Stories Of Impact

The REDAS Solidarity Project Fund: Caring for migrant workers affected by COVID-19

Stories Of Impact

Home Resources News The REDAS Solidarity Project Fund: Caring for migrant workers affected by COVID-19

Stories Of Impact

The REDAS Solidarity Project Fund: Caring for migrant workers affected by COVID-19

John Doe

Among the vulnerable communities in Singapore impacted by COVID-19, it is the community of migrant workers who have toiled invisibly to help build our nation that has been very heavily affected. Infection amongst their community has been widespread, and a large number of them are confined to their dormitories, unable to leave.

It is thus very encouraging that the Singapore government and many other organisations have stepped up to give assistance and support to them in their isolation.

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To help ease their plight, the Real Estate Developers Association of Singapore (REDAS) announced on 30th April the launch of the REDAS Solidarity Project Fund. Its aim is to provide aid and relief to the segments of the community most affected by COVID-19, particularly in the built environment sector where many migrant workers are employed.

So far, more than 50 REDAS members have contributed $760,000 to the Fund, which was also launched to show appreciation for Singapore’s healthcare workers.

Through collaboration with the Community Foundation of Singapore (CFS) and other partners such as the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) and Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA), REDAS was able to promptly roll out the initiative to demonstrate our community’s stand for Singapore’s migrant workers.

“Our migrant workers are the cornerstone of society and it is important to recognise their valuable contributions,’’ says Deputy CEO of CFS Joyce Teo. “CFS fully supports such efforts to ensure that they receive the best possible assistance during their time of need. ’’

To mark the start of their giving, REDAS distributed 200,000 care packs to as many workers in factory-converted dormitories through the Migrant Workers’ Centre (MWC). These care packs will include toiletries such as toothbrushes, toothpaste, a shaver and a bar of soap. In addition, 800 standing fans will also be donated to dormitories to help improve ventilation for the workers.

“Given the large number of migrant workers under quarantine in dormitories, there is great urgency for us to meet their essential needs amid the COVID-19 pandemic,” says REDAS President Mr Chia Ngiang Hong. “We hope this collective effort to spread a little kindness to the migrant workers will provide the much needed emotional support to help them ride out this difficult period.”

The May Day Gift event to distribute the care packs was graced by National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) Secretary-General Mr Ng Chee Meng, and joined by URA Chief Executive Lim Mr Eng Hwee, REDAS President Mr Chia Ngiang Hong and MWC Chairman Mr Yeo Guat Kwang.

“We are very happy to have REDAS partner with us to support our migrant workers in the factory-converted dormitories,’ says MWC Chairman Yeo Guat Kwang. “We are really very thankful to everyone for giving a helping hand to our migrant workers in this challenging time.”

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John Doe

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”。

Related Topics For You: CHARITY STORIES, DIRECT AID, DONOR STORIES, INCLUSIVITY & INTEGRATION, STORIES OF IMPACT

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Stories Of Impact

Empowering Seniors to Age Well

June 18, 2024

John Doe

By 2030, one in four Singaporeans will be 65 or older (Population in Brief, 2022), making Singapore a “super-aged” society. This significant demographic shift means that more people will be required to serve as caregivers, and demand for community services and healthcare support will rise. As our population ages, more emphasis is being placed on allowing seniors to age comfortably in their own homes and communities.

At the Community Foundation of Singapore (CFS), we believe seniors should be able to age with dignity, while pursuing meaningful activities, and having access to personalised care.

To this end, our donors support a range of programmes and activities designed to support seniors and their caregivers.

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Set up during the covid-19 pandemic, Sayang Sayang Fund raised $9.7m over three years, supporting over 400,000 lives
应疫情设立 Sayang Sayang基金三年筹970万元惠及40万人

Caregiving Welfare Association – Home Personal Care

In 2017, the Caregiving Welfare Association (CWA) introduced its Home Personal Care service which aims to provide long-term support for frail seniors living alone, and elderly couples without children. This is to address the growing need for personalised care among the elderly, particularly those without immediate family support.

