salt_2007_01_02

For Volunteers, Donors and NonprofitsNo. 19Jan-Feb 2007

Hands On,Hands Off?

Exclusive SALT interview with the new Commissioner of Charities and the new head of the Charity Council

The Numbers GameKPMG engages the community

The Art of LeadershipHow to lead a volunteer organisation

Bling It OnTai-tais do their bit for charity

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Strike the Pose!The society ladies who organise fundraising events make it all look glamorous and frivolous but as Sakinah Manaff discovers, plenty of hard work and sweat goes on behind the scenes.

THE NATIONAL VOLUNTEERISM AND PHILANTHROPY AWARDS 2006 GALA DINNERThe lights. The songs. The music. The incredibly talented performers. The timely recognition of deserving volunteers and philanthropic organisations. As our photo-spread shows, it was an incredible night!

ON THE COVERThe big buzz in charity circles is just what the new Commissioner of Charities and head of the Charity Council have up their sleeves. In an exclusive interview, Andrew Duffy quizzes Mr Low Puk Yeong and Mrs Fang Ai Lian about their plans for the sector. Page 22.Cover photography by Benjamin Yu of Studio One Photography.

2 LETTER FROM SALT & SALT TIPS

4 MAILBAG

6 NEWS BRIEFSA wrap-up of events, programmes and activities in the People Sector.

PEOPLE MOVEMENTSAppointments and new postings in the People Sector.

11 VOLUNTEER PROFILEFull time motherhood and busy volunteer, Mae Anderson redefines what it means to be a super-mum.

12 PEOPLE SECTOR PEOPLEHow Danny Tan, the creative director of Odyssey Dance Theatre, believes that dancing can actually enrich lives.

13 WALK THE TALKKPMG’s long history of community partnerships proves that there is much more to life than just counting numbers.

21 NEW SALTThe central message of WE Founda-tion’s Centre for Addiction, Recovery and Education to recovering addicts is that they are not alone.

24 SALT THOUGHTSWhen it comes to charity fundraising, when is enough, enough? Willie Cheng weighs in.

29 SALT AND PEPPERKnowing how and when to influence people is an important leadership skill. Curt Grayson gives some pointers for leaders in volunteer organisations.

30 SALT KITJack Sim recalls his darkest days and remembers how volunteering helped him see the light.

31 CALENDAR

34 SCENE AND SEEN

36 A DASH OF SALT

14

34

The QuietPhilanthropistMichelle Bong asks whether individual philanthropists in Singapore are doing enough to complement the activities of the family foundations.

Jan-Feb 2007 S A LT • 1

contents SALT No. 19 Jan-Feb 2006

DEPARTMENTS

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2 • S A LT Jan-Feb 2007

SALT is a nonprofit magazine with a managed circulation for members of nonprofit organisations, grantmakers

and companies in Singapore. Those interested in receiving a copy,

please email [email protected]. We regret that the print run prevents

fulfilling all requests.

International readers please email subscriber requests and mailing details.

There will be an annual postage and handling charge for all international subscribers.

MANAGING EDITORTan Chee Koon

DEPUT Y EDITORDaven Wu

CONTRIBUTORSMichelle BongAndrew Duffy

Sakinah ManaffTan Hwee Hwee

PUBLISHING CONSULTANT AND MEDIA REPRESENTATIVE

Epigram

SALT is published bi-monthly by the National Volunteer

& Philanthropy Centre7 Maxwell Road

#05-01 Annex B, MND Complex Singapore 069111

Tel: 6550 9595 Fax: 6221 0625

Website: www.nvpc.org.sgEmail: [email protected]

Copyright is held by the publisher. All rights reserved.

Production in whole or in part without permission is prohibited.

The views and opinions expressed or implied in SALT are those of the authors

and do not necessarily reflect those of the publisher.

Printed by Fabulous Printers

MICA (P) 003/11/2006 ISSN No. 17933-4478

To advertise, please call Cynthia Tay at tel: 6292 4456

Email: [email protected]

L E T T E R F R O M S A L T

That’s me and my very sporting directors vainly attempting a tropical-style Bollywood dance item at our recent year-end staff function. And the reason we were prepared to make perfect fools of ourselves was because of a fundraising

element that we had weaved into our celebrations this year. The NVPC troopers bid to have management do things out of our comfort zone to raise bowls of rice for SECDC beneficiaries in their brilliant Cranes to Grains project sponsored by Song He.

It was a win-win process for all, not to mention the beneficiaries and sponsors – the fundraising team dreaming up wicked things to subject management to, my little staff force of 30 who, with co-workers, friends and family members, folded in excess of 2000 cranes and who certainly derived great pleasure from seeing us sweat for their labour that night, not to mention the “dancers” ourselves, judging by the smiles on our faces.

There is great virtue and merit in incorporating a fundraising element in many of our pursuits, whether in or outside the workplace. Examples abound – of wealthy individuals who raise funds in their home parties; socialites that have taken on charities to support their gala nights; sportsmen, whether swimmers, runners, golfers and bikers who weave in a fund-raising element in their sporting events; and ordinary people, like you and me, who leverage on opportunities like the recent StanChart Marathon to raise funds for their chosen causes.

It is a growing trend, and something that NVPC encourages and advocates. But even as more and more of such informal lifestyle volunteering to raise funds takes place, all the more the charity sector has to be totally accountable, totally responsible and totally transparent towards its donors, to build trust in the community, so that such individual acts of giving can be nurtured.

And so this issue, we turn the spotlight on the most significant development the charity sector in Singapore has seen in a long time – the appointment of a full-time Commissioner of Charities, Mr Low Puk Yeong, whose whole focus is on strengthening and growing the charity sector. We hear what he and the newly-appointed Chairman of the Charity Council, Mrs Fang Ai Lian have to say of their priorities as they take office. The message is clear: “We are here to help the sector grow.”

Between a growing interest in giving, and a strengthening of the regulatory frame-work to improve governance and management practices, things are looking up for the charity sector – even if it means hard work along the way.

Here’s to a glorious future, starting with 2007.

Tan Chee KoonChief Executive OfficerNational Volunteer & Philanthropy Centre

Errata: On page 8 of our Nov-Dec 2006 issue (‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’), the date should have read “3 November”, and not “8 November”. In the same issue on page 13 (‘Doing Good Well’), the picture caption incorrectly identifies the Chairperson of the Gala Charity Dinner Mrs Jo-Ann See as Mrs Koh. We apologise for the errors.


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MAILBAG

DO YOU HAVE SOMETHING TO SHARE? We welcome your letters, news of upcoming events and pictures. Please send them to SALT, 7 Maxwell Road, #05-01 Annex B, MND Complex, Singapore 069111; or email [email protected] include your name, address and daytime phone number. Letters and articles may be edited for space and clarity.

S A L T

T I P SWorld Peace

Ihave been reading SALT for a long time now as magazines of this nature are a rarity. It’s always heartening to read about the humanity

and kindness that surround us, albeit this is a harsh world that we live in. Be it Corporate Social Responsibility by larger corporation, a ten-cent donation or even volunteering of any nature – these are acts of altruism that should be spread amongst us. SALT aims to do just that, and I hope to see more of these heart-warming stories in the future. Great work!

Chan Yen Ting, Client Services Director, Batey Consulting

Empowering through knowledge

As a development director in an exciting new graduate medical school, I particularly enjoyed reading the Jul-Aug 2006 issue featuring stories on fundraising and tertiary

institutions. An investment in education is extremely meaningful. By encouraging donors to make positive contributions to develop our next generation, we promote a better future for everyone, thus strengthening our society.

I commend SALT for providing an important platform to connect volunteers, donors, non-profit organisations and the community in Singapore. SALT is very well-published – it offers great articles that are informative, useful and relevant. As our country develops into an economic hub, there will be important social needs that cannot be ignored. SALT helps bridge this gap by empowering people with knowledge and increasing the awareness of these issues among our community. With better understanding of our roles and contributions, we can spearhead change in the social landscape and nurture a generation of socially responsible citizens.

Keep up the good work. I look forward to the next issue.

Yvonne Ho, Assistant Director, Development, Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School Singapore

Making Business Sense

Willie Cheng’s article “The Business of Business” (Sep-Oct issue) was classic Willie, well written and insightful. I see many parallels between the issue of CSR and

that of corporate governance. Both camps recognise the significant threat that unbridled, irresponsible and unconstrained corporate power provides. Robert AG Monks notes that “The modern Global Corporation...can be a force for weal or woe.”

I fully agree with Willie that organisations should not view CSR and governance as an altruistic or cost consideration, and recognise that it can also make “business sense”. Nonetheless, if all else fails, then stakeholders must know that they can, and should, demand such behaviour from them.

From my experience, this may entail a cost and some may be deterred from doing so simply because of their belief that others will “free-ride” on their efforts to improve the environmental, social, and governance (ESG) environment. I urge that they move beyond such a mentality as it has been proven elsewhere that it does pay to contribute to improving the ESG environment, despite free-riders.

Tan Lye Huat, CEO, HIM Governance Pte Ltd

“I love food, what about you?” How does that sound for a fundraising campaign for charity?

It at least caught your attention, right? Sometimes the most successful campaigns are not really about ‘out of this world’ or ‘never tried before’ ideas. Rather, they’re about issues that matter most to our heart and, sometimes, our stomachs! I’ve always found food to be a great way to wrap up a message, especially if that message has been seasoned and prepared in a way that is simple enough for the public to savour. Once you’ve identified what food you want to sell, think about how you’re going to sell the food and your message. Remember the last time you were on a busy food street or favourite food court, filled with numerous stalls selling all kinds of delicious and yummy-smelling food and you were trying to decide what to have for dinner? What were the factors that enticed you to a particular stall? Was it the pricing, presentation, smiling faces and warm welcome, or just your favourite food? Most importantly, after making your decision to eat at a particular stall, did you remember your actual experience? Did you enjoy your meal, was the food good, was the service stellar, did you get value for money, and how did you rate the experience? Did you decide if you would ever go back? In much the same way, Singaporean charities need to jostle for space and to make their organisation stand out from the others to attract the attention of the choosy donor. The ones that ultimately succeed are the ones that are quick to respond to new challenges, package themselves in the most distinctive and special way, thus setting themselves apart from the others with their own unique and reliable brand. Especially if you are the fundraising chef, do remember to add a strong dose of fun or humour: people like to dine in happy circumstances! Once you get the hang of the rationale behind this experiential-relational philos-ophy, you and your fundraising campaign are on your way to meeting your fundraising target. Happy eating and fundraising! ✩

Veteran fundraiser ROSEMARY CHNG spills the

beans on how to throw a delicious fundraising campaign.


