Singapore, 07 May, 2024 – The Community Foundation of Singapore (CFS) has released the Sayang Sayang Fund (SSF) report, detailing the impact of the pandemic response fund that launched in February 2020 to address the needs of the community during Covid-19.

The fund spanned over three years, and raised $9.7 million from 5,147 donors, including 622 companies and foundations. It positively impacted 401,000 people in Singapore. People from all walks of life, including corporations, SMEs, ground-up community groups, influencers and individuals, came together in an impressive collective effort.

“Our role as a community foundation is to address the needs of Singapore’s residents and communities. When the Covid-19 crisis started, amidst the uncertainty, we knew we had to act swiftly to alleviate the negative effects we were already starting to see,” said Catherine Loh, CEO of CFS.

“Backed by a deep understanding of local needs and leveraging our relationships with charities and government agencies, we formed partnerships to deliver support to affected communities in the fastest and most effective ways.”

THE POWER OF COLLABORATIVE PHILANTHROPY

“Sayang” means ‘love’ in the Malay language, and the fund stayed true to its name, bringing help and support to those in need. The SSF first focused on raising funds to support healthcare professionals and allied healthcare workers who were working tirelessly to care for the sick and elderly. Support was soon extended to address the growing needs of others – children and youth, lower-income families, migrant workers, vulnerable seniors, and the homeless.

The SSF employed a multi-pronged approach in three phases and focused on 11 strategic initiatives (see Annex A).

THE SAYANG SAYANG FUND JOURNEY: 3 PHASES

PHASE 1 (2020) focused on providing emergency assistance to communities most affected by the crisis and who required the most urgent attention. $6,542,000 (67% of donations) of grants were disbursed during this time.

Example: Supporting Lower-Income Students and Families

During the Circuit Breaker period when schools closed, the SSF partnered with the Ministry of Education to quickly disburse $1,696,000 to 32,501 students from primary, secondary and special education schools and Institute of Technical Education (ITE) colleges to subsidise their living expenses.

PHASE 2 (2021-2022): The scope was expanded to help charities adapt and work towards a ‘new normal’. $2,060,000 (21% of donations) of grants were disbursed during this phase.

Example: Helping Charities Digitalise and Stay Online

The COVID-19 pandemic prompted a rapid transition to remote work, which posed significant challenges for organisations, particularly charities with inadequate digital infrastructure. Recognising this need, the SSF allocated $902,000 to support 26 social service agencies in digitalising their operations.

With SSF’s support, Boys’ Town was able to centralise their online systems, resulting in improved collaboration and communication among employees. June Eng, Assistant Director of Corporate Services at Boys’ Town, said, “The support provided by the SSF has been instrumental in accelerating Boys’ Town’s digitalisation transformation journey. This has been vital in keeping our employees engaged during the challenging time and through the post-pandemic era.”

PHASE 3 (2023): The focus was on helping Singaporeans emerge stronger from the pandemic. $1,119,000 (12% of donations) of grants were disbursed during this period.

Example: Empowering Healthier Communities for the Future

The rise of lifestyle-related chronic illnesses in Singapore, coupled with a rapidly ageing population, is leading to an increase in people living with a poorer quality of life for more years. It also results in increased pressure on our healthcare system which also leads to higher costs. To help address this, the last tranche of the Sayang Sayang Fund was committed to the MOH Office for Healthcare Transformation (MOHT) to support the Movements 4 Health (M4H) @ Community Project.

This project aims to grow an ecosystem that advocates and enables a health-oriented culture through programmes initiated by Community Movement Champions (CMCs) who will be equipped with health knowledge and organisational skills. It is also focused on enhancing the community spirit and creating a sustainable health-oriented cultured by empowering volunteers to lead future projects.

DONOR STORIES – STEPPING UP TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE

The SSF was a true showcase of the power of collective giving, with Singaporeans from all walks of life rallying with the SSF to support the communities in need. Singers, athletes, fitness instructors and a host of individuals from varying backgrounds tapped on their talents and networks to encourage others to contribute through the online campaign platform giving.sg.

Artiste and influencer, Joanna Dong, who used her social media platform to help raise awareness for the fund, said, “When thinking about the needs of society, we often consider issues such as education and healthcare in broad strokes. On the ground, it is often the simplest smallest things. The Sayang Sayang Fund
understands this, and I was happy to play a small part in their mission.”

Others who helped to raise awareness and donations for the SSF include local national Pencak Silat athletes Nurul Suhaila, Sheik Ferdous and Sheik Farhan.

Download the full Sayang Sayang Fund Report here.

ANNEX A – THE 11 STRATEGIC INITIATIVES

SayangStaff@Work: $1,327,000 disbursed to healthcare workers through taxi vouchers for healthcare workers and care packages.

Recess@Home: $1,696,000 disbursed to students from lower-income families to provide extra allowance for good nutrition as they had lost access to subsidised meals when the schools closed.

SupportFamilies@Communities: $648,000 disbursed to workers from lowerincome families who had lost all or part of their income.

SeniorsOK@Home: $1,922,000 disbursed to vulnerable seniors through various programmes to ensure that they had safe access to food, medical supplies and care packages.

SafeSleep@Home: $417,000 disbursed to provide rough sleepers with shelter and financial assistance, and help them transition toward long-term or permanent housing.

MigrantsOK@Home: $284,000 disbursed to provide top-ups for prepaid mobile phone cards and phone accessories so workers could keep in touch with their loved ones.

CommunityGrants@Work: $2,057,000 disbursed funded charities that supported impacted marginalised communities to help them transform their operations, digitalised and cope with increased expenses and workload.

GroundUp@SG: $300,000 disbursed to provide financial support to help selfinitiated community groups continue to help people in need.

Innovation@Work: $158,000 disbursed to fund ideas and projects to help hospitals look at innovative ways to support the large influx of patients.

Research@Work: $240,000 disbursed to fund research that focused on understanding the living needs of families and the homeless in Singapore.

M4H@Community: $671,000 disbursed to help build a sustainable health movement from the ground up through training volunteers and facilitating the creation of community-led groups and activities to advocate for healthy behaviours.