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IFPAS Renews Partnership with CFS, Commits $200,000 to IFPAS Love Fund
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Stories Of Impact

IFPAS Renews Partnership with CFS, Commits $200,000 to IFPAS Love Fund

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In celebration of their 55th Anniversary, the Insurance and Financial Practitioners Association of Singapore (IFPAS) extended their commitment to the Community Foundation of Singapore (CFS) by pledging an additional $200,000 over the next five years to their donor-advised fund (DAF), named the ‘IFPAS Love Fund’.

In celebration of their 55th Anniversary, the Insurance and Financial Practitioners Association of Singapore (IFPAS) extended their commitment to the Community Foundation of Singapore (CFS) by pledging an additional $200,000 over the next five years to their donor-advised fund (DAF), named the ‘IFPAS Love Fund’.

At the handshake ceremony between CFS and IFPAS, IFPAS President, Mr Ng Eng Beow, expressed his gratitude and vision for the partnership. He said, “Insurance is rooted in love. Love motivates us to protect ourselves and our loved ones. The IFPAS Love Fund was established seven years ago to channel our love to the wider community, and CFS has been our trusted partner in reaching out to those who need our help and support. We appreciate this collaboration, and we are excited for the future possibilities.”

IFPAS Love Fund was established in 2017 with the goal to enhance the organisation’s philanthropic efforts and create a sustainable platform for giving back to the community. To date, the fund has surpassed its initial target, disbursing a total of $225,000 towards programmes supporting children with special needs, disadvantaged communities, and healthcare initiatives.

Charities supported by the fund included SHINE Children and Youth Services, Dyslexia Association of Singapore, Special Needs Trust Company, the National Kidney Foundation, SPD, Down Syndrome Association (Singapore) as well as Daughters of Tomorrow.

We are very grateful for the support of IFPAS over the past seven years. Through their generosity, many individuals have received subsidised dialysis treatment, children from lower-income families have benefited from literacy programmes, and people with disabilities have received work integration support. IFPAS has truly made a significant impact on the lives of those in need.

We extend our heartfelt congratulations to IFPAS on 55 years of remarkable service. We look forward to continuing our partnership and working together to create a more caring and resilient society.

CFS offers personalised advice to help private and corporate donors achieve their philanthropic goals. Discover how you can begin your journey with us here: https://cf.org.sg/donors/how-we-assist-donors/.

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Stories Of Impact

The Business Times: A S$10m fund with a difference to address Singapore’s social issues

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It seeks to foster tie-ups among stakeholders for long-term initiatives, rather than one-off donations

By Claudia Tan

Lunch affairs with Singapore Exchange (SGX) head of global sales and origination and executive vice-president, Chew Sutat, does not come cheap. But it is not because he prefers fine dining or a lavish meal, but rather, he is always looking out for opportunities to raise funds.

Mr Chew is known for chairing the SGX charity initiative Bull Charge since 2011. He is also chairman of Caregivers Alliance and the Kaki Bukit Grassroots organisation, among other key positions he holds.

“That’s why people joke that lunch with me is very expensive because invariably, there is always some cause that someone resonates with and I happen to be able to be a channel to help them give back,” said Mr Chew.

His inclination to contribute to society can be attributed to his days as a boy scout in Anglo Chinese School (ACS).

“As a kid, my first interaction with social causes was raising money as a scout,” said Mr Chew. He also chaired the Interact Club, which provides opportunities for students to serve the community, in secondary school.

While he was actively involved in social and community-based activities in his early days, he admitted to taking a backseat upon enrolling in university and entering the corporate world.

It was only when former SGX chief executive officer Hsieh Fu Hua came into the scene that Mr Chew reignited his passion for philanthropy. Mr Hsieh was responsible for initiating the Bull Charge back in 2004 and had always championed for charitable causes.

“Fu Hua was an inspiration and after he left SGX, I had the opportunity to chair the internal SGX corporate social responsiblity activities. He is also one of my key mentors that got me more involved in charity and community work later in my corporate life,” said Mr Chew.

His involvement in charity and community work made him realise that there exists what he coined as a “market failure” in fundraising efforts.

“There are a lot of young folks who may have an interest in doing good and want to set up charities for causes they are passionate about but money from many foundation owners may not necessarily find the way to these people who want to do good.”

“And many of them with the best intentions don’t necessarily have the experience, network or professional ability to set things up,” he said.

That was why when the new initiative Mind the Gap 200 (MtG200) was brought to his attention, he seized the opportunity to be a part of it.

Kickstarted by chief executive officer of Pavilion Capital Tow Heng Tan, MtG200 is a S$10 million fund set up by 11 donors, in their own private capacities, with the Community Foundation of Singapore (CFS) to address social issues in Singapore. MtG200 targets needs in four main areas – community, education, healthcare, and sustainability.

Mr Chew, who is the youngest member in MtG200, said that it was humbling for him to be able to fill the gaps of the “market failure”.

“The fund can create confidence for new initiatives to kick off and be a platform for others who would like to give back and bring about catalytic change,” said Mr Chew.