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B R I E F S

N E W SA W R A P - U P O F H A P P E N I N G S A R O U N D S I N G A P O R E

We Are Family!Over 250 staff and their families from the Singapore General Hospital volun-

teered in the first SGH Community Day held in York Hill on 18 November 2006. Bannered “Helping Hands @ York Hill”, the day saw staff reaching out

to more than 200 needy elderly residents living in one-room flats. The event was held as part of the hospital’s 185th anniversary celebrations and Seniors Citizens Week.

In all, the SGH staff raised more than $20,000. Residents also received a $20 angbao, a hamper of food items, non-slip mats and balms.

Jalan Kukoh residents and SGH staff with some of the

hampers and wish list items sponsored by the staff for the

elderly beneficiaries at the SGH Community Day 2006.

WE ARE THE WORLD

Jerry Yan, a member of Taiwan’s pop group “F4” and

lead actor in “Meteor Garden”, has been appointed

World Vision’s first Asia Regional Child Sponsorship

Ambassador. His appointment was endorsed by World

Vision offices in Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Malaysia,

Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan and Thailand.

For his first trip in his new role last year, Jerry

visited World Vision-supported projects and commu-

nities in Mongolia. Of the experience, he said, “I believe

by personally meeting the children and experiencing

how their life is like, I will gain myself and learn to

value what I possess”.

For more details on Jerry’s Mongolia trip, log onto

www.worldvision.org.sg or www.starjerry.com

Jerry Yan at Chiang Kai-shek International Airport before departing for Mongolia on 24 October 2006.

HEART FELT

Social enterprise took on a whole new

meaning on 22 November 2006 when

The Caring Hearts Society of the Singapore

Armed Forces Officers’ Wives Club (SAF

OWC) announced that, with effect on

1 January, it would hand over the running

of its charity shops, TreasureMINDS and

ThriftyIDEAS, to the Movement for the

Intellectually Disabled in Singapore

(MINDS). The move was part of its original

mission to empower MINDS to eventually

take over the charity shops, though both

will be run independently.

An official handing-over ceremony

was held on 25 November 2006.

Take a bow! Ladies who have volunteered for the past 15 years at the charity shops.

UNITED WE STAND

Kwong Wai Shiu Hospital (KWSH) celebrated

its 96th anniversary on 2 December with the

announcement that Deputy Prime Minister Wong

Kan Seng had been appointed its patron. The

appointment followed an earlier announcement of

a collaborative effort between KWSH and National

Cancer Centre Singapore (NCCS) to provide afford-

able and quality inpatient rehabilitation to cancer

patients in which NCCS refers its patients to KWSH

for short-term rehabilitation services at an afford-

able ward charge of $40 per day. In preparation for

the programme, KWSH renovated one of its wards

and dedicated it to provide cancer rehabilitation

services. The ward was officially opened by its new

patron on 2 December 2006.

The newly dedicated ward at Kwong Wai Shiu Hospital will provide in-patient rehab facilities to cancer patients.


Bay WatchThe Disabled People’s Association

(DPA) organised a workshop on 27 October 2006 to help its members

learn to use eBay – a global online market-place where practically anything can be traded. The objective was to provide an opportunity for members to learn to buy and sell using the Internet, and perhaps, make an income.

The workshop was conducted by volunteers from the local eBay user community, active eBay users keen to share their knowledge in online selling with the disabled.

Eventually, DPA plans to provide participants with refurbished computers to aid their interaction with the world through eBay.

SPH

– T

he

Sun

day

Tim

es

eBay community volunteers adopted

a buddy system to provide step-by-step

guidance.

BEAR WITH IT

Through teddy bears and Post-it Pads, four student volunteers turned $3,000 into

$100,000 for ST School Pocket Money Fund.

The achievement, sponsored by the Citibank-YMCA Youth For Causes and Ministry

of Community Development, Youth and Sports-National Youth Council Young Change

Makers programmes, was spearheaded by Hwa Chong Institution students Yuen Pak Man

and Tan Jin Rong and first-year undergrads Edwin Tan and Thng Shu Hui.

With seed funding of $3,000, the quartet bought mini teddy bears and Post-it pads

and sold them at MRT stations and shopping malls. Each time they finished their batch of

goods, they would go back and buy more with the money they made. The group realised

$100,000 was an achievable target after they managed to collect $40,000 in just three

weeks. The amount not only made them top money-raisers among the 100 participating

groups (each of whom was given $3000 seed money), but they also beat the previous

year’s record of $31,500.

The winning group recruited 2,500 student volunteers from 30 different schools to

help with the street sales, using the winner of Campus Superstar Ng Chee Yang to help

rally student volunteers. The group also organised a letter-writing competition for primary

and secondary school students where students are asked to write a letter to a beneficiary

of the Pocket Money Fund. They charged an entry fee of $1 and raised $9,000.

A deserving round of applause goes out to their initiative.


In October 2006, Erica Wee took on the role of Executive

Director at I Love Children.

Prior to ILC, Erica spent over 10

years in various roles in sales

and marketing, and events

management. A mother to

two active young boys (aged 8 and 3 years), she

is passionate about all issues relating to children

and parenthood. Tel: 62214418; Email: erica.wee

@ilovechildren.org

On 15 July 2006, Selina Gan,

previously with AWARE, joined

Women’s Initiative for Ageing

Successfully (WINGS) as its

centre manager. Selina had

previously managed the

AWARE Centre, and was the

centre manager for The Singapore Council of

Women’s Organisations. WINGS is a non-profit

centre and is a joint project by SCWO and the

Tsao Foundation. It was officially launched

on 10 June 2006 to address the needs and

grow the potential of women in their 40’s and

beyond. Tel: 62501012; Email: [email protected]

Cheng Shing Meng joined

the Asian Medical Foundation

(AMF) as senior manager in

November 2006. Ms Cheng was

previously Assistant Director

of Community Partnerships at

the National Volunteer & Philan-

thropy Centre. AMF is a Singapore-based charity

set up in 2003 whose main objective is to look

after the medical and healthcare needs of the

poor and the underprivileged, especially those

requiring urgent medical treatment. Tel: 63112103;


Devi joined the National

Volunteer & Philanthropy

Centre (NVPC) as Assistant

Director of Community

Partnerships on 1 December

2006. She works with various

organisations including non-

profit organisations, corporate bodies and

government bodies to promote volunteerism

and philanthropy at the national level. One of

her key roles will be to develop and promote

senior volunteerism. Before joining NVPC,

she was with the Singapore Indian Develop-

ment Association (SINDA) as a senior manager

with its Family Services & Volunteer Affairs

division, where she had helped to set up

SINDA’s Volunteer Management System and

the Information & Referral Unit. Tel: 65509580;


P E O P L E M O V E M E N T S

GIVE BLOOD. GIVE LIFE.

On 12 October 2006, scores of working

adults made a special point of stop-

ping over at Raffles Place MRT Station.

The occasion was to donate their blood.

Jointly organised by SMRT Corporation Ltd

and Singapore Red Cross, the blood dona-

tion drive was held at the concourse level

of the station. With enthusiastic support

from both commuters and the office

crowd, a total of 222 units of blood were

collected. SMRT holds regular public blood

donation drives as part of its continuous

support for the Red Cross.Blood donors giving the “gift of life” at Raffles Place MRT Station.


THE TIME OF THEIR LIVES

The three outstanding seniors from the three categories –

Grandparent of the Year, Active Senior of the Year and

Working Senior of the Year – of the Senior Citizens’ Awards 2006

were honoured at an awards ceremony on 19 November 2006.

The winners had been selected through 1,336 nominations and

100,000 public votes cast in October and November.

Working Senior of the Year was a new category. The winner

Mdm Low Chui Peh, 75 (centre) who works with the Phoenix Hotel

said, “I am very happy to win the award and I certainly intend to

keep on working for as long as I can. My work brings me a sense of

satisfaction, joy and independence.”

Ms Jenny Tan, 61 (left) the winner of the Active Senior of Year,

has been a pillar of strength for NTUC Community Development

Club, Lions Club and the Assisi Home and Hospice. Of the award,

she said, “I am very grateful that I have the opportunity to contribute

to the community. Volunteering has given me such a deep sense

of fulfilment and satisfaction.”

Grandparent of the Year went to badminton enthusiast

Mr Sng Tiang Kee, 71 (right). The grandfather of four swims and

engages in sporting activities with his grandchildren. A firm

believer that it is the grandparents’ duty to nurture their grand-

children, he added, “I do leave the disciplining duties to their

parents, but I constantly advise my grandchildren to always do

good and be filial.”

The Senior Citizens’ Awards is supported by the Ministry of

Community Development, Youth and Sports.

Model Citizens: The Senior Citizen Award winners posing

proudly after the ceremony.


COMMUNITY SPIRIT

To commemorate the second anniversary

of the McDonald’s Youth Inspiration

Series, Mr Sin Boon Ann, MP for Tampines

GRC and GPC Chairman for MCYS, addressed

a group of students on “Community Engage-

ment – Why you matter” on 30 November

2006. In his address, Mr. Sin emphasised the

importance of being involved in community

activities, especially among the youths. United we stand: Mr Sin Boon Ann with youths at the second anniversary of McDonald’s Youth Inspiration Series.

