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BLLNR: How to donate time and money to a charity effectively

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BLLNR: How to donate time and money to a charity effectively

John Doe

While the notion of giving is indeed widespread, it isn’t easy to commit to help those in need when you find yourself caught up in today’s ever-changing environment.

The Community Foundation of Singapore (CFS) is one such organisation that facilitates this line of work by bridging donors with causes of interest to develop programmes and provide grants to enrich lives. It values the 3 C’s to make giving better: connect donors with respective causes, collaborate with charities and commit to managing donor funds.

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One woman has managed to significantly grow the number of donor funds and volume of donations, paving the way for an effective philanthropy — Catherine Loh, the Chief Executive Officer of CFS, believes in the heart of giving. However, her arrival into the philanthropy space was not immediate but serendipitous.

Related Topics For You: CHARITY STORIES, DONOR STORIES, DONOR-ADVISED FUND, NEWS, STORIES OF IMPACT

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Opinion

Where there’s a will, there’s a way … to give a legacy

John Doe

Where there’s a will, there’s a way … to give a legacy.
(Adapted from opening remarks at a Community Foundation of Singapore-LSPBS “Legacy Giving” Webinar on 1 September 2020.)

Legacy giving is one of the best kept secrets in town. For many years now, I’ve often wondered why more charities had not jumped on the bandwagon of legacy
giving. Why aren’t charities proactive in encouraging individual donors to give legacies whether via wills, CPF nominations, or even insurance policies? Examples
abound overseas. I saw firsthand one such stellar example of a pro bono law firm utilizing this modality of legacy giving during our Law Society “Lawyers Go
Global” mission trip to Sydney in 2018.

We went to Sydney as a team to learn from cutting edge innovative Sydney based law firms on law firm models harnessing technology and niche services in order to consider adopting or adapting them in Singapore. The law firm that left a deep impression on several of us in the team was Salvos Legal, affiliated with the Salvation Army. They offer humanitarian legal services and have an outstanding history and genesis you can research on. They combine the best of both worlds in fee earning lawyers sitting side by side and working hand in hand with pro bono legal practitioners. Fee earners cross-subsidise the provision of pro bono legal services. It was a joy to see both pro bono practitioners and fee earners working harmoniously in a single setting and committed to doing good (directly or indirectly) as a firm.

Giving from strength to strength

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Salvos Legal turned legacy giving to charities into art form. They use radio announcements and organise Community Wills Days (where generous local solicitors
prepare simple wills in return for a donation to the Salvos). They have built up a fair amount of expertise and essentially encourage the public to donate via legacy
giving.

In Singapore today, death is still a taboo topic in some quarters. As an aging society with a silver tsunami, we need to speak about this elephant in the room. We need more discourse about prudent asset stewardship, legacy giving and planned and sustained giving long after we have left the earth. From the charity’s point of view, this could represent a creative fundraising modality. Indeed, local charities such as the Kidney Dialysis Foundation and the Singapore Children’s Society have started using donation via legacy giving. Closer to home, recently, to commemorate the life of CLAS founder, visionary and architect, the late Harry Elias SC, the Law Society Pro
Bono Services in collaboration with Harry Elias Partnership have set up the Harry Elias SC CLAS Fellowship Fund. This Fund is a continuing and cherished memorial to Harry that will fund expenses arising from the CLAS Fellowship such as their remuneration and practice-related costs to ensure that young lawyers have a glorious
opportunity to follow in the footsteps of legal legends and trailblazers like Harry E.

For the gift-giver, legacy giving has four distinct, discernible advantages. First, it allows the donor to give their own voice to their unique personality, values and beliefs
for pet causes. Second, it creates a meaningful memorial of legacies that will perpetuate. Third, it positively impacts subsequent generations through a sustained
giving. Fourth, it deepens the connection between the charity and the donor.

Where appropriate, probate, wills and administration specialists, private wealth law experts and general practitioners in client advisories could suggest legacy giving to clients.