What sets this fund apart is that it aims to foster collaboration among stakeholders for long-term initiatives, rather than one-off donations.

“The MtG200 family of funds can leverage on each other in terms of their individual expertise to create something that is much bigger than what they can do on their own,” said Joyce Teo, deputy chief executive officer of CFS.

This is contrary to current charity efforts that involve a lot of event-based fundraising.

“Current initiatives create a very transactional relationship between the giver and the charities,” she said.

A fund like MtG200 will build a longer-term relationship with the charity partners, creating sustainability in terms of funds going into the charity sector.

Last week, MtG200 had already made a commitment of S$500,000 to Assisi Hospice to look into building capabilities in manpower and innovations to deliver palliative care.

But Mr Chew acknowledged that sparking change in the society extends beyond fundraising, and manpower is needed on the ground.

He recounted how he often gets mocked by his wife, who is a volunteer at an after-school care for those who come from economically disadvantaged backgrounds.

“She said she is doing the real work while I sit on charity boards and do the boring stuff,” said Mr Chew.

The challenges faced in the charity scene are plenty but the needs are even more, he said

“Bottom line is that there is a role for every individual. You may not be able to write that big cheque but a small cheque can go a long way. You may not be able to go into the sector fulltime but you may volunteer in other ways.”

On rumours that his active involvement in grassroots work may position him for a career in politics, Mr Chew replied, “My present plate of professional responsibilities, community and volunteering work is already more than full – supported by a very patient wife. 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”。

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News

Sayang Sayang Fund – Let’s do more together!

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Healthcare professionals in scrubs engaged in a variety of tasks.

The Sayang Sayang Fund has reached our initial target of $500,000!

A big thank you to our generous donors, who helped us reach this amount in less than seven days.

From the $500,000 raised, CFS will be distributing transport vouchers to healthcare institutions from 19 February 2020. Grants will also be distributed to charities that help disadvantaged individuals who have been further challenged by the heightened precautionary measures, such as vulnerable seniors and low income families.

The heart-warming outpouring of love and support has motivated us to extend our target to raise another $150,000, to support healthcare professionals like home care nurses, as well as those in nursing homes and shelters. The money will be used to appreciate these equally selfless heroes, who are committed to continuing their services for the vulnerable.

Launched on 11 February, CFS has designated the Sayang Sayang Fund a community impact fund that will support the vulnerable in our community during times of national crises.

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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”。

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News

Around 7,000 school children in need of support for meals

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Children happily sitting on the floor, smiling and radiating joy.

A four-week ‘circuit breaker’ is the latest challenge to hit Singapore, as a pre-emptive strategy to curb the spread of COVID-19. As students transition to over three weeks of learning at home, about 7,000 children will miss access to food they would normally get in school, compounding difficulties in continuing their education at home.

As mentioned in Parliament by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance, Mr Heng Swee Keat on 7 April 2020, CFS today bolstered efforts to generate support for the Sayang Sayang Fund (SSF). Donations to this fund will complement the work of local public health, non-profit and government entities with emergency support.

CFS now seeks another $3 million for the SSF, to meet evolving and urgent needs of the community. This includes the launch of Recess@Home, a meal programme that will provide disadvantaged students with support for their meals and ensure that children do not go hungry.

Speaking on the SSF, Chief Executive Officer of the Community Foundation of Singapore, Ms Catherine Loh shared, “During these tough times, we hope that the Sayang Sayang Fund will be able to provide immediate and longer-term support not just for the frontline workers but also the vulnerable groups like low-income families and elderly. With programmes such as Recess@Home, we want to help the children whose families are already dealing with many other difficulties due to the COVID-19 crisis. The Community Foundation of Singapore and the Sayang Sayang Fund remain sensitive to the needs of the community and we urge everyone to rally together to overcome this challenging period.”

CFS raised $1.1 million earlier after the launch of SSF in February. However, the increasing severity of the COVID-19 situation and more adverse impact on the economy and society have seen a surge in the demand for charity services.

Donors wishing to donate can do so via PayNow or visit our SSF campaign at giving.sg. Should you require any assistance or if you would like to set up your personal giving campaign in support of the SSF, please visit https://www.cf.org.sg/ or contact us at contactus@cf.org.sg.

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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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

Meet Singapore’s newer philanthropic foundations: They give millions, seeking to spark social change

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Lew Chee Beng (left) founded the Lew Foundation in 2015, while Chua Thian Poh and his siblings set up the Chua Foundation in 2015.

Self-made businessman Lew Chee Beng, 73, is giving away a substantial part of his fortune through a foundation. Since he founded the Lew Foundation in 2015, it has donated more than $12 million to charitable causes. Mr Yeo Puay Hin, the foundation’s executive director and Mr Lew’s son-in-law, said of his father-in-law: “He came from humble beginnings, so it’s about gratitude – to give back to society and helping those who are disadvantaged.”