BEACH PARTY

Last 3 November, the beaches at East Coast Park were filled with

much cheer and laughter as close to 1000 elderly beneficiaries,

children, student and adult volunteers gathered with staff from

The Salvation Army for the Intergenerational Beach Party 2006.

Gracing the event was Guest-of-Honour, Mr Shanaka Goone-

wardena, Director of Deustche Bank and various guests from the

participating, supporting agencies and sponsors such as South

East Community Development Council and the National Volunteer

& Philanthropy Centre.

This is the fourth consecutive year that The Salvation Army

Bedok Centre, chaired by Mrs Veronica Ong, has led the intergen-

erational event. Volunteers like Aromaart School for Aromatherapy

and Bodyworks, Deutsche Bank and Happy Arts Performing Group

provided massages, logistical support and entertainment.

AIDHA REACHES OUT

In November 2006, aidha, a Singapore-based not-for-profit organisation,

announced the signing of new agreements with two international partners

to expand services to women migrant workers. aidha provides foreign domestic

workers with financial education and microfinance opportunities through

training and support services. A memorandum of understanding has been signed

with CARD MFI, a Philippines-based microfinance institution and a + b = 3 Ltd.,

a Hong Kong-based financial education firm which will replicate aidha’s curric-

ulum and model. These partnerships will ensure future delivery of advisory and

microfinance services to Filipina workers in Singapore and Hong Kong.

A specially-created greeting card is available for purchase by employers

of domestic helpers. This $50 gift will act as a scholarship for the helper to enrol

in an aidha course, with proceeds going toward aidha’s work. Call 67325434,

email [email protected] or visit www.aidha.org. for more information.

Student volunteers from Fengshan Primary treating all to an Indian cultural dance.


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A GlobalUniversity of Excellence

Applications are invited for appointment to the following positions:

Development Office

Campaign ManagerThe Cornell-Nanyang Institute of Hospitality

Management (CNI) is an alliance between Cornell

University’s School of Hotel Administration and

Nanyang Technological University’s (NTU) Nanyang

Business School. This alliance brings together the

world’s leading hotel management school and one

of Asia’s elite business schools. The Institute is

poised to become Asia’s premier source of

hospitality education and research. Visit

www.cni.ntu.edu.sg/index.shtml for more

information.

The Job:You will manage a fund-raising campaign to raise

endowment and programme support for CNI, work

with Development Office of NTU and CNI staff/

faculty to identify, cultivate, solicit and maintain

relations with a portfolio of contacts (current donors

and prospective donors) to match their giving

interests with the CNI’s funding priorities and needs.

You must be able to communicate and negotiate

with people of high net worth and able to travel to

Cornell School of Hotel Management for training or

campaign-related work.

Requirements:• A University Degree preferred

• Demonstrated successful fund-raising

experience, including personal and corporate gift

solicitation, or demonstrated sales experience

• Donor relations and stewardship experience, or

customer relationship and direct retail experience

is a plus

• Mature and creative

• Good interpersonal and communication skills

Manager/Senior Manager(Major Gifts)The Job:You will work with Development Office staff, faculty,

and Deans to identify, cultivate, solicit and maintain

relations with a portfolio of contacts (current donors

and prospective donors) - with the view to matching

their giving interests with the University’s funding

priorities and needs.

Requirements:• A University Degree preferred

• Demonstrated successful fundraising

experience, including personal and corporate

gift solicitation

• Donor relations and stewardship experience

• Creative, good interpersonal and communication

skills

Suitably qualified candidates are invited to apply

using the prescribed Personal Particulars Form

obtainable from www.ntu.edu.sg/hr/forms/AdminForm.doc.

Electronic submission of applications is

encouraged and can be forwarded to:

[email protected]

Note: Only shortlisted candidates

will be notified.



“All work, no pay!” That’s the cheerful motto that volunteer Mae Anderson lives by. And

she loves it.Mae started off doing volunteer work

because she found the transition from being a career woman as a real estate agent to a stay-at-home mum – she has two daughters, Sarah, 10 years old, and Sophie, 6 – to be difficult.

“I always say that, for me, volun-teerism is not altruistic,” says Mae who is now a highly active volunteer whose schedule is as busy as her lawyer husband’s. “For me, volunteering fulfills various needs. One is the need to stay plugged in and abreast of what’s going on. As a stay-at-home mum, I miss being in a work environment, where you set goals, have deadlines. Volunteerism for me has that feel-good factor. It’s fun and gives me a sense of accomplishment and it’s addictive.”

Mae began volunteering about five years ago when she called Food from the Heart to find out how she could help. She met up with founders Christine and Henry Laimer and suggested they collect toys and books for children as well. The

Laimers thought this was a good idea, so Christine put 17 collection boxes for toys and books at various law firms which were eventually donated to needy children.

“I was really touched by the children’s

reaction. It made me blubbery!” she recalls. She also remembers organising the first charity ball for Food from the Heart. “It was the first charity ball that I had organised. I was scared out of my wits but, thankfully, it went well,” said Mae.

Today, Mae is heavily involved in volunteering, including being the Secretary of the Executive Board of the Parents Teachers Association of the Singapore American School.

Dear to her heart is Art Outreach – an organisation that sends volunteers into schools to give art appreciation lessons – of which she is Chairman and spear-heads its fundraising activities. To date, she has organised three charity auctions and dinners, the most recent one featuring artwork from the North-East MRT line that were auctioned off to the public at

a Marina Mandarin dinner. Mae also recruited volunteers from corporations such as Morgan Stanley. “The bankers come in during the work week to give pres-entations to the children.”

Mae is also a volunteer with VIVA Foundation for Children with Cancer, an initiative that brings in help from St Jude’s – an American hospital which has the highest cure rate for children with cancer, with 90% of their patients recovering after treatment there. “I believe in supporting VIVA because no child should have to die in the prime of their lives,” Mae says. She helped to plan VIVA’s Biopolis launch last May, and chaired a charity and fashion show in August.

As if that’s not enough, she helped run a fundraiser to benefit VIVA at the Singapore American School. At the moment, her efforts are devoted towards planning a five-day seminar that VIVA will host in March – the St Jude Asia Forum will bring 150 of the world’s leading pediatric cancer researchers and doctors to Singapore.

Mae gets her family actively involved in her volunteer activities. Her husband, Joe, acts as a legal counsel for VIVA. One of her daughters recently sold baked goods and raised $160 for the Children’s Cancer Foundation. “It might have been a small amount but doing the fundraising gave my daughter a good feeling,” Mae says with a smile.

It’s clear that the feel-good factor in this family does not reside in Mae alone. ✩

All in the FamilyMae Anderson redefines the concept of a super-mum, combining full time

motherhood with a frantic volunteering schedule. TAN HWEE HWEE tries to keep up.

“ Volunteerism for me has that feel-good factor. It’s fun and gives me a sense of accomplishment and it’s addictive.”

V O L U N T E E R P R O F I L E

Volunteerism puts a big smile on Mae Anderson’s face.



From his youthful demeanour, it’s hard to tell that Danny Tan has been dancing for twenty years. In

the seven years since he founded Odyssey Dance Theatre in 1999, the 34 year-old artistic director has achieved so much that he was awarded the Young Artist Award by the National Arts Council in 2004.

Odyssey Dance Theatre is a highly active contemporary dance company made up of three divisions: Odyssey Theatre International, Arts4Youths and Young Artists Project Performers. The company has performed in major venues like Victoria Theatre, the Esplanade and Singapore Indoor Stadium. It also organ-ises the biennial dance festival Xposition ‘O’ Contemporary Dance Fiesta, a 10-day series of professional performances, master classes and workshops by Odyssey and international dance bodies from Japan, Finland and South Korea. “We hope that through our work we can inspire people, involve people, engage people and bond people,” says Tan.

Odyssey also runs the Arts4Youth programme which teaches dance in Singa-porean schools. So far, Arts4Youth has run programmes for more than 20 schools. Its pilot project with Northland Secondary School saw them working for four years with 1500 students. Arts4Youth has also performed for non-profit organisations like the Singapore Children’s Society, old folks’ homes and the President’s Challenge.

The company’s third division, the Young Artist Project Performers, is a group

of talented Singaporean dancers who regularly perform in the community and outreach programmes.

For Tan, dance is much more than just a visual and emotional response to movement. As part of its community outreach efforts, Odyssey works with organisations – such as Action for Aids, Children’s Cancer Foundation and Singa-pore Children’s Society – to help bring dance into lives. Recently, the company teamed up with IT company Landpro to run a dance programme of the elderly residents of Bethany Methodist Nursing Home. Tan remembers how unique the experience was. “Usually dance companies go to homes just to entertain the elderly but we did more than that. We coached them, we fed them, we taught them movement therapy to create special movements to warm up their bodies because the elderly are not so mobile.”

The company has also brought members of the Down Syndrome Associ-

ation Singapore to a retreat at Changi Village. “We helped the parents bond with the children,” Tan says. “Our exercises showed the parents how to take care of the children, how to work with the children based on the understanding of the exercises.”

With so many programmes keeping him busy 24/7, what drives Tan to work so hard?

“It’s the good people around me,” he says simply. “I always use the word ‘company’ because I don’t see this as an individual endeavour. As an individual, you only fulfill indi-vidual needs and expectations, but today, as a company, we are fulfilling many wants, many needs. I dare to dream. In the past nine years, our works have been performed in all major venues in Singapore including

the Esplanade and the Singapore Indoor Stadium. I have already produced three types of festivals, facilitated thousands of activities for schools. That’s what makes a dance company. As an individual I have limited capability to push certain bound-aries and beliefs, but as a company we are able to have more cohesive strategic planning and to drive things in a more impactful and effective way.”

This is not to say that there haven’t been obstacles and challenges, not least of which is the challenge of creating a fertile environment in which the dancing community and its ideals can take root. Tan believes that people must “under-stand that we need to allow time to let things happen. It has taken me twenty years to be in this position, so how long will it take for us to develop a cohort of teachers, students, dancers and audience that can appreciate good art?” ✩

Dance of LifeDanny Tan, the creative director of Odyssey Dance Theatre, tells TAN HWEE HWEE

why he believes that dance can extend beyond emotional aesthetics to actually enrich lives.