Professional caregivers conduct comprehensive assessments of clients’ needs and assist with daily activities such as showering, housekeeping, and grocery shopping. They also engage clients in mind-stimulating activities, help with medication reminders, manage appointments, and offer respite care for primary caregivers.

One client, Madam Oh (not her real name), says the convenience and familiarity of receiving care at home has significantly reduced her stress and improved her mood.

Thanks to CWA's service, I can live more comfortably, confidently, and joyfully. Beyond the invaluable assistance, it's the warmth of companionship that truly touches my heart.

Mdm Oh

St Joseph’s Home – Dusk to Dawn Night Respite Programme

St Joseph’s Home offers several programmes, including their Dusk to Dawn Night Respite Programme. This allows families caring for an elder with conditions like dementia or sundowning syndrome to have some night respite. Clients can use the service a few nights a week or on an ad-hoc basis. The facility prioritises clients’ well-being by providing a restful environment and keeps them engaged and entertained.

Yong-en Care Centre – Home Care Service

To support seniors with limited mobility and chronic health conditions as they recover at home following a hospital discharge, the nurses and support staff at Yong-en Care Center’s Home Care Service closely monitor patients’ health, administer medications and medical procedures, and provide virtual support to patients and caregivers through tele-consultations. In addition to addressing medical needs, the staff also assist clients in navigating support systems to apply for necessary funding and subsidies, and coordinates with social service professionals from Yong-en or external agencies should follow-up be needed. A beneficiary of the Home Care Service shared the following thoughts: “When people ask about Yong-en, I would always tell them that the staff are great and really have the heart for seniors like me.”

Thanks to programmes like these, seniors in Singapore can receive quality care, empowering them to age in place with peace of mind. Another community-focused effort launched by CFS in partnership with the Agency for Integrated Care (AIC) is the FUN! Fund. The FUN! fund supports initiatives that inject fun for seniors receiving Community Care services, helping them design novel and impactful programmes that boost the well-being of older adults. You can read more about the fund here.

To learn more about the causes we support and how to contribute, visit https://cf.org.sg/charities/causes-beneficiaries-we-support/

References

Population in brief 2022 (2022) The Strategy Group in the Prime Minister’s Office. Available at: https://www.strategygroup.gov.sg/files/media-centre/publications/population-in-brief-2022.pdf

Related Topics For You: CHARITY STORIES, DIRECT AID, DONOR STORIES, INCLUSIVITY & INTEGRATION, STORIES OF IMPACT

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Stories Of Impact

#MyGivingJourney x Trina Liang-Lin: Investing in a sustainable future

John Doe

#MyGivingJourney is a series by CFS to celebrate inspiring women and their work in the philanthropy sector. We are proud to feature Trina Liang-Lin, Managing Director at Templebridge Investments and Board of Director at CFS.

Trina had a back to nature, farm to table experience growing up. Right up to the late 80s, her father’s family-owned farms in Lim Chu Kang, raising chickens, ducks and cultivating vegetables. That gave her a front row seat to the benefits of producing our own food and using natural resources thoughtfully.

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Today, Trina is investing her time and resources to push eco-consciousness to the top of our agenda. In November 2021, she led the launch of Women in Sustainability and Environment (WISE), the first women’s society in Singapore to focus concerted gender action towards Singapore’s Green Plan 2030 and the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal 12.

WISE hopes to educate and empower a community of women who, in their roles as consumers, business owners and professionals, can move the needle on creating a greener world. This will be done through lectures, mentorships and awards. “Climate change disproportionately affects women and girls around the world so it is important for women to be represented in eco leadership circles and in green economy jobs. We need greater participation, inclusiveness and visibility of key female stakeholders in sustainability and climate advocacy,” says Trina, who works for a US$5 billion global fund where she focuses on clean energy investments in Southeast Asia.

Trina has been elbow-deep in social and community work for much of her professional life. The causes she champions are decidedly diverse: she has given her time and expertise to uplift women, the arts, education and animal welfare. She helped found the Financial Women’s Association Singapore, which offers women in finance a support network, and was a past-President of UN Women (Singapore). She is currently Singapore’s representative to the G20 for Women.