The Lew Foundation was the 16th-largest philanthropic foundation here, giving out $2.8 million in donations in 2019, according to a recent report on the largest foundations here. Mr Lew, who has four children, built his wealth from a range of businesses, such as Soon Huat Goldsmith and pawnshop chain Shing Heng Group. The foundation’s main focus is to help the vulnerable elderly and young people, and it does so through supporting healthcare and social services serving these two groups. For example, it is supporting about five nursing homes, fulfilling Mr Lew’s late mother’s wish of setting up a nursing home.

The Lew Foundation is one of the newer foundations listed in a recent report by Soristic Impact Collective, a consultancy, that shed light on the largest philanthropic foundations here in terms of expenditure. The research found that foundations set up by some of Singapore’s richest men are among the top 10 biggest givers out of the 91 foundations here. The Lee Foundation, founded by the late rubber tycoon Lee Kong Chian in 1952, topped the list, disbursing $52 million in donations in its latest financial year. 

In total, the 91 foundations spent over $264 million in their latest financial year to support a variety of causes, from education and healthcare to people with disabilities and environmental causes. And beyond the big bucks the foundations are giving away, what is noteworthy is that about 40 per cent of the 91 foundations were registered as a charity since 2011, a Straits Times check found.

Soristic’s principal consultant Pauline Tan said the growing number of the very wealthy here and a growing interest in philanthropy are driving the rise in the number of foundations set up in the past decade. There is also a growing ecosystem to support philanthropy, she said.

This includes the Asia Philanthropy Circle, a platform for Asian philanthropists to collaborate and address social problems, and The Majurity Trust, which provides philanthropic advice and grants.

Among those registered as charities in the past decade are corporate foundations, such as Keppel Group’s Keppel Care Foundation and Changi Airport Group’s Changi Foundation. The Keppel Care Foundation was ranked 13th on the Soristic report, while Changi Foundation took the 20th spot.

Then, there are individuals who made good in life who set up foundations in the past decade.

They include the Chua Foundation (29th) and the TL Whang Foundation (57th). Property magnate Chua Thian Poh, founder of Ho Bee Group, and his siblings set up the Chua Foundation in 2015. The TL Whang Foundation, registered as a charity in 2019, was started with donations by Mr Whang Tar Liang and his family. He is the younger of two brothers who built up Lam Soon Group, known for its consumer goods such as the Knife brand cooking oil.

How philanthropy is practised here has changed, with more foundations and donors looking beyond giving out cheques to seeking to create a real impact or bring about social change. Many of them are a lot more invested in the projects they fund, from being involved in the design of the programme to measuring its impact, said those interviewed.

The Community Foundation of Singapore (CFS) chief executive Catherine Loh said: “Donors are becoming more focused on strategic philanthropy, as opposed to outright charity. They see their donations as social investments that will bring about social change.”

“As such, they are more willing to provide longer-term support and willing to give a longer time horizon to allow change to occur.”

CFS enables donors who pledge at least $200,000 to set up a donor-advised fund. It manages the money, advises donors on the needs in the community and disburses the funds according to their wishes.

At the Quantedge Foundation, set up in 2015, its three full-time staff engage its community partners and beneficiaries to understand their needs, identify programmes to support, and assess the outcomes achieved.

Mr Suhaimi Zainul-Abidin, the foundation’s director, said: “We believe that philanthropy is uniquely positioned to take on calculated risks with innovative, untested approaches to solving social issues, so as to encourage experimentation by the social sector, demonstrate the viability of new ideas and drive longer-lasting change.”

Senior staff of Quantedge Capital, an investment management firm, donate annually to the Quantedge Foundation – “giving more in years when business is good and bonuses are high, and less in leaner times”, he added.

The foundation’s core focus is improving social mobility.

He said: “If we do not, collectively as a society, recognise that this is an issue that we should pay particular attention to, we may well sleepwalk into a stratified, divided society in the future.”

For example, Quantedge Foundation initiated talks with the Singapore Management University and Singapore University of Technology and Design to co-design and seed-fund an initiative, where financially needy Singaporean students will get a full financial aid package that makes their entire university education tuition free.

It also worked with a charity, Playeum, to pilot a series of science, technology, engineering, arts and maths workshops as an after-school developmental programme for children from lower-income families.

Since it was registered as a charity, the Quantedge Foundation has disbursed $7.4 million in grants and committed to giving another $8 million or so more.

The Soristic report ranked the Quantedge Foundation 22nd on its list, disbursing $2.3 million in grants in 2019.

Mr Suhaimi said: “In today’s knowledge-based, technologically driven capitalist society, the winners win by such a large margin that it is not quite right to keep all the gains without sharing some with the wider community.

“One of our hopes is that wealthy individuals, families and companies will find resonance in what the Quantedge Foundation is doing, and in time, give back to the society in their own way.”

If you have an interest in strategic philanthropy or would like to start a donor-advised fund with us, visit here.

This article was originally published in The Straits Times here. Source: The Straits Times © Singapore Press Holdings Limited. Permission required for reproduction.

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