“ I always use the word ‘company’ because I don’t see this as an individual endeavour.”

P E O P L E S E C T O R P E O P L E

Danny Tan shows all the right moves.



With several awards – including the 2003 President’s Social Service Award (Corporate

Category) – already under its belt in recog-nition of its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) efforts, KPMG is as well known for its long history of community involve-ment as it is for its accountancy services.

A signatory of the United Nations Global Compact, a principles-based initiative that aims to create a more sustainable and inclusive economy, KPMG is part of a global network spanning 144 countries which continually demonstrates a commitment to being a proactive corporate citizen.

The firm is committed to adopting environmentally-friendly practices such as using recycled paper where possible, powering the office with energy-saving light bulbs and carrying out work tasks with environmentally friendly products such as printers and computers which minimise the wastage of energy.

And in line with the belief that CSR unites an organisation, strengthens its reputation and creates vital links with the communities in which it operates, a new initiative called KPMG Community Matters – to streamline and better co-ordinate all community and volunteer activities in the firm – was formed in 2001.

Past projects include the Singapore

Red Cross’ fundraising and clothing collection programmes, blood donation exercises, bone marrow donor testing, fundraising on Red Nose Day and support of the Breast Cancer Foundation’s activities.

KPMG employees also actively participate in other corporate-led charity activities such as the annual SGX Bull Run (which benefits youth and children from 13 welfare organisations including the Autism Association of Singapore, The Straits Times School Pocket Money Fund), the JP Morgan Chase Corporate Challenge, and the Singapore Disability Sports Council.

In addition, KPMG also helps support seven different VWOs. Says Caroline Lee, partner in charge of Community Matters, “The Asian Women’s Welfare Association, Grace Orchard School, Movement for the Intellectually Disabled of Singapore, Pertapis, Singapore Cheshire Home, TOUCH Community Services and Viriya Community Services have all been recipients of funds collected through the KPMG Community Day Fund efforts.”

She adds that Community Day is a highlight of the firm’s Community Matters calendar. Started in 1999, Community Day is a firm-wide activity that gives more

than 1,600 KPMG staff an opportunity to spend a full work day with the benefi-ciaries of the VWOs the firm supports. Last August, staff enjoyed a day out at the Singapore Zoological Gardens with close to 600 beneficiaries from its adopted charities. Past Community Day activities have also included residen-tial repairs, painting and cleaning work, computer repairs and network set-up,

and games and excursions.The KPMG Community Day Fund

is an annual collection of the monetary contributions made by staff members. In 2006, each VWO was presented with a cheque of S$16,888, being apportioned proceeds from internal fundraising by the Fund. KPMG staff and the firm also contributed to other community and humanitarian causes for beneficiaries both locally and abroad.

KPMG, a multiple recipient of the National Arts Council Supporter of the Arts award, also sees the value of outreach through theatre, dance and the like. “We encourage the enrichment of lives through the support for the arts,” says Lee. “Last October, KPMG sponsored da:nsfestival 2006 at Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay, an inaugural dance festival that was well-received. We continue to encourage our staff to play a more active role in community service, and to contribute to the less fortunate in our community. In this new year, we want to engage in community efforts on a continual basis so that Community Day can happen throughout the year.” ✩

The Sum of all EffortsInternational accounting and consulting firm KPMG proves that when it comes to helping those in need, every effort counts. MICHELLE BONG finds out more.

“ KPMG, a multiple recipient of the National Arts Council Supporter of the Arts award, also sees the value of outreach through theatre, dance and the like.”

W A L K T H E T A L K

Group effort: KPMG’s managing partner Danny Teo (third from left) with partners Frances Cheang (to his left) and Caroline Lee (extreme right), and VWO members at the KPMG Community Day 2006 held at the Singapore Zoological Gardens.



The Lees. The Shaws. The Khoos. The Liens. The Tans.

For decades now, these families have been operating foundations linked

to all manner of philanthropic work. They are the somewhat faceless forces behind fundraising events, scholarship endowment funds, arts-related activities, environmental awareness projects and so on.

Set up by notable sons of Singapore, these foun-dations are now run by second and third generation philanthropists following in the footsteps of their elders. Their good work is public knowledge, and they have certainly made their presence felt in the people sector. But this same presence highlights a noticeable paucity of new living philanthropists who are doing their bit.

Over in the United States, this is clearly not the case. Microsoft chairman Bill Gates, businessman Warren Buffett and media mogul Oprah Winfrey are just three examples of individuals who believe in giving back to the community in the form of massive mone-tary donations through self-established foundations. Instead of leaving the bulk of their massive wealth to future generations, they are putting their money to work now – and enjoying the satisfaction of seeing the difference it brings about.

Gates and his wife set up the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the world’s largest philanthropic organisation, in 2000 to help reduce inequities in over 100 countries around the world. The foundation

is internationally famous for its focus on world health, its relentless fight against HIV/AIDS and efforts to improve libraries and high schools in the United States. In 2005 alone, it reportedly made grant payments worth US$1.36 billion.

Investor-philanthropist Buffett, who amassed a vast fortune worth some US$44 billion, raised more than a few eyebrows last June when he committed 85 per cent of his wealth (approximately US$30.7 billion) to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. He also pledged smaller sums of money to founda-tions headed by his three children, and even allowed himself to be “sold” for US$620,100 at an online eBay auction as a lucky bidder’s lunch date.

Meanwhile, talk show host Winfrey’s Oprah Winfrey Foundation is her vehicle to empower women, children, and families by furthering education and welfare for low-opportunity communities around the world. To date, hundreds of grants have been awarded to organizations that carry out Winfrey’s vision while millions have been raised through Oprah’s Angel Network, set up in 1997 to inspire people to make a difference in the lives of others.

Is There No One?Which begs the question: do Singaporean versions of Gates or Winfrey exist? Such a comparison may seem unfair, but then again, Singapore is certainly no Johnny Come Lately when it comes to producing high net worth individuals who are more than capable of flying the donor flag – with or without a foundation to their name.

According to the 2006 World Wealth Report by Merrill Lynch-Capgemeni,

The QuietPhilanthropistFamous family foundations have been lending a philanthropic hand for decades now. But where are the new philanthropists? asks MICHELLE BONG.

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Singapore was one of the best performing markets in terms of the creation of high net worth individuals despite being a smaller, less developed financial market. Singapore is home to some 55,000 US-dollar millionaires, and is the world’s fastest growing market for people who need wealth management services.

Experts agree that there are individual philan-thropists out there doing their bit; however, most request for anonymity, wanting neither press coverage nor acknowledgement for their work.

Education leads the list of social causes supported. Professor Saw Swee Hock, a Professorial Fellow at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies and an alumnus of the National University of Singapore (NUS) gifted several million dollars to his alma mater over a number of years. The gifts have funded, among other things, student bursaries, medals, professorships and the Saw Centre for Financial Studies at the NUS Business School.

Similarly, another NUS alumnus, ophthalmologist Professor Arthur Lim, has raised millions in the name of education through dinner events and private fundraising auctions of his paintings. He also chaired the NUS Endowment Fund for over a decade and is a well-known advocate of the importance of educating future generations.

The Singapore Management University (SMU) website lists businessmen Tommie Goh and Dato’ Low Tuck Kwong and various professors and associate professors as individual donors who personally contributed sums of money between S$10,000 and S$9,999,999.

Robert Schlesinger, director of SMU’s Office of Advancement and Alumni, says he wouldn’t know what to do without these benefactors – be they individual or corporate-givers. “I sit on scholarship committees, and I know of students whose parents don’t even earn S$500 a month. Financial aid makes a real difference in their lives, and bursaries are our biggest focus.

“You hardly hear about such donations because most individuals request for anonymity, which we have to respect. But it doesn’t mean [such] giving doesn’t happen. We have received many nice gifts in 2006, the most recent being a million dollar donation by businessman Wong Kwok Leong – which received a little press mention because he was alright with the donation being made public knowledge. The money will go towards the Wong Kwok Leong Endowment Scholarship to be awarded to up to three undergrad-uates in 2007/2008 academic year.”

Local technopreneur and Creative Technology CEO Sim Wong Hoo, newly hailed by some as Singa-pore’s Bill Gates, is another example of an erstwhile quiet philanthropist. He has faithfully made quiet



contributions over the years to various initiatives; these include the delivery of S$2 million worth of monthly household essentials such as rice and sugar to needy families for an entire year, and half-a-million dollars in a matching grant to The School Pocket Money Fund organ-ised by the Straits Times.

He also co-funded the Theatre Training & Research Programme, a division of local arts company Practice Performing Arts Centre. “If you just donate to each charity, that will be an easy job. But I am not one who would do an easy job – charity is good, but a good cause is better,” he told the Straits Times. Most recently, he made the news with two sizeable dona-tions in the form of Creative Technology shares; the first was $20 million to charity followed by another $10 million to the Sim-Tan Siok Kee Foundation, named in honour of his mother who passed away on Boxing Day last year. To date, the total number of cash, shares and dividends donations he has made is said to amount to some $49 million. With this new foun-dation, the quiet philanthropist has gone public.

On The Right TrackTerry Farris, head of Philanthropy Services (Asia Pacific) at wealth management company United Bank of Switzerland says the tide is turning and the next five years will herald a rise in the number of local social capitalists and entrepreneurs like Sim.

“Today, we are starting to see a new type of philanthropists. Generally aged between 40 and 55, they are looking at how they can make the greatest impact with the least amount of funds. They want to partner with other organizations or corporations to identify what it takes to make their projects enjoy the greatest impact,” he says.

“These people come forward because they have reached that phase in their lives where they have received their education, they’ve made a good living, and they are now finding a new purpose.

Farris adds that “at the same time, older, estab-lished foundations are bringing in people who under-stand the sector. The second and third generations of these foundations also want to be more professional; they want accountability, focus, transparency, and be able to measure the impact of their actions and deci-sions and, more importantly, to leverage the giving.”

