Lunar New Year celebrations and collaborations 2017
John Doe
This year, CFS’s annual appreciation lunch was held on 8 February at the Regent Singapore. Some 120 guests attended the event which is CFS’s way of saying ‘thank you’ to our donors, charities and partners for their unwavering support. True to the spirit of celebrations, there were happy handshakes, endless conversations and a festive, convivial atmosphere all around. Donors met charity partners, old friends made new friends.
National Volunteer & Philanthropy Centre (NVPC) joined CFS as co-host this year as we launched Colabs – a learning network that brings together different stakeholders in the giving system to enable greater and deeper social impact. Chairpersons Laurence Lien and Mildred Tan and CEOs Catherine Loh and Melissa Kwee of CFS and NVPC respectively put their collective signatures on the Colabs board to kickstart this exciting initiative. It is hoped that more signatures will be gathered as we embark on this collaborative journey.
As CFS CEO Catherine Loh said in her thank you speech, it is through the many collaborations between donors and partners that CFS has been able to enable so many impactful programmes through the years. We certainly look forward to many more ahead.
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Stories Of Impact
#MyGivingJourney X Jeya Ayadurai: Bringing her people and strategic skills to nonprofits
John Doe
CFS is proud to launch our #MyGivingJourney series, which portrays extraordinary women and their efforts in philanthropy as part of celebrating the women of Singapore in the year 2021. Our first story features Jeya Ayadurai, AWWA Board Director & member of CFS’s Finance & HR Committee.
Giving back is more than just about money, says Jeya Ayadurai. “You can use your skills, you can do some mentoring or you can just spend time reading to kids in a school,” she says. Having blazed a trail in the civil service and corporate world helping organisations and people thrive, Jeya is doing just that – sharing her knowledge, experience and ideas with nonprofits.
Social service organisations are very good at caring for people, she notes. “But heart and hands have also to be guided by the head. You have to look at developing your talent. You need to strengthen your organisation structures and practices to reach out to even more clients. You need to measure performance and ensure that your leaders are aligned with the company’s strategy,” says Jeya, who has a wealth of experience in senior roles in regional human resources (HR) and strategic change management. As she sees it, welfare organisations have more balls in the air to juggle compared to profit-driven entities.
The pandemic has thrown even more balls into the mix. COVID-19 has upended how charities raise funds and interact with beneficiaries and volunteers. “With physical contact limited and connections moving online, how do you create stickiness with your donors, staff and volunteers? We need new ways of managing and engaging with them,” she notes.
Jeya sits on the board of AWWA Ltd, a registered charity that works to empower persons with disabilities, disadvantaged families and vulnerable seniors. She is also chairperson of AWWA’s HR committee. More recently, Jeya joined the Finance & Human Resources committee of the Community Foundation of Singapore (CFS).
Where she once worked with private sector CEOs to drive their people strategies and organisational development, she now works with the leadership of AWWA and CFS to develop performance metrics, appraisal structures, compensation packages and people management processes.
Jeya has volunteered with AWWA for 18 years and she is proud of how AWWA has helped strengthen the social services sector in Singapore. For Jeya, philanthropic work has made her a whole person. A career in the corporate world tends to be driven by bottom-line and measurable outcomes. In community work, when the head, heart and hands come together, clients are empowered to rise above their own limitations and achieve more holistic outcomes. Being humane brings happiness all around, she firmly believes.
Begin your own journey of giving with CFS. Read more about #MyGivingJourney series here.
This article was written by Sunita Sue Leng, a former financial analyst and journalist, who believes that the written word can be a force for good. She hopes to someday write something worth plagiarising.
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News
Business Times: UBS, CampVision mentor 100 youths
John Doe
President Halimah Yacob presented 100 youths with certificates after they graduated from the UBS-CampVision Lead Academy programme last Saturday.
The Lead programme partners youths with volunteer mentors from UBS to help them develop effective communication skills and self-leadership. The bank also engages executive leadership coaches to facilitate the learning process.
