Stories Of Impact
Minding the gaps: 10 friends collaborate to take on social issues in Singapore
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Stories Of Impact

Stories Of Impact

Minding the gaps: 10 friends collaborate to take on social issues in Singapore

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John Doe
10 charities received donations from Mind the Gap 200 (MtG200) fund at the SG Cares “Celebrating our Culture of Care” closing event at Tampines Hub in August 2019.

Widening social inequality, an ageing population, and the threat of climate change – these are the issues that frame our world today. Amidst increasing recognition of these complex issues, a group of ten donors have come together to establish Mind the Gap 200 (MtG 200), a multi-fund project, with the Community Foundation of Singapore (CFS). Thus far, S$10 million has been raised.

The brainchild of Mr Tow Heng Tan, CEO of Pavilion Capital, MtG 200 is the first ever collective of donor advised funds to address social issues across multiple sectors in Singapore. MtG 200 will provide support to four areas of focus: community, education, healthcare and sustainability.

Since July 2019, MtG 200 has disbursed over $2m to a variety of initiatives that fall under its four focus areas. Close to $1m has been used to fund palliative care training, facilities and other in-patient programmes across charities such as Assisi Hospice and St. Luke’s Hospital. More than half a million will go to resourcing educational programmes across life stages – from early childhood initiatives right up to bursaries at the tertiary level.

During the SG Care’s bicentennial celebrations in August 2019, $200,000 was disbursed to a total of 10 charities, such as Stroke Support Station Ltd, YMCA, Very Special Arts Singapore and Waterways Watch Society. Finally, a further $150,000 has gone to fund training and job coaching to help socially excluded groups secure permanent employment.

The idea of launching a group of donor funds under a common umbrella took root in 2017. Back then, the word ‘divide’ regularly appeared in the news as well as in conversations. Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong also spoke about social issues at Singapore’s National Day Rally. The idea for the MtG 200 was thus born – with its aim to contribute towards a stronger and more cohesive society that will last another 200 years and beyond. Mr Tow rallied like-minded friends, and through his passionate advocacy, MtG 200 is now spearheaded by ten donor sponsors, many of whom are business professionals.

For Mr David Heng, CEO of ABC World Asia, MtG 200 was an opportunity to balance head and heart. He says, “Sustainability is an issue I think about every day, but more so from the investment angle. The MtG 200 project helps me to cover the non-investment aspect. I hope my friends will see the value in this project and lend their support.”

Others, like Mr Chew Sutat, are already active champions of social causes. As the executive vice president of the Singapore Exchange (SGX), Mr Chew is also chairman of the SGX Bull Charge, SGX’s flagship charity initiative and chairman of mental health charity Caregivers Alliance Limited. Mr Chew, whose focus is on supporting caregivers, says, “By expressing solidarity with those in need, philanthropic giving has helped to alleviate social tensions that inevitably surface over time.”

For Mr Teng Ngiek Lian, MtG 200 complements his personal endowment fund called The Silent Foundation, which focuses on disadvantaged groups. Under the MtG 200 group, he helms the Singapore Unity Fund, aimed at addressing social divides. “One way we can effectively tackle inequality is to help the underprivileged attain upward social mobility, while simultaneously upholding the tenets of meritocracy. MtG 200 is a small step towards supporting the less advantaged, and helping them change their circumstances,” he added.

Mr Tung Chi Fung, CEO of Sheng Ye Capital and donor sponsor of the Knowledge Fund, echoes this sentiment, “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime. We hope to help disadvantaged young people to bridge the knowledge gap.”

Tapping on CFS’s deep understanding of local issues, the MtG 200 group of funds are targeted at identified gaps. It will help to build capabilities in the sector and provide impactful solutions that can be sustained in the long-term. Take for instance, its Intergenerational Fund, which seeks to tackle social isolation of elders in Singapore through purposeful intergenerational interaction. Over $300,000 has been disbursed to support such programmes by charities Empower Ageing, All Saints Home and Viraya Community Services.

Professor Kua Ee Heok, Professor of Psychiatry and Neuroscience at the National University of Singapore, champions The Mental Health Fund and has helped to provide charities with limited fund-raising capacity with much needed support as they continue to advocate for mental well-being. The fund will also support mental health and resilience research and services for the young and old alike.

Ultimately, the vision of MtG 200 is to be a timely reminder for all of us to ‘mind the gap’ in our lives and to work with others in making a difference. Mr Tow expresses, “MtG 200 is a collaborative effort. Without the support of like-minded friends, this would not have gotten off the ground. With the support of CFS, together we can create an impact that will be exponentially bigger than what we can ever achieve as individuals.”