There are nuanced issues to consider for the donor and the attending lawyer. The form of the giving, whether it’s memorial giving, legacy giving and so on, and the
attendant risks involved. I shall not gloss over this aspect. Questions that need examining include: (1) how do you communicate to the testator or testatrix (person
making the will)? (2) are the template clauses appropriate to express the donor’s wishes? (3) what about the testator’s/testatrix’s mental capacity; or more precisely,
testamentary capacity? (4) from the donee charity’s point of view, what are the risks in accepting such gifts? These issues are fact-sensitive, complex in some cases and need careful analysis to avoid something going wrong (including misexpression of the testator’s/testator’s wishes).

The old saying goes, where there’s a will, there’s a way. But the new saying I have for you is where there’s a will, there’s a way …. to give a legacy. You can have the nous and the know-how, to find that way for your donors. Legacy giving leaves a legacy for life.

Source:Law Gazette

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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, DONOR STORIES, DONOR-ADVISED FUND, NEWS, STORIES OF IMPACT

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Events

Donor Learning Trip – St Joseph’s Home’s Inspirational Inter-Generation Programme

August 7, 2024

At CFS, we work closely with over 400 well-governed charities to link donors to programmes that achieve meaningful impact. With our deep experience, we understand the importance of improving lives through community initiatives. St Joseph’s Home (SJH) is a good example of this.

About St Joseph’s Home (SJH)

SJH is a not-for-profit organisation set up by the Catholic Welfare Services in 1978 to provide shelter, care and love for the aged and destitute, regardless of race or religion.

Since then, SJH has innovated to pioneer unique models of care that meet the community’s evolving needs. This includes the hydrotherapy, night respite care for persons with dementia and the co-located Infant and Childcare Centre (ICC).

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SJH’s beautiful premise is situated at the heart of the Jurong Innovation District. It has wheelchair-accessible playgrounds, walkways and community spaces such as Café Verona and Funhouse to encourage chance interactions. Spaces are also configurable to accommodate structured programmes that require more privacy and comfort.

An Intergenerational Care Community

In August 2017, SJH pioneered Singapore’s first intergenerational community with an Infant and Childcare Centre (ICC) co-located in a nursing home.

Infants as young as two months old to children up to age six get daily opportunities lasting 45 to 90 minutes to interact with nursing home residents. Children and residents engage in activities such as shared newspaper reading, puzzles, LEGO building, singing and storytelling.

These interactions form part of the children’s curriculum, where they learn about culture, and pick up motor and literacy skills. They also form part of the resident’s daily care, which is made possible only because of the close collaboration between the ICC and the clinical team of SJH.

Our donors were recently invited to visit St Joseph’s Home and witnessed their recently-launched intergenerational art therapy programme. Joy was evident on the faces of both residents and children as they waved to one another.

Gladys and Nathan (children on the right) learning about the dragon boat festival with Mdm Quek* (resident on the left)

Intergenerational Programmes as a Therapeutic Intervention

With all the buzz around intergenerational programmes (IGPs), here’s what sets SJH apart.

Every programme has a therapeutic outcome and St Joseph’s Home Infant and Childcare Centre teachers work closely with SJH’s clinical team to develop IGPs that:

Resonate with both generations
Intentionally facilitate conversations and relationship-building
Have therapeutic outcomes such as improve mood and increased social wellbeing

Our visit coincided with the fifth of eight sessions conducted by an Occupational Therapy Assistant. Residents and children were collaborating on a calligraphy painting.

Mdm Tan*, one of the participants who had been hesitant to join social activities, is observed laughing and making eye contact with Estelle, the spritely five-years-old that she’s paired with.

Estelle (left) sharing a conversation with Mdm Tan* (right). She has learned to move closer to Mdm Tan as the resident is hard of hearing.

Another resident, Mdm Wee*, has shown remarkable improvement, eating better and faster on days when she meets the children.