A larger transformation also exists in that full-

time staff are hired to facilitate personal giving by others. For instance, SMU’s Office of Advancement and Alumni was formed to develop relationships between the school and the community and invite individuals and alumni alike to stake a vested interest in the development of SMU into a world-class teaching and research institution. Similarly, the NUS’s Development Office works to inspire gifts that will take the university to the next level, and give their donors a remarkable philanthropic experience while allowing them to make a difference by giving.

From the Ground UpNow that the proverbial ball has started rolling, further measures can be put in place to nurture more individual giving. Private banks, for one, can help the acceleration process along. Maretta Emery, Head of Philanthropy Services, Asia at Fortis Private Banking says those looking to start their own foun-dations will do well to work with a trusted profes-sional who can advise on the legalities and legwork of setting up a foundation.

UBS also offers high net worth individuals an opportunity to network or leverage a mutual vision. Farris notes that the bank is able to bring together such like-minded individuals “to address issues and make a difference collectively. Such individuals can then partner with organisations like NVPC and the National Council for Social Services to do the kind of work they want. Think of it as a small cell group that can collec-tively address the greatest needs of the community.”

Farris adds that the Singapore government too is doing its own part. “They are already looking at how they can change laws to increase and induce greater giving. I have seen great interest on the part of the government to support the people sector – it’s a common dream that can be shared. The challenge is also getting NPOs to focus on being active and taking the time to cultivate their relationships with their stakeholders. Not many NPOs understand how social investors work, and need to understand and leverage on that.”

“Today, we are starting to see a new type of philanthropists. They want to partner with other organizations or corporations to identify what it takes to make their projects enjoy the greatest impact.” —Terry Farris


PUTTING THEIR TRUST IN THE FUTUREThe following family foundations have left a priceless legacy for Singaporeans of today, and tomorrow.

LEE FOUNDATIONThe late Lee Kong Chian believed that as a man builds his own wealth, he must always give back to society and help his fellow-man to prosper; and the key to such long-term prosperity is education. And so, the philanthropist and businessman created a foundation in 1952 for the advancement of education, medi-cine and cultural activities. Since 1952, the Lee Foundation has donated millions of dollars to various causes, seventy-five percent of them being education. Besides its scholarships and Centennial Professorships at NUS, significant gifts included $50 million to an entire business school at SMU and $60 million to the NLB to fund the Lee Kong Chian Reference Library. The President’s Challenge, Singapore Lyric Opera and the Singapore Dance Theatre are amongst the many other causes it funds.

SHAW FOUNDATIONBased on the strong belief that wealth contributed by society should be generously returned, the Shaw Foundation was set up in 1957. With education as its primary focus, the Foundation has also distributed millions to welfare, medicine, arts and heritage. Its beneficiaries have included the National Arts Council, NUS, National Parks, Singapore General Hospital and the Singapore Police Force, in addition to the elderly needy in its annual hong-bao event personally led by Mr Shaw Vee Meng. Most recently, it made a S$1.5million contribution towards the rebuilding of the iconic Shaw Foundation Symphony stage at the Singa-pore Botanical Gardens. The Foundation also gives widely to schools for building facilities like auditoriums and libraries.

TAN CHIN TUAN FOUNDATIONTan Dr Sri Tan Sri Tuan has been credited as the man who built the Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation (OCBC) into one of the world’s soundest banks. He was also a legendary philanthropist who founded the Tan Chin Tuan Foundation in 1976 to support educational, medical and voluntary organisa-tions committed to the good of human and social well-being. The foundation has helped more than 2,300 beneficiaries so far. Beneficiaries include the National University of Singa-pore (NUS), the National Cancer Centre, The Salk Institute for Biological Studies and the Needham Library in Cambridge. To give better focus to its giving, the foundation made news recently by hiring a full-time chief executive.

KHOO FOUNDATIONThroughout his successful career on the global business scene, Tan Sri Khoo Teck Puat maintained a commitment to giving back to Singapore through numerous donations, mostly quietly. In 1981, he set up the Khoo Foundation with a S$20 million grant. According to the Business Times, some $2 billion has now been placed in the foundation named after the late tycoon who having built his fortune in banking, hotels and real estate died in February 2004, aged 87. Recently, the Foundation donated to Peking University a sports complex that will be used for the Beijing Olympics and S$5 million to the Kidney Dialysis Foundation to start a new dialysis centre in Ghim Moh.

LIEN FOUNDATIONFounded in 1980 by eminent business leader, banker and hotelier Dr Lien Ying Chow, the foundation focuses on education, eldercare and the environment. Most recently, it spearheaded the launch of the Lien Foundation – Nanyang Technological University Environmental Endeavour, an initia-tive that aims to help global communities embrace technolo-gies that promote hygiene and sanitation. There is also the Singapore Management University’s Lien Foundation Centre for Social Innovation which plans to raise the professionalism and capacity of the non-profit sector in Singapore. The Lien Foundation is a leader in the professionalizing of grantmaking practices, including its appointment of a full time programme director in 2004.


Community foundations, an increasingly active arm of philanthropy overseas, can also play a part. Emery notes that “these independent organisations, founded on trust, can help donors achieve their charitable goals and invest financial capital in their communities – by bringing together people who care about their communities.”

Foundations such are these are, in the main, volunteer-driven and Emery explains their aim is to “strengthen their communities by facilitating philan-thropy, by partnering with donors to build permanent endowments and other funds that support commu-nity projects, and by providing leadership on issues of broad community concern. Social scientists call these vital connections ‘social capital’ and have found that they are linked to many measures of community and individual well-being. Community foundations have a leadership role in building social capital – the glue that holds communities.”

Creating OpportunitiesIn the effort to find ways for all financially-able individuals to embark on their journey of philan-thropy, Singapore will do well to look to its own people first. Although there are many billionaire expatriates who call Singapore home, Farris concedes that, for them, their priority is to their family and home community overseas.

However, there has been a grassroot interest from key individuals and families living and working in Singapore to identify global and regional philanthropic groups and associations to speak in Singapore.

Says Farris, “I also believe that we will see international and regional philanthropic associations bringing in their expertise. For instance, global organ-isation Association of Fundraising Professionals has set up a chapter here in Singapore to help raise fundraising standards and to educate its members on ethical fundraising which also gives them the global connect to learn from others abroad and to network around the world.”

Now is the time for individual philanthropists in Singapore and the region to work together to donate generously to worthy causes, and be inspired by their American counterparts whose gestures prove that when it comes to giving, it’s never too soon. This new breed of donors can take a leaf from Singapore’s key families who have already staked their claim in the arena of generous giving, and by latter day philanthropists like Sim Wong Hoo. ✩


I t’s almost the same scene every time: a beautifully done-up ballroom in a prestigious hotel;

the champagne is flowing freely; the men are in lounge suits, and the women in floor-length designer gowns with their Choos, Chanels and Manolos. There’s a lot of mingling, networking and clinking of glasses. The guest-of-honour, usually a government minister arrives, followed by a few speeches. Then there’s the sumptuous three- or four- course dinner, finished off with an evening performance by a choir recital or three-piece band. Occasionally, there’s an auction of assorted art works, vintage wines or fashion items. But if you’re lucky, you get a fun theme with a wild dress code, an all-night-long on-tap vodka bar and a dance floor to groove on into the wee hours of the morning.

Welcome to the world of charity balls in Singapore, where having fun helps raise funds. Not a month goes by these days without at least one big charity do. There’s the Mercedes Ball, the SRT Ball, the George Washington Ball, the Snow Benefit, the Kids Horizon Appeal Gala, the SSO Benefit Dinner, the MILK Fund Charity... the list goes on. In fact, most gala dinners have a fundraising element. And those who sit on their organizing committees are high-profile women – such

as designer Odile Benjamin and Dr Caro-line Heah – with serious social clout and a priceless Rolodex of deep-pocket donors.

Is Charity

the New Black?Society women raising funds may have come into prominence in recent times in Singapore, but charity and philanthropy have been long established traditions in some of the ‘old money’ families here. While it’s difficult these days to tell if more society women from old money families are active fundraisers than the recently wealthy, it’s clear that in some quarters, charity and fundraising is the new black.

Maybe we can blame the phenomenon on rock stars like Bono and Elton John who make fundraising and charity sexy and glamorous – Bono with his campaign

to end world poverty and John with his White Tie and Tiara Ball in London for his Aids foundation. Of course, it does not go unnoticed that the local charity gala dinners get reams of column inches in society magazines.

Socialite Olga Iserlis agrees that there are some socialites who get involved because they think it’s glamorous. “But, of course, it’s not all glamour,” she points out. “There’s a lot of work and sometimes you have to get your hands dirty.” And she would know. In the past few years, Iserlis has organised three of the biggest annual gala dinners in the social calendar – the Passion, the Mercedes and the SRT balls. “People only see me looking glamorous at these parties but they don’t know that the night before, I’m in my t-shirt and jeans, overseeing the set-up with my contractor,” she laughs.

Russian-born and New York-bred, Iserlis is an anomaly amongst most socialites here. She works and runs her own business providing expertise for parties and gala events. Her fund-raising projects are mostly pro bono and has her over-seeing everything, from coming up with a theme and selling tables to deciding the menu and designing the ballroom. “I do it because I love it and because I believe in the causes,” she says of her support for

Say Cheese! (l-r) Olga Iserlis with Dick Lee and Linda Soo Tan at the SRT

fundraising ball 2005.

Raising money for charity is serious business but

leave it to society ladies in Singapore to put the

fun back into fundraising. Sakinah Manaff swirls through charity balls and fundraisers,

and meets the social butterflies who are

making a difference, and realises that behind

the glitter is a lot of hard, unheralded work.



disadvantaged families and kids, though she confesses to having a soft spot for the arts and culture.

