share our business achievements, surpassing 500 products and setting a new monthly sales record, with people in vulnerable circumstances.”
Yang Hee-chan, CEO · April 2026 donation, reported by Daily Economy
IMPACT
Goodwill Store in numbers
Impact of corporate donations · Figures from Goodwill Store
492 peopleGoodwill Store employees with disabilities (as of August 2026)
342 companiesPartners working with Goodwill Store
approx.11.79 million itemsDonated by companies
50,684 tEstimated carbon reduction
HOW IT WORKS
How donated goods become jobs
STEP 1
Donating AKEI products
YBK delivered 12,000 AKEI health and beauty items to Goodwill Store.
STEP 2
Sold in Goodwill Store shops
Employees with disabilities handle everything from receiving donations to logistics and merchandising, then sell the items in stores.
STEP 3
All proceeds fund jobs and wages for people with disabilities
All sales proceeds support the employment and wages of employees with disabilities.
Photos: Goodwill Store
YBK DONATION
The difference our donation made
approx.30.5 peopleOne month's wages for employees with disabilities
4,026 hoursWork opportunities
1,982 hoursVocational training opportunities
approx.36,000 kgGreenhouse gas reduction · Equal to 5,455 thirty-year-old pine trees
01Supporting The Big IssueWe provide ongoing support to The Big Issue, which helps people experiencing homelessness become self-reliant, and our executives serve as its outside directors.
02Donating goods to Goodwill StoreWe donated 12,000 AKEI health and beauty items to Goodwill Store, a vocational rehabilitation facility for people with disabilities.
