DONOR-ADVISED FUND Archives

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‘I thought I couldn’t go through any more of it’: Cancer patient gets help after insurer says ‘no’ to $33k bill

Good Samaritans have stepped forward to help a cancer patient, who hopes to spend more quality time with her 15-year-old daughter while keeping the disease at bay.The drug that Ms Koh Ee Miang, 45, needs to control the spread of her cancer is expensive, and her insurance company has refused to pay for it – leaving her with an outstanding bill of more than $33,000 for treatment carried out between November and January.

a group of people sitting at a table with a group of children

4 Critical Educational Gaps for Disadvantaged Children & Youth in Singapore

While abilities and talents are distributed equally across the population, access to educational resources is often not. Children from low-income families are the ones who pay the price. Without the right educational opportunities, they underperform in school and end up with lower-paying jobs. Studies show that students from low-income families are more than four times as likely to be low performers than their affluent peers. (OECD, 2016) Without intervention, this cycle of income inequality will persist.The growing special needs community is also in need of our urgent attention. One key area that we highlight is the need for integration with mainstream students. There needs to be greater awareness about creating better school and work opportunities for this community while preparing them to function independently as adults.

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Bank of Singapore partners Community Foundation of Singapore to provide clients with philanthropy services

Bank of Singapore, the private banking subsidiary of OCBC Bank, has partnered with non-profit organisation Community Foundation of Singapore (CFS) to provide its clients with philanthropic services.With this partnership, CFS will work with the bank’s clients to translate their interests, values and goals into philanthropic strategies that meet giving goals of the clients and match the needs of the local community. To develop these strategic giving plans, CFS will use insights from its Charities and Grants team and consult its philanthropy advisors.

Law firm Rajah & Tann donates $225k to ST School Pocket Money Fund and Dementia Singapore

Law firm Rajah & Tann (R&T) has contributed $225,000 to The Straits Times School Pocket Money Fund (STSPMF).The donation was part of the firm’s 45th anniversary celebration on Thursday (May 5) at the Ritz-Carlton, Millenia Singapore, where it also gave $225,000 to charity Dementia Singapore.

5 Critical gaps in caring for vulnerable seniors in Singapore

Singapore is fast reaching superaged status. Life expectancy is going up while the birth rate is heading south. By 2030 – not many years from where we are today – one in four Singaporeans will be 65 years or older. More worryingly, a fifth of that cohort will be over 80 (Population in Brief 2021).Ageing well and quality of life are huge concerns for our elderly. The biggest challenges centre on health: physical frailty or disability, sensory impairment such as hearing loss, or chronic conditions such as dementia or diabetes. However, ageing is not just a matter of biophysical health. It is also about bolstering psychological, emotional and community support.

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

#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.

#MyGivingJourney x Hauw Soo Hoon: Insuring the future for vulnerable students

#MyGivingJourney is a series by CFS to celebrate women and their work in philanthropy. This story features Hauw Soo Hoon, Programme Director at Ulu Pandan Stars and a member of CFS’s Programmes & Grants Committee. Hauw Soo Hoon has always loved mathematics. So when she discovered some students in her estate were struggling with the subject, getting just 15 marks out of 100, her heart plummeted. She wanted to help them and even get them to love numbers. An opportunity came through her grassroots contacts who were looking for someone to helm a programme to tutor children from rental flats and troubled families.

#MyGivingJourney x Nadia Ahmad Samdin: Changing the game for giving  

CFS’s #MyGivingJourney series portrays extraordinary women and their efforts in philanthropy. This story features Nadia Ahmad Samdin, CFS’s legacy giving ambassador and a woman who wears many hats. Many who donate to charity often ask: For every dollar they give, what good actually comes of it? Nadia Ahmad Samdin believes increasingly, we will be able to answer that. In a world where tracking usage is commonplace – from our phone use to carbon footprint– a data-driven approach to philanthropy could be a game-changer. The Community Foundation of Singapore (CFS) aligns with Nadia’s belief and strives to be a trustworthy organisation that is transparent and accountable.

cheung kemei and jaslyn hooi holding the 2021 annabel pennefather award

2021 Annabel Pennefather Award winners Cheung Kemei and Jaslyn Hooi: Two talented athletes steadfast in their resolve to win honour and glory for Singapore

As Singapore continues to field excellent sportsmen into the international arena such as Badminton World Federation world champion shuttler Loh Kean Yew and paralympic gold medallist Yip Pin Siu, the Community Foundation of Singapore (CFS) recognises the need to continue supporting the growth of more sporting talent through philanthropy, so that Singapore may continue to produce many more distinguished sportsmen and women for the years to come.

[Webinar] Facilitating Philanthropy: Taxation, Structures and Legacy Giving

We would like to give a big thank you to the Law Society of Singapore and the Singapore Management University’s Centre for Commercial Law in Asia for inviting our CEO, Ms Catherine Loh, to be a part of the panel for the Facilitating Philanthropy: Taxation, Structures and Legacy Giving webinar.

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