Certainly, in the midst of all the pomp and pageantry of charity balls, it’s all too easy to forget the recipient charities. “Sometimes the money raised seems so little,” says an observer who did not want to be named. “Makes you wonder how much actually goes to the charity and how much to the party set-up itself.” (On this point, it’s worth noting that, organ-isers of charity fundraisers are required by law to keep their costs to 30 percent of their total proceeds.)

The Many Faces

of Fundraising“Fundraising has many conduits – philan-thropy, corporate adoptions and sponsor-ships, cajoling the humble dollar from the man in the street, and of course, glamorous money from the glamorous set,” says Celeste Basapa, another socialite who is a regular fixture on the fundraising scene. “The latter is a substantial number who don’t mind parting with their money for a good cause while having a good time. And I say ‘Why not?’ My motto is: ‘Fund-raising is akin to gold prospecting. Wherever you find that nugget, it is as good as any.’”

Good intentions aside, a casual observer may ask: How hard is it for socialites to get their friends to part with their money, especially if they know that there’s a chance to get dolled up and have champagne on a Saturday night? It’s not like they need to be arm-twisted. Why don’t they do more?

Basapa says, “Honestly, whether our socialites turn up in droves togged in designer labels at The Ritz-Carlton for a charity ball or ply Orchard Road selling coupons for the Red Cross bazaar, like what some of us recently did, or serve food in senior citizens’ homes, they are already doing a helluva lot!”

Those looking for a roadmap to the fundraising scene can be inspired by the various groups of socialites and profes-sional women who are already getting in on the act. There are those who are happy to use their influence to get corporate sponsors to adopt a charity. There are those who feel comfortable working within

an organizing committee of a fundraiser, or just sending their chauffeurs around to make the food runs. And then, there are those who don’t mind getting their hands dirty to do the grunt work to raise funds – baking and selling cookies, collecting old clothes and furniture for sale.

But in the end, pragmatism rules for many, taking the view that as long as socialites and their coterie are willing to donate their money or time, they should always be encouraged and welcome.

Getting Down

and DirtyNot all socialites necessarily want any publicity for doing charity work or raising funds. A great example comes from the ladies of the Singapore Armed Forces

Officers Wives’ Club (SAF OWC), a motley group made up of homemakers, entrepre-neurs, professionals and even a former botanist. When I first speak with Rosemary Chng, the Club’s education secretary, she’s quick to clarify that the wives are not socialites. “We are very fortunate that we don’t have to work, although some of us choose to, but you won’t see us in the pages of a society magazine,” she laughs. “A lot of the work we do won’t make headlines but we’ve been quite successful.”

I was about to find out just how successful as Chng had invited me to the SAF OWC clubhouse one Saturday morning for an event to celebrate the success of the two social enterprises they initiated for MINDS. I showed up expecting to see middle-aged army wives decked out in their Liz Claibornes. Instead, I got the whole spectrum from lovely auntie-types to yummy mummies in spiffy designer jeans and a dash of bling.

The purpose of the ceremony I was attending was to commemorate the handing over of the MINDS thrift shops to the charity itself, and of course, to recognise the sum (over $1 million) raised by the OWC for MINDS. For the past 15 years, the shops had been run by the wives who volunteer their time. Duties can range from manning the shops and collecting used clothes and items to the less salu-brious sorting and cleaning them out.

So the wives get down and get dirty? “Of course! We don’t have a problem with rolling up our sleeves and doing the job,” says Judie Ng, president of the SAF OWC. “It’s also interesting to see how people relate to us. Once I had to pick up some old clothes from a flat. The bags were too


“ sometimes the money

raised seems so little.

Makes you wonder how much actually goes to the charity and how

much to the party

set-up itself.” — Anonymous

In addition to fundraising, the SAFOWC ladies organise educational study tours for its volunteers. Here, Mrs Judie Ng picks vegetables at Bollywood Veggies for the ladies’ lunch.

An apple a day: Rosemary Chng with Khaw Boon Wan, the Minister of Health who bought the first apple made by Mrs Anne Soo in support of the Firstlight - Apples Against

Cancer, a cancer research fundraising drive.


heavy for me so I asked the homeowner for some help. He didn’t seem too happy but reluctantly helped me carry them to my car. He thought I was a karung-guni woman because I was in my dirty jeans and t-shirt but when he saw my BMW, his reaction to me immediately changed and he was nicer.”

I found it hard to imagine Ng disheveled, as she was smartly turned out in a stylish black shift dress with lots of lovely diamond rings on her well-manicured fingers. She could have fit in nicely at a fundraising cocktail and I told her so. She smiled. “Because of the kind of work our husbands do, we are used to these things. Mingling with and entertaining guests are part of our duties as spouses but when it comes to charity, we prefer a more hands-on approach and doing something practical for the charities.”

Such a roll-up-the-sleeves approach has not been confined to the thrift stores. The wives have been galvanised into baking cookies and frying ikan bilis at Ng’s house. There have been charity sales of specially-designed military souvenirs

at SAF Open Houses, where the wives have been deployed to man stalls in the scorching heat.

But Ng is quick to point out that all the hands-on charity work does not mean that they don’t like to shop and pamper themselves. “Every year or so, we organise a trip to Thailand or somewhere for all the wives – no kids and husbands allowed. Then, we’ll shop, eat and have spa treat-ments. I guess that’s the tai-tai part; we’re tai-tais but with an option,” Ng laughs.

Some, like Rosemary Chng, choose to go beyond the OWC charity projects. Her CV would put any fundraiser – or volunteer, for that matter – in the shade. Chng runs at least one fundraising project annually. Over the years, she has helped raise several millions through the many projects she has headed or been part of. She’s also earned her stripes by spending a year in Botswana as a volunteer teacher. “I believe that each of us have our place and way to help where we can,” she says modestly.

She’s also no stranger to the glamorous side of fundraising, having successfully organised the Vision of Hope charity dinner. When I ask her if she thought socialites could do more for charity, given their affluence, influence and connections, she says with candour, “They are amongst the best people to engage to help raise large sums of money at a go. But it would help if someone helps them to coordinate and organise the events so that they can focus on what they do best...to attract attention to a worthy cause.”

It’s easy to say that socialites, high-profile and affluent women, should do this or do that or just do more to raise funds for charity, but the bottom line is this: when it comes to the needy and less fortunate members of the community, there is rarely a right or wrong way to extend a helping hand. When it comes to charity, there are many ways to contribute, and however small it may be, the effort and time put in shouldn’t be criticised or denigrated but, instead, encouraged.

Despite its detractors, today’s society women are getting involved in charity and fundraising like never before. And in ways that are surprising and unexpected. An insider reported that a group of well-heeled women had already signed up with Habitat for Humanity to build homes for the underprivileged in Third World countries. Ten years ago, you’d never have heard of such a thing.

Even at charity balls, society women are not content to just show up. If the likes of Iserlis and Basapa are anything to go by, more and more of them are wanting to get behind the scenes and do the grunt work, if necessary. Which can all mean one thing: more money in the till for charities. ✩

“ [Socialites] are Amongst

the best people to engage

to help raise large sums of money at a go. But it

would help if someone

helps them to coordinate

and organise the events

so that they can focus

on what they do best. ”

— Rosemary Chng

All hands on deck – Celeste Basapa (centre) with Ivy Singh-Lim (right) and Mrs S R Nathan (left) at a recent charity fundraiser for the French Embassy for the Red Cross Society Bazaar.




The English poet John Donne famously wrote “No man is an Island, entire of itself” to convey

the message that all of us are part of a larger whole. In a similar way, the WE Foundation – which devotes itself to helping recovering addicts – decided upon its name on the basis that “We” represents community. “We” suggests that an indi-vidual addict cannot recover on his own, however, a group of recovering persons can recover together. For that reason, “We” is also the first word in all its 12-step recovery programmes.

The WE Foundation’s C.A.R.E. (Centre for Addiction, Recovery and Education) programme was only started in May 2005, but already, it has seen encouraging success. Executive Director Harry M Fullett remembers one addict (or ‘drop-in’, as patients are called) was a former gang member who had been helped by the centre. His former gang mates was so impressed by his recovery, “they said, ‘You look so good, what have you done, can you help me out?’ so the former gang member became a spokesperson for the WE Foundation to his former gang mates.”

Another recovering alcoholic quit his high-flying job to volunteer for the Foundation.

C.A.R.E. is unique in that it is open seven days a week for its users “Our uniqueness is that we’re here all day long throughout the week and we can provide immediate intervention,” says Fullett. “We don’t charge anybody for our services.”

In fact, C.A.R.E offers extensive aftercare services for people who have undergone detoxification and rehabilitation programmes. In addition, the Foundation’s board members and C.A.R.E volunteers meet regularly over lunch, an example of how a non-profit can engage different volunteers within a organisation.

C.A.R.E is also unique in that it covers a wide range of addictions including gambling, drugs and eating disorders. Says Fullett, “One of the programmes that we started, which is tremendously unique, is what we call ‘All Addictions Anonymous’ in which people with all different types of addictions are welcome to join in. We have people with gambling, alcohol, drug addictions and they sit around and use the twelve-step recovery programme. In addition, they go to ‘Singleness of Purpose’ programmes which are like Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous.”

C.A.R.E. is run mainly by volunteers – there are only two full-time staff and 40 registered volunteers. “The volunteers do administrative work for us,” says Fullett. “They answer the phones, they work on our website, they clean the place up, they train other volunteers to get more infor-

mation about addictions. We have programmes where we teach them about various forms of addictions and teach them how to do general counseling as well as some intervention work. Our volunteers who stay clean and sober have been our greatest testimonials as we have a lot of interest from the media to interview these people and talk about their recovery.”

The advantage of having people in recovery work as volunteers in the centre is that they, in turn, become mentors to other recovering drop-ins. “If you have somebody who is six months in recovery and you have someone who comes off the street who is just struggling with getting through one day at a time, they can see and identify with this mentor who has had some success through work at the Centre,” explains Fullett.