The programme is made up of 11 sessions conducted over six months. In addition to skills training, both youths and volunteer mentors are guided to develop and achieve personal goals relating to communication or self-leadership.
Since 2014, more than 230 UBS staff and 700 youths have participated in UBS-CampVision related events.
This year, over 40 volunteer mentors partnered 100 youths, aged 13 to 16 years, from seven schools.
“At UBS Singapore, we believe that we have a responsibility to the local community and we are honoured to help groom Singapore’s next generation through the Lead programme,” said Teo Say Lie, the country operating officer of UBS Singapore.
The UBS-CampVision Lead Academy is the cornerstone of UBS’ youth engagement efforts throughout the year.
Among the highlights are the Race Around the Marina Bay team-building event in January for underprivileged youths, which lets them learn about teamwork and leadership.
The Community Foundation of Singapore also helps to facilitate the partnership between UBS and CampVision, as well as the development of the Lead programme. 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.
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
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Opinion
Sustainable Philanthropy Matters: Navigating the SDGs with Philanthropy
John Doe
In this three-part series ‘Sustainable Philanthropy Matters’, we explore the surprisingly intimate relationship between philanthropy and sustainability and how the practice of one can in fact, lead to the advancement of the other. Both of these issues are close to our hearts here at CFS and we want to share how our philanthropy can help preserve our planet, our communities and our future.
Philanthropy has traditionally been aimed at supporting societal needs. In recent years, the increasingly pressing demand for climate reformation requires the influx of tremendous funding to support the advancement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), from R&D and technological applications to conservation and community efforts. Beyond the responsibilities of governments and businesses, philanthropy has a huge role to play. While this may sound novel, it actually is not and, in this third and final instalment of Sustainable Philanthropy Matters, we examine how philanthropy can help stem the tide of climate change.
At first glance, the 17 SDGs might seem a little daunting, like some miniature Periodic Table meant to scare students. It may help to see this as one concerted effort to effect long-lasting change, to ensure the sustainable survival and thriving of both People and Planet.
The first spells an annual onslaught of respiratory problems as haze blankets the country while the latter two impact our food supply, namely oranges and smoked salmon.
Everyone’s Cost to Bear
Those three problems are just some of the innumerable issues worldwide that the SDGs seek to address. A glance at the big picture shows that achieving the SDGs has a hefty price tag of an estimated $5t to $7t, although the silver lining of this is that that achievement could open up $12t of market opportunities (United Nations, 2022).
However, the localised impact demonstrated above makes it abundantly clear that we all have a stake in ensuring that those goals are achieved. Singapore’s enhanced Nationally Determined Contributions (NCCS, 2022) towards the SDGs, executed through initiatives such as the Green Plan 2030 (SG Green Plan, 2022) and 30 by 30 (SFA, 2021), cannot be achieved by the public and private sector alone. It requires individuals’ combined efforts, through practice and philanthropy.
The role of and need for philanthropy is even greater when we consider the Singaporean Government’s stance to avoid being a welfare state and instead, offer tiered and limited safety nets for those in need (MOF, 2020). While there is certainly a need to address the SDGs in the local context—such as those relating to poverty, hunger, health and education—Singaporeans are required to help themselves in this meritocratic system.
Partly because this is clearly easier said than done, a small sum is deducted from employees’ wages in Singapore that goes towards four racially-oriented Self Help Groups. So unless one opts out of this scheme, every salaried resident in Singapore is already involved in some form of philanthropy.
While there are thankfully many generous donors out there, there is also a baffling number of charities and IPCs (Institutes of Public Character, which are held to even more stringent governance standards): 2,281 at the end of 2019, to be exact (MCCY, 2020, pages 13 and 17). Just like the SDGs, more charities are related to addressing societal needs than environmental ones.