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Ut elit tellus, luctus nec ullamcorper mattis, pulvinar dapibus leo.Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet consectetur adipiscing elit dolor

The competition was organised by City Harvest Community Services Association and received support from FUN! Fund, a Community Impact Fund jointly established by the Community Foundation of Singapore and the Agency for Integrated Care, with the aim of addressing social isolation among the elderly.

Senior Minister of State, Ministry of Communications and Information & Ministry of National Development Mr Tan Kiat How attended the event. He encouraged the elderly to stay physically and mentally well, as well as urging them to participate in community activities and enjoy their golden years together.

Learn more about FUN! Fund at https://www.cf.org.sg/fun-fund/.

 

The programme provides the children with a non-threatening platform to connect with peers and have positive conversations. In addition, it exposes them to different people who can assist to broaden their perspectives.

L.S., a volunteer with the Reading Odyssey programme @ Spooner Road

中心“常胜将军”胡锦盛:比赛限时反应要快

现年92岁的胡锦盛是最年长的参赛者。自2017年退休后,他几乎每天都到活跃乐龄中心报到,从此爱上了玩拉密,每次可玩上三个小时,在中心是“常胜将军”。

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News

Learning Initiatives for Employment (LIFT) Community Impact Fund – Training and placing marginalised individuals into stable jobs

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People in masks and aprons preparing food in a restaurant.

The Learning Initiatives for Employment (LIFT) Community Impact Fund (CIF) was launched in 2019 by The Community Foundation of Singapore (CFS), which provides vocational training and socio-emotional support for marginalised individuals in Singapore before placing them into jobs.

CIFs are flagship programmes established by CFS in partnership with charities to address unmet needs or under-supported social issues in Singapore. It takes a ground-up approach to understand the needs of care recipients and outcomes they care about to ensure that they would truly benefit from these programmes.

LIFT is designed to leverage the expertise of social enterprises in terms of job coaching and job matching. These programmes support persons with disabilities, persons recovering from mental illnesses, disadvantaged women and youth-at-risk who face challenges finding jobs and keeping them. 

In partnership with Bettr Barista and Project Dignity, LIFT saw 115 people receiving training at Bettr Barista Coffee Academy or Dignity Kitchen from April 2020 to March 2021. Ninety-one participants completed the training, and of those who had completed the course, 73 people were successfully hired, with 55 managing to remain employed for more than three months.

To support the LIFT Community Impact Fund, visit here. Read the media release here.

 

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Ut elit tellus, luctus nec ullamcorper mattis, pulvinar dapibus leo.Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet consectetur adipiscing elit dolor

The competition was organised by City Harvest Community Services Association and received support from FUN! Fund, a Community Impact Fund jointly established by the Community Foundation of Singapore and the Agency for Integrated Care, with the aim of addressing social isolation among the elderly.

Senior Minister of State, Ministry of Communications and Information & Ministry of National Development Mr Tan Kiat How attended the event. He encouraged the elderly to stay physically and mentally well, as well as urging them to participate in community activities and enjoy their golden years together.

Learn more about FUN! Fund at https://www.cf.org.sg/fun-fund/.

 

The programme provides the children with a non-threatening platform to connect with peers and have positive conversations. In addition, it exposes them to different people who can assist to broaden their perspectives.

L.S., a volunteer with the Reading Odyssey programme @ Spooner Road

中心“常胜将军”胡锦盛:比赛限时反应要快

现年92岁的胡锦盛是最年长的参赛者。自2017年退休后,他几乎每天都到活跃乐龄中心报到,从此爱上了玩拉密,每次可玩上三个小时,在中心是“常胜将军”。

Picture of admin bluecube
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Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text of the printing and typesetting industry. Lorem Ipsum has been the industry's standard dummy text ever since the 1500s, when an unknown printer took a galley of type and scrambled it to make a type specimen book.

Events

Celebrating the journey home through music

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John Doe
A group of musicians passionately performing on stage, captivating the audience with their melodious tunes.

In celebration of Singapore’s Golden Jubilee, the Community Foundation of Singapore, in collaboration with donor Kris Tan of the Kris Foundation, brought five young Singaporean musicians together in a concert that explores what it means to belong. The concert, which was staged on 26 July 2015 at the Victoria Concert Hall, featured a new work by local composer Phang Kok Jun, specially commissioned for SG50. It also played a selection of compositions by Samuel Barber, Tan Dun and Antonín Dvorák.