Certainly, there are many challenges in running a centre like C.A.R.E. “Addictions are still quite misunderstood in Singapore,” says Fullett. “There’s a moral issue in that there’s still some kind of guilt associated with it and it’s all got to do with guilt and shame. Like people will say, ‘You’ve got great parents. How come you can’t stay sober? You’ve got a great wife and your kids are beautiful. How come you can’t stay clean? But when you realise that addiction is a disease, not a moral issue, when you get to the medical core of the issue that the addict is not responsible for the addiction but he is responsible for the recovery, that’s when we can step in and help them recover.” ✩

Open HouseThe WE Foundation’s Centre for Addiction, Recovery and Education, or C.A.R.E, helps recovering

addicts realise that they are not alone. TAN HWEE HWEE drops in for an inspiring visit.

N E W S A L T

“ Our volunteers who stay clean and sober have been our greatest testimonials.”

Drop-ins at the WE Foundation Centre engage in some expressive therapy.


The police are famous for their “good cop, bad cop” routine. Working in pairs, one befriends

the miscreant while the other threatens him until he confesses.

Only in movies, of course. But with the arrival of both a new Commissioner of Charities (COC) and a new head of the Charity Council (CC) on the scene, the question might be asked: Who’s the good cop, and who is the bad one?

The answer is that they both veer towards the nice role.

“I see my role as helping the charity sector grow,” says Low Puk Yeong, the newly appointed Commissioner of Charities. “We want to regulate with a light touch, and we want to move towards self-regulation.”

He is emphatic that “the Commis-sioner of Charities is not a policeman,” but accepts that if there were complaints about the management of a charity or its donations, “we would go in and inves-tigate,” either with the Charities Unit’s own officers or outsource the work to an accountancy firm.

Accountancy looms large on the other side, as Ernst and Young chairman Fang Ai Lian is the Chairman of the newly constituted Charity Council. She sees her role as advisory to the COC, which means, as she puts it smilingly, “clearly the Commissioner of Charities is the regu-lator, so he’s the policeman!”

But both are keen to reassure the charity sector that the policeman role – such as it is – is solely intended to restore trust and help grow the sector.

“We’re not here to go after charities. We’re here to help them grow by improving

governance,” says Mr Low during our interview at the Charities Unit’s new office in MCYS’s Thomson Road headquarters. “And we hope that public confidence can be restored.” His immediate aims are to amend the Charities Act to tighten up the regu-latory procedure, and improve governance.

For her part, Mrs Fang anticipates that the CC’s role will be to “help the COC in terms of suggesting what regulations should be in place, and to help them review cases as they come to light.”

Mr Low agrees that the COC will

consult with the CC in any cases which might have a major impact, and will take their advice.

Quite apart from any sector crisis, one priority is to come up with a Code of Governance which should be launched in the first quarter of 2007. Following the Inter-Ministry Committee recom-mendations, Mr Low and Mrs Fang stress that the new Code, as well as proposed amendments to the Charities Act, shouldn’t be seen as punitive. If the measures rebuild public trust, they are in charities’ own best interests. The two sides are working hand-in-hand to come

up with ideas for the code, and they will be inviting public feedback (“We get a lot of diverse input!” smiles Mrs Fang) to take it through the due process.

Mr Low points out that the code is voluntary, adding that it has been adapted from best practices in other countries such as the United States and the United Kingdom. “There are several bits and pieces all around,” says Mrs Fang. “We are rationalising them, collapsing them and designing them into a code for the whole charity sector.”

That doesn’t mean a one-size-fits-all approach, simply because one size patently doesn’t fit the wide array of charities in Singapore. Mr Low is looking at a “risk-based regulatory framework,” so if a charity is big and has a great impact on society (such as NKF), and if there have been perennial complaints, then “we put them on a watch list. We don’t want to have an over-regulated regime. We hope


United We StandSince their appointments, everyone wants to know what the charities sector can expect from

the new Commissioner of Charities and the new Chairman of the Charity Council. ANDREW DUFFY sits down for an exclusive and very candid interview with Mr Low Puk Yeong and Mrs Fang Ai Lian.

S A L T S H A K E R S & M O V E R S

“ We’re not here to go after charities. We’re here to help them grow by improving governance. And we hope that public confidence can be restored.”

Mr Low Puk Yeong



to see a better self-regulated sector.” He adds that he doesn’t “find any joy in pursuing enquiry after enquiry”.

Mrs Fang, who also heads the Breast Cancer Foundation and the Home Nursing Foundation, is keen above all to promote a diverse range of charities. “It doesn’t matter if they are big or small,” she says. “Our mission is to help people realise their passion for community work. If the charities are small, they don’t need fancy systems. But when they are large, the level of public accountability also becomes larger.”

Conversely, smaller charities are handicapped by simply not knowing best practice. “We want to help the smaller ones who find it difficult to institute sound financial controls,” says Mrs Fang. “That’s where we can help by developing standard systems which they can use, or show them how they can outsource accounting, for example.”

Before the Code of Governance is ready, a new charity portal will be up and running, and will soon be a place where donors can look at a charity’s credentials to help them decide where to give.

A popular perception is that all this flurry of activity is a response to the National Kidney Foundation scandal, and there are those who wonder if an increase in regulation isn’t a high price to pay for the 2,000-odd charities who weren’t involved in the NKF, SAVH and Youth Challenge headlines.

On this, Mr Low robustly defends the changes he hopes to make. “I’m at an age when I don’t worry about playing safe,” he says. For his 30 years in the

civil service, he says “my role has been to rock the boat and make changes.”

Mrs Fang looks at it optimistically. “Governance must be viewed in a positive way,” she says. “It’s being done to make the charity sector more vibrant.”

Even so, there have been concerns that the new regulations could be some-thing of the Sarbannes-Oxley Act for the charity sector, following the new act in the United States that tightens up governance and auditing of companies – at great expense to them.

But Mrs Fang says that’s not the case here. In the first place, the new guide-lines can be tailored for each charity, so they do not become too burdensome. And secondly, wheels had been set in motion a year before the NKF case grabbed the headlines.

The aim of the new Code of Gover-nance, Mrs Fang says, is to promote self-

regulation, rather than lay down the law. No two charities are the same, but the principles of good governance are. Hence, they need to find their own rules, and for good governance to trickle down from the top. “If you have a good board, everything else will flow – the strategic management, the financial management – everything.”

Another benefit of stiffening the rules surrounding charities is that it should help them attract more high calibre people to their boards. “They all have a reputation to protect,” says Mrs Fang. “And they need to know that it won’t be tainted in any manner.”

A bigger stick is being put in place, but what about a bigger carrot? Will we see better salaries being paid to top charity workers, to lure more top management away from the private sector? “We’re already moving in that direction, towards more commercial levels,” says Mrs Fang, adding that it is, naturally, for the board of each charity to decide the level of pay. The CC wouldn’t presume to offer any guidelines.

Another step is to help with training, especially for CEOs and CFOs of charities and IPCs, so that they have a deeper understanding of good governance.

“The starting point is that there are many good people who want to do good, but can run into trouble without wanting to; so our job is to help them improve their own capabilities,” Mrs Fang says.

The new CC head also anticipates that donors will start to expect and accept greater levels of regulation; and hence will be more accepting that a larger slice of their donation will be channelled into the cost of compliance. They will be happy, too, to pay the slightly higher price for the reassurance of good governance that would come with it.

“It’s a desired state of affairs to promote good governance and self regu-lation, and not to develop rules that will stifle charities. We want to help grow this important sector, make it vibrant.” ✩

“ If the charities are small, they don’t need fancy systems. But when they are large, the level of public accountability also becomes larger.”

Mrs Fang Ai Lian

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“ But both are keen to reassure the charity sector that the policeman role – such as it is – is solely intended to restore trust and help grow the sector.”


The Courage Fund was set up in April 2003 during the SARS crisis. It had no initial fundraising

target. As an avalanche of money poured in, the feeling among many was that the money being raised was more than would be needed to help those affected by SARS. There were calls to stop fund-raising and one donor publicly asked for his money back.

The $32m fundraising record set by the Courage Fund was easily overtaken by the Tidal Waves Asia Fund established by the Singapore Red Cross (SRC) in January 2005 in response to the tsunami crisis. As a metaphorical tidal wave of donations swept in, there was disquiet among other volunteer groups and charities that were also responding to the crisis. These groups felt somewhat deprived of the almost unidirectional flow of funds to the SRC. In response, the SRC made the money available to other Singapore organisations helping out with the tsunami reconstruction efforts.

One of the triggers of the National Kidney Foundation saga was the disclosure of its large amount of reserves.

Each of these events highlights what you could call the problem of plenty for charities. It may be a happy problem for

the charity, but a controversial matter for donors and other charities.

There are several related questions which the charity sector has been grap-pling with: What is an adequate level of reserves? Should every fund communicate a financial target? Should charities return excess money to donors? Or can (or should) they channel the money to other charitable purposes?

Level of ReservesSaving money for a rainy day is an old fashioned value, especially in Singapore. It’s how we are brought up. In a similar way, some levels of reserves by nonprofit organisations are accepted, if not encour-aged. Reserves allow a charity to absorb setbacks and perhaps take advantage of opportunities as they arise.

Yet too high a level of reserves is frowned upon by some donors and other

charities. The thinking is that excessive reserves deprive other deserving charities of needed funds. A recent study by the Charity Commission for England and Wales showed that while the average reserves level of UK charities hovers at about 12 months, 75% of the total reserves are accounted for by 7% of the UK charities.

Rather than question the absolute level of reserves, the right approach is to ask how long the reserves will last a specific charity. In this respect, the industry agrees on a common yardstick of a “reserves ratio”, or the number of years of the charity’s operations that the reserves can cover. However, for the moment, there is no common agreement on the components of the reserve ratio (see box), or even what is an appropriate level of reserve.

The Charity Commission for England and Wales chooses not to recommend a specific reserves level. Instead, it suggests that charities formally adopt and disclose a reserves policy. Consequently, UK charities with a reserves policy rose from 27% in 2002 to 40% in 2006.