Yet, there are still a lot of untapped opportunities. We need to develop programmes and build the capability that will allow our social sector to effectively address the SDGs in the local context and with environmental considerations. That requires funding — for research, pilot programmes and training.
A Touch of Philanthropic Professionalism
In breaking all this new ground, it is prudent to apply a layer of Governance checks over the Social and Environmental orientations and objectives of all the organisations and programmes.
Thankfully, one does not need to worry too much about Governance here in Singapore. Local regulations require charities and IPCs alike to be transparent about their operations, activities and finances.
As a winner of two accolades for transparency and governance at the 2019 Charity Governance Awards, CFS is ever-cognisant of the importance of balancing the outputs and outcomes of charities and their activities with their strategy and operational methods.
If you would like to know more about how CFS can help you source for, identify and evaluate programmes that both meet your philanthropic preferences and address the SDGs, please visit here.
To read the other 2 stories in the ‘Sustainable Philanthropy Matters’ series, please click below:
This article was written by Adam, a Principal Consultant with CFS and an experienced sustainability practitioner. He is an advocate for sustainable practices. His colleagues are still wondering how his monthly household utilities bill is only around $70.
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this publication are those of the author. They do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of CFS or its members.
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News
Fewer homeless people sleeping on S’pore streets last year; city area has highest number
John Doe
The number of homeless people in Singapore fell slightly last year, at a time when homelessness was on the rise in many countries amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
But the issue of homelessness also became less visible, as more people who would have slept on the streets went to stay at temporary shelters.
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.
The second nationwide street count of the homeless here found 1,036 people last year – 7 per cent less than the 1,115 people during the first such count in 2019.
That first nationwide street count has been described as a landmark study of an issue that was hidden from public discourse until recent years.
While the overall number has fallen slightly, where the homeless make their bed for the night has also changed.
The second street count found that those sleeping on the streets fell by 41 per cent from 1,050 in 2019 to 616 last year, while those staying at a temporary shelter for the homeless shot up from 65 to 420 in the same time period.
Dr Ng Kok Hoe, a senior research fellow at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, led a team of researchers at the school’s Social Inclusion Project to do the street count. They were aided by over 200 volunteers who pounded the streets, including combing 12,000 blocks of flats, late at night between February and April last year to count the number of people sleeping in public spaces.
The data on the number staying at temporary shelters for the homeless, which was provided by the Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF), was included for the first time in last year’s count for a fuller understanding of the state of homelessness here.
The 78-page report was released on Thursday (Aug 11). The project was not commissioned by the Government and was funded by the Community Foundation of Singapore, Dr Ng said.
He said government agencies and volunteers reached out to those sleeping rough during the circuit breaker in 2020 to refer them to shelters and many of the homeless, who were also concerned about their health and safety, decided to go into one.
Some religious and charity groups opened their premises for the homeless for the night, as demand for places in such Safe Sound Sleeping Places soared. Two new transitional shelters, which offer a longer stay, also started operation in January last year, the report said.
These factors led to more staying at shelters and fewer on the streets, Dr Ng said.
From the second street count, the homeless were found sleeping in most parts of Singapore, from Bedok to Jurong West to Yishun. But more of them were found in larger, older and poorer neighbourhoods.
Some 72 persons were found sleeping in the City area, or downtown, which has the largest number of homeless persons.
The city area, or downtown, has the largest number of homeless people, though it fell last year from the 2019 count.
Most of the homeless are elderly men and the report pointed out that few women sleep on the streets due to safety concerns.
Last year’s count found a sharp decline in those sleeping rough in commercial buildings, like shopping malls and office blocks, and more slept at places like void decks, parks and playgrounds.
The report pointed out that while the pandemic triggered their admission into a shelter, the homeless person’s housing woes started long before Covid-19 struck.
Highly subsidised public rental housing will always be the last safety net for the most vulnerable, Dr Ng said.