Speaking after the association’s annual general meeting at Kallang Netball Centre on Friday, Liang-Lin, a fund manager for a US$7 billion (S$9.5 billion) firm focused on green real estate investments in Asia, hopes to bring her expertise to the table and increase the amount of financial support for Singapore netball during her four-year term.

The 53-year-old took over from Deputy Speaker of Parliament Jessica Tan, who has been the association’s president since 2012. Tan had reached the end of her tenure, which saw the national team make several breakthroughs, including a gold medal at the 2015 SEA Games in Singapore.

Liang-Lin holds various appointments such as being Singapore’s representative to the G20 for Women appointed by the Ministry of Finance. She is also a board member of the Community Foundation of Singapore, which promotes philanthropy through facilitating the establishment of charitable funds.

She said: “One of the things that is overlooked when we look at philanthropy and fundraising is that sport is not really part of the things that people will automatically think about.

“Less than one per cent of the funds that we raise in the Community Foundation goes to sport. The values that sport brings need to be amplified more, so that corporates… see the need to support sport. I think that link needs to be stronger so that we get not just more corporate sponsors, but also they can come in for longer periods of time.”

While national agency Sport Singapore provides funding to netball, corporates can also do their part, she added.

She said: “If we play our cards correctly, we can get corporates to come in and hopefully support them, to see the wider purpose of sport and bring the nation together.”

She also hopes the association can be proactive in looking for financial support, adding: “We must work more strategically with governing bodies on educating corporates on the importance of really supporting sport.”

The former netball player also made references to the recent Women’s World Cup for football, noting the “ability for a game that focuses on women in the sport to bring global attention”.

She said: “I want that kind of trajectory of the limelight going to women’s sport. I think that is a trend that will continue, and I hope that netball will be part of that trend.”

Meanwhile, Tan was satisfied that she has achieved the three objectives she had set out to do when she came on board – to improve quality of play, build a fan base and create an ecosystem which involves coaches and players.

The 57-year-old added: “As much as I do feel sad about having to step down, but at the same time, leadership renewal is very important.

“I think Trina will help to galvanise the team together, and bring a lot of new perspectives and quality to the association.”

Join us in making an impact on Singapore sports scene! Reach out to us for more information.

Source: The Straits Times © SPH Media Limited. Permission required for reproduction

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Ut elit tellus, luctus nec ullamcorper mattis, pulvinar dapibus leo.Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet consectetur adipiscing elit dolor

The competition was organised by City Harvest Community Services Association and received support from FUN! Fund, a Community Impact Fund jointly established by the Community Foundation of Singapore and the Agency for Integrated Care, with the aim of addressing social isolation among the elderly.

Senior Minister of State, Ministry of Communications and Information & Ministry of National Development Mr Tan Kiat How attended the event. He encouraged the elderly to stay physically and mentally well, as well as urging them to participate in community activities and enjoy their golden years together.

Learn more about FUN! Fund at https://www.cf.org.sg/fun-fund/.

 

The programme provides the children with a non-threatening platform to connect with peers and have positive conversations. In addition, it exposes them to different people who can assist to broaden their perspectives.

L.S., a volunteer with the Reading Odyssey programme @ Spooner Road

中心“常胜将军”胡锦盛:比赛限时反应要快

现年92岁的胡锦盛是最年长的参赛者。自2017年退休后,他几乎每天都到活跃乐龄中心报到,从此爱上了玩拉密,每次可玩上三个小时,在中心是“常胜将军”。

Picture of admin bluecube
admin bluecube

Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text of the printing and typesetting industry. Lorem Ipsum has been the industry's standard dummy text ever since the 1500s, when an unknown printer took a galley of type and scrambled it to make a type specimen book.

News

Three rising economic identities of women

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John Doe
a crowd crossing a road

The world is far from being equal and fair for women, and the Covid-19 crisis has amplified this disparity.

As the global Covid-19 vaccine roll-out promises light at the end of the tunnel, the world is still accounting for the pandemic’s disproportionate impact on women and, consequently, the sacrifices they have made during this time – whether it is at work or at home.

Singapore recognises this and has declared 2021 as the Year of Celebrating SG Women. Meanwhile, this year’s theme for International Women’s Day on March 8 is “Women in leadership: Achieving an equal future in a Covid-19 world”.

How can we enshrine women’s economic value through permanent action, thus forging a new dawn for working women post-pandemic?

The world is far from being equal and fair for women, and the crisis has amplified this disparity. Women form 39 per cent of global employment but account for 54 per cent of overall job losses, according to McKinsey Global Institute. Covid-19 has also made women’s jobs 1.8 times more vulnerable than men’s jobs.