Her giving journey has seen her serve on the boards of the National Volunteer and Philanthropy Centre, Singapore Council of Women’s Organisations and Sentosa Development Corporation. In line with her passion for conserving wild species and their habitat, she currently volunteers on the boards of the World Wildlife Fund for Nature (WWF-Singapore) and the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. That’s not all: Trina is also a board member of Victoria Junior College and the Singapore Repertory Theatre.

For their 20^th wedding anniversary in 2016, Trina and her husband Edmund Lin established a foundation to give back in a more strategic and effective way. They explored different avenues but opted to go with CFS as it works closely with over 400 charities across a wide spectrum and can establish philanthropic funds seamlessly and quickly. Their Lin Foundation has supported causes that resonate with them, such as education, where they fund scholarships at Singapore Management University.

“We decided to start giving back relatively early as we want to start making an impact now rather than later,” says Trina. “This is a long-term commitment for us and with CFS expertly guiding us in managing a foundation and making grants, our giving is optimised and can be scaled up further.”

Begin your own journey of giving with CFS. Read more stories about the #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.

Related Topics For You: CHARITY STORIES, DIRECT AID, DONOR STORIES, INCLUSIVITY & INTEGRATION, STORIES OF IMPACT

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News

National Legacy Giving initiative to inspire philanthropic culture in Singapore

John Doe

Private philanthropy has an important role to play in providing much needed support for the community. The Community Foundation of Singapore (CFS) kicks off this initiative today with “A Greater Gift” campaign, to boost awareness and drive conversations for legacy giving and its value to the community.

According to a Social Pulse Survey 1, there is a disconnect between awareness and action when it comes to legacy giving. While the majority of respondents (83%) flagged awareness on what legacy giving is, only 33 per cent is considering legacy as a means of giving, but only 3 per cent would take action.

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CFS’ “A Greater Gift’’ campaign, which is digitally-led, will run over the next three months, inviting individuals, professional advisors, and charities to consider ways a legacy gift can provide meaningful support and leave a lasting impact. As part of the campaign, CFS has partnered with ambassadors to highlight the causes they support, capturing what inspired their interests in a particular cause and the legacy they wish to leave.

Going forward, CFS will work with professional advisors by providing them with resources to help them ignite conversations with clients. We will support charities, especially the smaller ones, which may not be equipped to engage legacy donors.

Legacy gifts can be broadly defined as planned, future donations to charities. While up to the individual, the gift can be cash, marketable securities, insurance payouts, CPF monies and marketable assets. Individuals looking to support a cause over a period of years can establish a donor-advised fund (DAF) with CFS, to manage grant distributions

CFS was selected to lead the Legacy Giving Initiative with its strong track record and deep experience in advisory and grant making. As a neutral entity not attached to a specific cause, CFS complements the philanthropy landscape by bridging donor intentions to causes and charities.

Mr. Edwin Tong, Minister for Culture, Community and Youth & Second Minister for Law said, “Legacy giving enables Singaporeans to leave a lasting and meaningful gift to society. We hope that more Singaporeans will consider planning their donations for the future, as it can help support our charities, and spread the spirit of SG Cares across generations. Thank you to the Community Foundation of Singapore for leading the Legacy Giving Initiative, and encouraging Singaporeans to contribute to a more caring and inclusive society.”

CFS Brand Ambassadors

Dr. Audrey Looi and Dr. Ang Beng Ti – An eye specialist and neurosurgeon respectively, this husband and wife duo have made it their mission to equip children with low-vision with skills and resources. After personally experiencing a gap in supporting their son who has a degenerative eye disorder, they committed to supporting the visually impaired via iC2 PrepHouse.

Nadia Ahmad Samdin – A lawyer whose own personal journey of receiving financial assistance in school has led her to championing support for at-risk youth and their families, who will particularly benefit from having steady care.

Dipa Swaminathan – A lawyer and TEDx speaker, her passion to improve the welfare of migrant workers here has led her to set up social initiative ItsRainingRaincoats in 2015, which has especially increased society’s kindness and compassion for this community at the height of the pandemic.