It’s inspiring to hear about Mdm Wee’s progress. She used to take two hours for lunch, often breathless and discouraged, preferring to stay in her bedroom. Now, after just a few sessions, she’s more motivated, energetic, and engaged, even asking about the children. She can now finish her meal in half an hour

Imelda Anthony, Principal of St Joseph’s Home Infant & Childcare Centre

The donors of CFS witnessed the energy within the group and comfortable interactions. These took hours to foster, and cannot be justly put in words.

Developing such results is an art. It calls for a careful integration of the medical and psychosocial needs of the residents, their unique interests and the developmental stage and disposition of the child that they’re paired with.

Teachers need to be equipped with an understanding of the residents and constantly communicate with the therapist before and throughout the IGP to ensure that the therapeutic outcomes are met.

Intergenerational Programmes as Education

“Educating the mind without educating the heart is no education at all.” – Aristotle

Since its inception in 2017, the teachers at St Joseph’s Home Infant and Childcare Centre have focused on investing in the character of the children. Empathy, kindness, and respect are not just taught but also demonstrated.

Children observe the staff and teachers interacting with residents, learning to respectfully gain the attention of those who may be weak or frail. They also practise handling wheelchairs and being considerate in their movements and volume around residents.

During the IGP, children will progressively pick up the residents’ names, interests, or areas in which they might need help with. For example, children might help residents by repeating instructions closer to their ears or uncapping the tools that require more fine motor skills.

Intergenerational Programmes as an Innovative Care Model

As pioneers in integrating the preschool curriculum with elderly-inclusive activities, SJH has learned and experimented along the way, all while remaining committed to their vision of providing person-centred, dignified care.

Their experience has since inspired other organisations. Looking ahead, SJH envisions the intergenerational programme as an integrated part of person-centred, holistic care for elderly residents. They continue to experiment with various programme types and structures, monitoring their impact and collaborating with research partners.

How You Can Help

St Joseph’s seeks $150,000 annually to run the programme, which involves childcare teachers, music, art, and occupational therapists that serve 20 children and 40 to 60 elderly residents. To find out how to become a CFS donor, click here.

*Names changed to protect confidentiality.

Related Topics For You: CHARITY STORIES, DONOR STORIES, DONOR-ADVISED FUND, NEWS, STORIES OF IMPACT

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.

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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.

Related Topics For You: CHARITY STORIES, DONOR STORIES, DONOR-ADVISED FUND, NEWS, STORIES OF IMPACT

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News

The Straits Times: The new philanthropists in town

John Doe

by Theresa Tan, 26 June 2016

There is also a growing number of donors who have started charitable funds parked under groups like the Community Foundation of Singapore and the SymAsia Foundation. Both charities manage their donors’ funds and disburse them to each donor’s chosen causes, thus saving the donors the cost and effort of starting their own foundation. A sum of at least $200,000 is required to set up a charitable fund with the Community Foundation, and 82 funds have been formed since it was set up in 2008.

…..Also giving to a specific cause are Mr and Mrs William Bird. They pledged $1 million, through the Community Foundation of Singapore, for outings for frail seniors to attractions such as Gardens by the Bay and the zoo. Mr Bird, a Briton who is now a Singapore citizen, is 70 years old. He made his money from the logistics business. His and his wife Mary have three grown-up children.

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While visiting some elderly people whom they helped, the couple realised that such seniors felt lonely and isolated, as they were unable to go out. Mr Bird says: “We were affected by the fact that the seniors had such a poor quality of life, and thought more could be done for them to enjoy the golden times of their lives.”

Each year since the Outing for the Elderly Fund was set up in 2010, about 1,600 elderly people a year have benefited. They especially love to visit supermarkets, where they are given $20 to buy whatever they want.

Mr George Phua, a 79-year-old resident of the Ling Kwang Home for Senior Citizens, was taken to a Giant supermarket last month. He was delighted to buy his favourite coffee and chocolates. He tells The Sunday Times: “It’s wonderful.”

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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