Shin Min-a and Kim Woo-bin's Donations Exceed 5 Billion Won as Actress Reflects on Years of Giving

Years of giving bring help to patients and families

Actors Shin Min-a and Kim Woo-bin have donated more than 5 billion won between them, with their charitable work stretching from hospital treatment for children to heating bills for older people living alone. Their wedding on December 20, 2025, brought another combined donation of 300 million won to organizations including the Hallym Burn Foundation, Asan Medical Center and Good Friends.

The total drew renewed attention during Shin's appearance on tvN's You Quiz on the Block, broadcast on the 28th. Host Yoo Jae-suk highlighted the couple's years of giving, while Shin described a quieter measure of its value: letters explaining what the money had helped people accomplish.

One of the most concrete results comes from her support for people with burns. Figures attributed to the Hallym Burn Foundation put her donations over 10 years at 1 billion won, helping 201 patients pay for treatment. Behind the large totals are individual medical bills and families receiving help with costs they struggle to meet.

Shin began donating in 2009. Kim started making anonymous donations in 2014, initially helping teenagers from households with limited income. Their charitable work therefore began long before their marriage and has continued through hospitals, community programs and disaster relief.

What the donation figures show

Yoo, the host of You Quiz on the Block, put the couple's combined giving at more than 5 billion won. Published totals place Shin's contributions at about 4 billion won or more and Kim's at more than 1.1 billion won.

A figure of 3.7 billion won donated by Shin over 15 years also resurfaced around the program. More recent accounts put her cumulative giving above 4 billion won, including donations disclosed since that earlier total attracted attention.

The figures describe contributions accumulated over many years, across several causes and organizations. The 300 million won associated with the wedding was a combined gift from the couple. A breakdown of how much each person contributed to that gift, or how it was divided among recipients, has not been disclosed.

An online post about Shin's earlier anonymous giving also circulated widely. It included a story attributed to an unnamed foundation official about discovering her identity after receiving repeated deposits. The official's organization and the original source of those remarks have not been confirmed. Shin's own comments offer a direct explanation of why she initially kept her giving private.

Why Shin first chose to give quietly

Shin told the program that she began donating with the belief that good deeds should be done without publicity. Her aim was to reach people who received little attention or assistance, particularly in areas where support was limited.

Shin, explaining her early approach to charitable work, said:

When I first started donating, I believed that good deeds should be done quietly.

She also described choosing causes where her contribution could fill a gap. In her account, she looked toward areas with insufficient help, including those where government support was limited. That approach connects the different groups she has assisted: people facing expensive medical treatment, children needing educational support and older adults struggling with everyday costs.

Her view of publicity has changed over time. In a June interview for the film Pupils, Shin said that hearing how a public figure's donations could encourage others had made her more willing to discuss her work.

Shin, speaking in that interview about the response she hoped to encourage, said:

My hope is that even one person will be moved to do good.

On You Quiz on the Block, she returned to the same idea. She said that consistency and sincerity mattered regardless of the amount donated, and that she would be grateful if her example encouraged other people to take part.

Burn treatment became a lasting commitment

The Hallym Burn Foundation has been a central recipient of Shin's support. She has donated through the foundation and other organizations for burn patients since 2015, helping cover treatment expenses for people facing substantial medical costs.

The foundation's own donation records show that Shin has given every year since 2015, contributing a cumulative 1 billion won and helping 201 burn patients receive treatment. The foundation said it received 100 million won from Shin on January 7, 2025. That is a more precise account of the reach of this part of her giving than the broader description that more than 200 patients have benefited.

The foundation said the latest donation would support medical expenses for child, adolescent and female burn patients, as well as caregiving costs for burn patients with limited income. Its chairman, Heo Jun, said Shin's donations went beyond financial assistance by giving patients hope and encouraging them not to abandon treatment.

Shin also recalled attending an event supporting burn patients about 15 years earlier and said it helped lead her toward sustained support. The dated record of donations through the foundation begins in 2015, while her wider charitable giving dates to 2009.

For patients and their families, help with treatment costs can address a direct financial need. Shin's involvement has also included handwritten letters and gifts for children hospitalized with burns, adding a personal gesture to the financial assistance.