In a Deloitte Global survey that polled 400 working women across nine countries, nearly 82 per cent said they had been adversely impacted by the pandemic – largely due to shouldering more caregiving/homeschooling responsibilities. Of these, nearly 70 per cent were concerned about career progression.

Yet the fundamental human right of gender parity presents a critical economic opportunity. Righting the imbalance will help increase women’s economic participation and foster a more inclusive economy, which can drive sustainable development worldwide. This could mean adding US$13 trillion (S$17.3 trillion) to global gross domestic product (GDP) in 2030, according to McKinsey. But if nothing is done, global GDP growth could fall by US$1 trillion in 2030.

To counter this disparity and create an equal future for women, corporate and government policies must support women’s full economic participation. To do this, we should recognise three formidable identities of women: as worker, consumer and investor.

Women as workers

When schools in the United States resumed last September and instituted home- based learning, 80 per cent of the 1.1 million job-leavers were women. In December, women lost 156,000 jobs while men gained 16,000. To top it off, one in four women in the US is considering leaving the workplace due to challenges created by Covid-19, according to a joint report by McKinsey and LeanIn.org.

If issues are not addressed now, there would be fewer women leaders in the future.

Suffice it to say, there is still no equal pay for equal work. Singapore women still earned 6 per cent less than their male peers for doing the same work, according to a January 2020 report by Ministry of Manpower researchers Eileen Lin and Grace Gan and National University of Singapore economist Jessica Pan.

This is despite more women having higher educational attainment and increased workforce participation. Researchers attributed this difference to caregiving, a role that usually falls on women. Time taken off work leads to gaps in work experience, which affects career progression and earnings.

The gender pay gap was also due to women being more prevalent in sectors such as hospitality and healthcare having lower pay, compared with male-dominated occupations such as doctors and science, technology, engineering and mathematics professionals with typically higher pay.

Company and national policies should be designed to retain women workers. They should include tools for women to work remotely, retrain if necessary, maintain work- life balance as well as paid-leave policies that encompass childcare and eldercare.

In Singapore, a change in whole-of-nation/society mindset to share domestic responsibilities more equally is underway, with incentives for firms to adopt flexible work arrangements and increase paid paternity leave. This is significant, given the deep-rooted Asian mindset of gender stereotypes, and could pave the way for other Asian nations to follow.

Women as consumers

By 2030, 100 million more women will enter the global workforce, according to Frost & Sullivan’s Global Mega Trends to 2030.

This means that economic and financial power will shift significantly towards women. In fact, a Nielsen study showed that women are set to control 75 per cent of discretionary spending by 2028. Not only do they shop for themselves, they generally are in charge of household purchases. And if they like a brand, 85 per cent of women will remain loyal to it, Nielsen reported in 2018.

Yet media campaigns have been found lacking. In a 2018 study by Omnicom Media Group that surveyed 1,000 people, 39 per cent felt that advertising did not represent all genders accurately and 30 per cent said that brands misrepresented them and their gender.

Meanwhile, advertisements in Singapore were six times more likely to show women doing housework than men, and men were 32 per cent more likely to be featured in lead roles, according to a 2018-2020 study by Aware and marketing consultancy R3 of 200 television ads from Singapore’s top 100 advertisers.

Companies that pay heed to their messaging are duly rewarded. At Unilever, non-discriminatory advertising created 37 per cent more brand impact and a 28 per cent increase in purchase intent, a 2019 study by market researcher Kantar showed.

Upmarket exercise equipment company Peloton found this out the hard way. In November 2019, it released a 30-second video that showed a husband giving his wife a Peloton stationary bike. Critics slammed it for being sexist, tone-deaf and even dystopian. The backlash may have contributed to Peloton’s 15 per cent stock drop in three days, or about US$1.5 billion loss in market value. Peloton stood by its ad and insisted that the plunge was unrelated.

Companies that target the female audience should also track the percentage of women in managerial positions as well as on their boards. After all, companies with greater gender diversity were 25 per cent more likely to outperform their competition, McKinsey found in a 2020 report.

Women as investors

According to Boston Consulting Group, women are adding US$5 trillion per year to their assets globally and female-owned assets are likely to reach US$93 trillion by 2023. When making investment decisions, the study also found that while men mainly focused on an asset’s track record, women also considered environmental, social, and governance factors and preferred those that created positive impact as well.

Men were more willing to invest in speculative stocks that they believed would make money more quickly, but women preferred funds with a consistent record and diversified their investments, according to Warwick Business School’s 2018 study of 2,800 British men and women. The result of women’s more deliberative approach: Their returns were nearly 2 per cent higher than that of men’s, Warwick found.