Hian Goh – An entrepreneur and venture capitalist who wants to contribute to the future of society by identifying the next big game-changers and creating opportunities for innovators to reach their full potential.

Kris Tan – A philanthropist dedicated to empowering the arts in Singapore. She set up a charitable fund with CFS, Kris Foundation, in 2009 to support young classical musicians in Singapore and will expand it to the wider arts community.

About Legacy Giving

The legacy giving campaign is part of a three-year Legacy Giving Initiative (LGI). This campaign will highlight that everyone can contribute to the community through a legacy gift, either through CFS or directly to a charity. The LGI will build awareness by helping individuals understand the ways to give and the value of planned gifts to charity. It will also support professional advisors working with clients and charities engaging their donors in philanthropy conversations. CFS is well placed to drive this initiative.

As Singapore’s only community foundation, it is a neutral philanthropy resource with experience in grantmaking advisory. Visit legacygiving.sg

1The Social Pulse Survey was started in 2016 as an on-going survey carried out by The Ministry for Culture, Community and Youth (MCCY) to gather Singaporeans’ opinions and involvement with regard to matters such as sports, arts, culture and community living. Each month, about 500 interviews are conducted face-to-face with randomly selected households, and residents aged 15 and over across Singapore. The survey sample is representative of Singapore’s resident population.

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John Doe

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

Related Topics For You: CHARITY STORIES, DIRECT AID, DONOR STORIES, INCLUSIVITY & INTEGRATION, STORIES OF IMPACT

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Opinion

Three donor trends shaping giving in 2020 and beyond

John Doe

Widening social inequality, an ageing population, and climate change – these are the issues that frame our world, as Singapore celebrates its bicentennial year in 2019. Yet alongside these social challenges, we’re also reminded of our long history of philanthropy in tackling local community needs. Take for instance, the recent 200 Years of Philanthropy in Singapore at the Temasek Shophouse, where it was heartening to see philanthropy being celebrated as a vital thread in Singapore’s success story.

But how will local donors continue to contribute to Singapore’s future? With the number of high-net-worth individuals here expected to grow by 22% to 250,000 by 2023, philanthropy is at an inflection point. We’ve already seeing broader shifts in our donor landscape: donors are getting younger; more Singaporeans are becoming socially aware, and technology is empowering new modes of giving.

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At CFS, we count it as our privilege to be able to observe and nurture a new generation of donors increasingly empowered to drive social change. In this final edition of Change Matters for 2019, we highlight three donor trends we believe will continue to shape giving in 2020 and beyond:

Giving together is gaining traction

As more people recognise the complexity of social issues and the need for many helping hands, giving together is fast gaining traction. Donors are beginning to understand that collaboration enables them to create an impact larger than what they can achieve as individuals. In this edition, be the first to read about the Mind the Gap 200 fund or MtG200. This exciting ground-up initiative is the first collective of 10 donor advised funds formed by private individuals, which seeks to address social gaps in multiple sectors in Singapore.

More women are getting engaged in philanthropy

In 2009, only 14% of CFS’s donor funds were started by female donors. This percentage has risen by more than four times to 65% in 2017 and 2018. As more women become empowered to give, they will continue to give to causes close to their hearts. In this issue, we’re delighted to highlight the work of the International Women’s Forum Singapore (IWF). With CFS’s facilitation, IWF supports young women from financially-challenged backgrounds through their tertiary education through an education grant and a mentorship programme.

Donors are asking more questions for deeper understanding

Finally, donors are becoming more interested in understanding the root causes of issues to better inform their giving. They are more willing to explore opportunities to gain deeper insights from service providers, or contribute their expertise to co-create solutions. In this issue, read about our three Seniors Colabs learning journeys (Cornerstone Community Services (with Empower Ageing), Wellness Kampong and St Theresa’s Home), where participants discussed and exchanged views on how society can help our seniors age well.

Catherine Loh

CEO, Community Foundation of Singapore

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John Doe

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