The 1 billion won given through the foundation is roughly a quarter of the approximately 4 billion won publicly associated with Shin's charitable work. Her support for burn patients is therefore a substantial part of a wider pattern of donations, rather than an occasional response to a single appeal.

Support reaches beyond hospital wards

Shin's donations have also supported teachers working in study rooms for children from families with limited income. These programs provide a place for children to learn and receive help outside their regular classes. Funding the people who run them directs money toward the continued operation of that support.

Older adults living alone have received assistance with heating costs. Shin has also supported women and children who left North Korea, alongside other vulnerable households. These causes involve recurring needs, from staying warm to receiving educational and community assistance.

Disaster relief forms another part of her record. Her donations have supported responses to COVID-19, wildfires, flooding and earthquakes, as well as assistance overseas. This places emergency giving alongside the annual contributions she has maintained for particular groups.

Kim's charitable work follows a similar combination of continuing support and responses to crises. After beginning anonymously in 2014, he made annual donations through Asan Medical Center for 11 years, helping children with cancer and people facing financial hardship. He has also contributed during the pandemic, wildfires and floods.

A wedding marked by another donation

Shin and Kim married at The Shilla hotel in central Seoul on December 20, 2025. Their agency, AM Entertainment, announced donations totaling 300 million won to several organizations on the same day.

The named recipients included the Hallym Burn Foundation, Asan Medical Center in Seoul and the humanitarian organization Good Friends. Two of those institutions were already connected to the couple's sustained charitable work: the foundation through Shin's support for burn patients, and the hospital through recurring medical donations.

The wedding followed a relationship that began after the actors met while filming a clothing advertisement in 2014. They publicly acknowledged their relationship in 2015. Shin remained beside Kim when he stepped away from acting for nearly two years from 2017 while receiving treatment for nasopharyngeal cancer, which develops in the area behind the nose.

Their charitable records extend across that period. Shin had already been giving for several years before they met, while Kim's anonymous donations began in the year of their first meeting. The wedding contribution continued commitments each had established separately.

How the giving developed

The dates show how regular donations grew into a long record of support. They also place the wedding gift within more than a decade of charitable activity by both actors.

• 2009: Shin began donating to help people facing difficult circumstances.
• 2014: Kim began anonymous donations supporting teenagers from households with limited income.
• 2015: Shin began her documented support through the Hallym Burn Foundation and other organizations helping burn patients.
• Over 10 years: Shin contributed 1 billion won through the foundation, helping 201 patients with treatment costs, according to the foundation's own donation records.
• December 20, 2025: The couple married and made combined donations of 300 million won to several organizations.
• The 26th and 28th: A preview of Shin's television appearance was released on the 26th, before the episode aired on the 28th and renewed attention to their combined donations.

The recurring feature is continued support. Hospital donations, help for community programs and assistance after disasters have accumulated through repeated decisions to give, rather than through one large announcement.

The letters that make the results personal

Shin said that receiving updates about how donations were used had become one of the most rewarding parts of giving. The letters brought news of completed work and helped her understand what the contributions meant to recipients.

Shin, describing those messages on You Quiz on the Block, said:

From time to time, I receive letters telling me what has been accomplished with the donations.

For the actress, the value lay in hearing that the money had become something useful and meaningful in another person's life. Her comments shifted attention from the size of the couple's donations to the results: treatment paid for, programs supported and people reached.

Yoo encouraged greater public discussion of such acts. Shin's response kept the invitation broad, saying that the amount mattered less than a sincere commitment to continue. The couple's total exceeds 5 billion won, but the message she chose to share was one that people with much smaller sums could also act on.

Key Points

• Shin Min-a and Kim Woo-bin's combined donations exceed 5 billion won.
• Shin began giving in 2009, while Kim began anonymous donations in 2014.
• The Hallym Burn Foundation's own donation records show that Shin's support totaled 1 billion won over 10 years and helped 201 patients with treatment costs.
• The couple donated 300 million won to several organizations when they married on December 20, 2025.
• Their support includes medical treatment, children's education, heating assistance and disaster relief.
• Shin said letters explaining how donations were used brought particular satisfaction, and she hoped her example would encourage others to give.