After 20 years in this country, which he now calls home and where he was able to start and grow a successful business in water filtration, Mr Govind Bommi thought it was time to give back.He called his lawyer in 2015, and said he wanted to start his own charity fund.
CEO Catherine Loh was featured in the National Arts Council’s latest issue of The Art of Giving offering her insights on encouraging giving to the arts.
Is dementia an inevitable part of ageing? Can nothing can be done to change its course?Dementia patients are oft-times negatively perceived as ‘senile’ or ‘confused’, with little measures taken to empower patients to maintain an active mind. If their symptoms are ‘generalised’, this may lead to care that negates the patient’s individualised needs.
CFS’s 10th anniversary celebrations kicked off to a wonderful start with a Lunar New Year lunch on 1 March.Themed “A decade of giving and gratitude”, the event was a testament to CFS’s journey from a quiet start-up a decade ago to a thriving organisation today.
As persons with disabilities reach age 18 and exit the school system, they face new life challenges, including living their desired life and gaining access to care and support. With a keen eye on identifying opportunities to improve the lives of these individuals, we kicked off the Colabs Disability series which focused on engagement pathways and employment through catalysing cross-sector collaboration.As part of the series, participants were recently invited to the MINDS’ Idea Employment Development Centre to understand what a sheltered employment workshop in Singapore would look like. Made up of a diverse group, including social enterprises, corporates, philanthropic institutions, government agencies and non-profits, the group bonded over a common desire to learn and do more for persons with disabilities.
Collaboration for social change has been a hot topic of late. Collaboration’s appeal is apparent in a world beset by complex and evolving social issues — alone we can only do so much, but work together, and look at the change we can achieve.In the same vein, Colabs, a philanthropic initiative by the Community Foundation of Singapore (CFS) and National Volunteer and Philanthropy Centre (NVPC), drives collaboration by bringing together the public, private and social sectors to tackle complex social issues. In particular, Colabs aims to empower givers to discover the roles they can play alongside existing efforts by government and non-profits.
新加坡社区基金会成立10年来，设立或管理的慈善基金从2008年的两 个增至今年2月的110个，而基金会筹获的善款也已达1亿元，发放的 款项达6000万元，惠及的慈善团体多达400个。Song Huichun
For vulnerable children and youths from disadvantaged families, daily life is often filled with myriad challenges. Many ‘troubled’ children and youths become at risk for delinquency and fail to complete school. Naturally, most of them don’t realise their full potential and may suffer from poor self-esteem or mental health issues.As one of the few social work agencies with an added competency in educational psychology, Students Care Service (SCS) has an established track record of tackling issues faced by children and youths living at the margins. Today, it reaches over 6,500 children and youths each year through its centres and intervention programmes.
I think we can all agree every individual has something unique to give back and offer to society. And yet, when thinking about legacy, how often do we realise that every action we take, however large or small, is actually creating our legacy? Perhaps some of us believe legacy giving is only for wealthier individuals, or that legacy giving can only be defined in financial terms.It’s important to realise legacy is much more than just financial in nature. Your legacy also includes your personal or business values, the values you have inculcated in your children. It encompasses the giving of your time, expertise and even your resources to empower someone in need. Think about creating a legacy as living a life of generosity, in ways that make meaningful social impact while aligning to your values.
Increasingly, individuals and family businesses are consciously looking at ways to create positive social impact through philanthropy – but in today’s world, what does creating a legacy mean from divergent perspectives, from individuals to families, from parent to child?Last November, the CRIB x CFS Legacy and Impact cocktail event brought two prominent families, with extensive histories of giving, together with philanthropists and social capital investors to reflect upon these questions.
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