As women accumulate more wealth, they are also challenging traditional notions of philanthropy. In the US, 93 per cent of high-net worth women gave money to charitable causes, compared with 87 per cent of men, according to the 2018 US Trust Study of High Net Worth Philanthropy.

Whereas donations used to be attributed to their husbands or made anonymously, women are becoming more visible on the philanthropic scene as they carve their own identities as a philanthropist, as seen in the case of Mrs Melinda Gates and Ms Priscilla Chan.

Women are also more inclined to give collectively and this has led to a proliferation of giving circles, where donors pool and decide together the allocation of proceeds. They also prefer to give to causes supporting girls and women, which they feel is most effective in addressing other societal issues, the Trust Study found.

Pre-Covid-19, the World Economic Forum estimated it would take 257 years to close the gender gap. Even as the world continues to grapple with the crisis, it is even more paramount now to take a gender lens in socio-economic policies with women playing a pivotal role in the post-pandemic economic recovery.

Trina Liang-Lin is Singapore’s newly appointed representative to the Group of Twenty for Women’s Economic Representation. She is past president of UN Women Singapore and the Financial Women’s Association, past vice-president of the Singapore Council of Women’s Organisations and past co-chair of BoardAgender.

Trina serves on the Board of the Community Foundation of Singapore since 1 September 2018.

Credit: The Straits Times © Singapore Press Holdings Limited. Permission required for reproduction.

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Events

Inspiring thoughts from our anniversary speeches

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A lady giving a speech at a podium

At CFS’s 10th anniversary event, it was the perfect moment to reflect on the sea of change in the philanthropy landscape over the past decade. But what lies ahead? Our three distinguished speakers – Grace Fu, Minister for Culture, Community and Youth, Catherine Loh, CEO of CFS, and Laurence Lien, Chairman of CFS – all struck home the point on philanthropy’s potential for growth in Singapore – through driving impact via new giving channels, collaboration and innovative approaches.

Here are three inspiring thoughts from the evening’s speeches:

Working together to build a caring Singapore.
The work at CFS contributes to SG Cares, because an impactful philanthropy landscape is a hallmark of a caring society, where those with resources give back effectively to help those in need. Collaboration is the way to go, and donors today are taking more initiative, and seeking more meaningful engagement opportunities. CFS is well positioned to seize these opportunities and provide the platforms.”
Grace Fu, Minister for Culture, Community and Youth
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Philanthropy will need to continue to evolve.
“While Singapore has progressed rapidly, the social challenges we face, from an ageing population to social inequality, have become more complex and interconnected. While the government tackles social issues on a large scale, there are always gaps that are in need of more support. It’s crucial for philanthropy to evolve to tackle these diverse issues within our community innovatively.”
Catherine Loh, CEO, CFS
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There’s room to dream bigger and beyond.
“I hope that in 2028, we will see mini community foundations in our neighbourhoods, in places like Toa Payoh, Queenstown and Punggol. (I hope) that we have democratised giving. Giving is not only for the rich; everyone should and can give. I hope to see young adults start donor advised funds with us, at smaller amounts of commitment, and our collective funds grow with widespread contributions. I hope to see CFS raise $1 billion in donor funds, maybe not in 10 years’ time, but at some point in the future.”
Laurence Lien, Chairman, CFS
Read more

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The competition was organised by City Harvest Community Services Association and received support from FUN! Fund, a Community Impact Fund jointly established by the Community Foundation of Singapore and the Agency for Integrated Care, with the aim of addressing social isolation among the elderly.

Senior Minister of State, Ministry of Communications and Information & Ministry of National Development Mr Tan Kiat How attended the event. He encouraged the elderly to stay physically and mentally well, as well as urging them to participate in community activities and enjoy their golden years together.

Learn more about FUN! Fund at https://www.cf.org.sg/fun-fund/.

 

The programme provides the children with a non-threatening platform to connect with peers and have positive conversations. In addition, it exposes them to different people who can assist to broaden their perspectives.

L.S., a volunteer with the Reading Odyssey programme @ Spooner Road

中心“常胜将军”胡锦盛:比赛限时反应要快

现年92岁的胡锦盛是最年长的参赛者。自2017年退休后,他几乎每天都到活跃乐龄中心报到,从此爱上了玩拉密,每次可玩上三个小时,在中心是“常胜将军”。

Picture of admin bluecube
admin bluecube

Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text of the printing and typesetting industry. Lorem Ipsum has been the industry's standard dummy text ever since the 1500s, when an unknown printer took a galley of type and scrambled it to make a type specimen book.

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