However, he singled out the design of the Joint Singles Scheme, which is under the public rental housing scheme, as a “significant contributing factor to homelessness”. This is because two singles, who are often strangers, share a tiny HDB rental flat which usually have no bedrooms, and the lack of privacy or personal space may lead to conflict.
And some would rather sleep on the streets instead, he said.
The HDB and the Ministry of National Development (MND) recognise the challenges some have applying for or sharing a rental flat and they have been reviewing and adjusting the Joint Singles Scheme in recent years, the MSF said in a statement in response to the street count.
For example, since December last year (2021), the HDB and MND started a pilot scheme where social service agencies match tenants with similar preferences and habits to share a flat. Under this pilot, singles can apply for a public rental flat by themselves, without having to find a flatmate first.
Flats under this pilot come with partitions installed
Applicants’ eligibility and rent are assessed individually.
The HDB and MND are assessing the effectiveness of this pilot project to see whether to scale it up over time, the statement said.
The MSF said there has been a steady and collective progress in whole-of-society efforts to reach out to and support rough sleepers, to help them off the streets and into shelters.
It cited the 57-member Partners Engaging and Empowering Rough Sleepers (Peers) Network, which comprises government agencies, religious groups and charities working together to ensure better coordination and synergy in the delivery of services to help the homeless.
The network’s partners have set up Safe Sound Sleeping Places. There are now about 20 such Places, which shelter about 100 homeless individuals. In addition, there are currently six transitional shelters serving families and about 270 individuals.
Since April 2020, over 680 homeless individuals who stayed at the various shelters have moved on to longer-term housing.
And since April this year, the MSF has been working with partners from the Peers Network and academic advisers to plan regular street counts. The first such coordinated street count will take place by the end of the year.
It said: “The street count will help us to collectively better understand the scale and geographical spread of rough sleeping in Singapore and render coordinated support to rough sleepers in need.”
Who were the homeless during the pandemic
Long-term homeless(those who were homeless before the pandemic)
Newly homeless(those who had not slept rough before the pandemic)
Transnational homeless(Singaporeans who live in Indonesia and Malaysia but travel to Singapore for work)
Sex
• More men than women
• Mix of men and women
• Almost all men
Age
• From 30s to 70s
• From 30s to 70s
• Mostly in their 50s
Family relationships
• Almost all divorced, separated or never married
• Having past conflict and estrangement, with many having lost contact with their family
• Almost all divorced, separated or never married
• Family relationships distant and strained, but connection remains
• Long-term drift and overseas travel
• Some had a spouse and young children in their adoptive countries whom they are still connected to
Work and finances
• Low-wage and insecure jobs
• Extreme poverty
• Low-wage and insecure jobs, with a few having had better paying jobs in the past
• Difficulty meeting basic needs
• Regular border crossings for low-wage and insecure jobs in Singapore
• A few did informal work outside Singapore
• Low income
Housing histories
• Lost matrimonial home or never purchased housing
• Encountered barriers in public rental system
• Episodes of low- cost market rentals
• Lost matrimonial home or never purchased housing
• Moved frequently to stay with family, friends
• In low-cost market rental units
• Lived in Malaysia or Indonesia
• Encountered difficulties obtaining public housing in Singapore for non-citizen family members
Rough sleeping
• From a few months to many years
• No more than a few days when displaced during the pandemic
• A mix of experiences, from rough sleeping to staying in homeless shelters
How they entered a shelter*
• Found by volunteers or field workers while rough sleeping during pandemic
• Some self-referrals
• Self-referrals when pandemic disrupted housing arrangements
• Most were stopped at immigration checkpoints and directed to a shelter after border closures**
*Homelessness counts usually include both rough sleepers (primary homelessness) and persons in homeless shelters (secondary homelessness).
**Those entering Singapore from Malaysia just before the borders were closed were identified as having no housing and referred for assistance so they could comply with Covid-19 rules on staying indoors
Table: STRAITS TIMES GRAPHICS Source: LEE KUAN YEW SCHOOL OF PUBLIC POLICY
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