Charity Watch, the online service of the American Institute of Philanthropy that evaluates and rates U.S.-based charities on a scale of “A” to “F”, considers that up


The Problem of Plenty

Many charities struggle to fundraise. The few that are very successful face a different set of problems – among them, reserves, setting fund targets, returning excess

money and donors’ intent. WILLIE CHENG weighs in.

S A L T T H O U G H T S

“ Without large reserves to fall back on, charities are more likely to stay relevant to the needs of the community.”



to three years of reserves is reasonable. Charities with more than five years of reserves are considered to be “the least needy” and are awarded an “F” Grade (the lowest grade possible) regardless of other measurements.

The National Council of Social Services recommends that reserves be limited to no more than five years of a welfare organisation’s annual net oper-ating expenditure. Among Singapore’s IPCs (Institutions of Public Character) with undesignated reserves of S$10m or more, nearly half of them would be above the 5 year band (see table on page 26).

A more extreme take on the level of reserves starts at zero. On this point, we can look at those faith-based organisations that take vows of poverty. The concept of reserves does not exist for Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity. The sisters live a life that is the poorest of the poor, with each nun possessing no more than three sets of clothes which are often mended until the material is too bare to patch anymore. The Order is completely dependent on divine providence as they serve the most severe poverty stricken and needy cases.

Without going to the extreme of Mother Teresa’s example of a hand-to-mouth existence, I see merit in requiring end-beneficiary charities to continually fund raise only for their current (versus far future) needs. Without large reserves to fall back on, charities are more likely to stay relevant to the needs of the community. As donors give money for the benefit of specific beneficiaries, they are able to require ongoing accountability of the charity.

In this way, the ST Pocket Money Fund and the Community Chest have a philosophy of collecting only just enough money needed for the current year’s planned allocations.

Fund TargetsIt is considered best practice within the industry for a fundraiser to identify and communicate its fund raising target.

That’s well and good if the outcome and costs are ascertainable, such as for a

The reserves ratio measures the length of time a charity can sustain itself without any further fund raising. It is computed as follows:

However, there are some differences of opinion on how the components should be computed. For instance, The Charity Commis-sion for England and Wales observes that some charities “inappropriately use accounting conventions...to distort the presentation of their reserves level”. The main motivation is concern that the perception of high reserves levels might scare away funders.

RESERVESReserves are investment assets that belong to a charity and which can be expended at the trustees’ discretion in furtherance of the charity’s objectives. These are usually captured in the balance sheet under names such as General Fund, Endowments and so on. Many charities conservatively define reserves to exclude funds which are not “free”, i.e. have been committed or desig-nated for a particular purpose. Critics charge that such exclusions are used by some charities to distort perception of the actual amount of reserves that they have. The real test, they say, is whether there are real external restrictions by donors versus internal designations of fund use. A more encompassing approach is to include all such assets, whether designated or not, and a charity could then, as part of its disclosure, be specific about the kind of commitments that had, in fact, been made on the designated funds. The rule that American Institute of Philanthropy’s Charity Watch follows is that an investment asset is part of the reserves as long as the charity “could choose to spend if it wanted to do so”. In Singapore, IRAS defines reserves to include only undesignated funds, whereas NCSS excludes only building funds.

ANNUAL NET OPERATING EXPENSESThis is simply the net cost of operating an organisation. Which elements of income (to net out) and expenditure (to include) in determining this depends on whether you adopt a liberal approach (results in higher ratio) or a conservative approach (results in a lower ratio):

MEASURING RESERVES LIBERAL CONSERVATIVE APPROACH APPROACH

Income Sources (To Net Out?)Donations – one offDonations from

sustained giving programs XGovernment grants X XIncome from

provision of services X XInvestment income

from reserves assets X

Expenditure Items (To Include?)Direct Charitable Expenses X X

Fund Raising Expenses X

Administrative Expenses X X

The test should be the general certainty that income or expenditure elements would continue into future years. The rationale for the harder line taken in a liberal approach are:

Donations From Sustained Giving Programmes: More sophisticated nonprofits usually build loyalty donor programmes where donors give regularly almost without being asked to again. Examples are Community Chest’s SHARE Programme and NKF’s Life drops. Such donations are unlikely to go away unless there is a major crisis of confidence, so argu-ably, they should be included in reducing the annual net operating expenses.

Grants and Services Income: Since government grants and services income should logically continue even if there are no donations, these could be factored to reduce the annual net operating expenses.

Investment Income from Reserves Assets: Since the reserves investment assets do generate income (although it will be declining as the capital is eroded), logically they constitute a source of income to reduce the annual net operating expenses as well.

Fundraising Expenses: It could be argued that to determine how long a charity could last without further fundraising, then the cost of further fundraising should, therefore, not be included.

SINGAPORE CHARITY RESERVESThe table on the following page shows the absolute reserves against the reserve ratios of Singapore IPCs with full reserves greater than $10m. The basis for computations is provided in the legend to the table.

RESERVES = RESERVES RATIO ANNUAL NET OPERATING EXPENSES


building fund or a fund for an established charity’s operating needs.

That may not always be the case. The Courage Fund, for instance, was set up at the onset of the SARS crisis. It was not clear then what the extent of the crisis would be and hence identifying a target level was near impossible.

But in some cases, the approach of some charities is that there is never enough of the good one could do with more money. Take the case of the Universities Endowment Fund (UEF) which was established in 1991 to provide for the joint needs of the National University of Singapore (NUS) and Nanyang Tech-nological University (NTU). The UEF was set up with what was described as a very ambitious target of $1b. By 1996, the fund stood at $620m. It was then dissolved and split into two separate funds for the two universities. Since then, both universities have collected more than the original target. Currently, NUS reserves (inclusive of the endowment

funds) stand at over $2.8 b and NTU at over $1b. Nevertheless, fundraising on the university scene continues unabated.

Both NUS and NTU have not stated how far they intend to go in its fundraising drives. Chew Kheng Chuan, Director of Development at NUS has said that the university is “vision driven”. They take their cue from leading univer-sities which have accumulated staggering endowments such as Harvard University (US$29 billion), Yale University (US$18 billion) and Stanford University (US$15 billion) – and are all still counting.

Excess DonationsThe discipline of stopping donations when you have collected enough is a commendable one. My wife was recently

National University of Singapore 2,828 608 104.3 5.8

Nanyang Technological University 1,047 135 130.1 1.0

Singapore Management University 569 219 (17.2)5 N/A5

National Kidney Foundation 263 197 54.0 3.6

National Council of Social Service 219 35 49.7 0.7

Singapore Anti-Tuberculosis Association 68 21 3.7 5.5

Chinese Development Assistance Council 51 10 10.1 1.0

Kwong Wai Shiu Hospital and Nursing Home 45 28 8.1 3.5

Singapore Chinese Orchestra 37 10 0.8 12.3

Singapore Symphony Orchestra 33 10 0.5 20.5

Yayasan Mendaki 31 6 11.5 0.5

Ren Ci Hospital & Medicare Centre 29 29 5.2 5.5

Singapore International Foundation 29 0 0.5 0.9

Lions Home for the Elders 26 4 0.8 4.5

Singapore Indian Development Association 25 3 5.8 0.6

Catholic Welfare Services 23 11 3.9 2.8

Singapore Children’s Society 21 19 4.8 4.1

St. Luke’s Hospital 20 6 0.8 8.1

Ju Eng Welfare Association 20 7 (0.9)5 N/A5

The Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay 19 19 0.6 30.9

Singapore Cancer Society 15 12 5.6 2.2

Bright Vision Hospital 14 14 10.6 1.3

Movement for the Intellectually Disabled 11 3 1.1 2.9

Kidney Dialysis Foundation 11 9 2.4 3.8

IPCs WITH LARGE RESERVES FULL UNDESIGNATED NET OPERATING RESERVES RESERVES* RESERVES EXPENSES RATIOORGANISATION (S$M)1 (S$M)2 (S$M)3 (CONSERVATIVE)4

Notes:

1. Full Reserves = All amounts classified in balance sheet as Accumulated Surplus, General, Restricted, Endowment, Building and Other Funds.

2. Undesignated Reserves = Full Reserves less Restricted Funds, Endowment, Building, and other Designated Funds.3. Net Operating Expenditure = Gross Operating Expenses less Grants/Sponsorships, and less Service Fees/Income.4. Reserves Ratio (Conservative) = Undesignated Reserves divided by Annual Net Operating Expenses.5. When annual net operating expenditure is negative, it means that the gross operating expenses is more than covered by

grants, sponsorship and service income before donations. Hence the reserves ratio is also negative. As it is not mean-ingful, it is indicated as “N/A”.

“ In some cases, the philosophy is that there is never enough of the good one could do with more money.”

Source:Table compiled by Lien Foundation Centre for Social Innovation, based on most recent (2005 or 2006) published data available. All amounts are rounded.



asked to help a Catholic shelter for abused spouses and families to raise some money for a much needed van. By the time she did a private collection, the nuns had already received sufficient money from other donors to pay for the van. Pressed to take and use the money for other needs of the organisation, the sisters declined on the basis that they did not wish to receive funds for unspecified needs.

A month and the half after the Courage Fund was set up and public donations of nearly $10m had flowed in, its trustees announced that the fund should be adequate and they would be “taking a pause” from initiating new fund raising projects.

In the same way that corporations are asked to return excess capital to their shareholders, should charities return excess money to their donors?

Returning excess money can be tricky. The Courage Fund did oblige three donors who asked for their money back – about $1,000 in total. But these refunds happened before the money was committed and spent. Even if it now wishes to do so, it would not be able to identify and communicate to the 22,000 donors who have contributed to the Fund.

Another suggestion would be to channel excess donations to other charities – but this may not be keeping in faith with the donors’ intentions.

Donor IntentAn inviolable principle that has developed in the charity sector is that when a donor gives with a specific intent, that intent must be respected in perpetuity. Defending donor’s intent has spawned a history of family disputes and litigation.

A landmark case is that of the Buck Trust. Beryl Buck, a nurse, who died in 1975, specified that the funds in the Buck Trust were to be used “exclusively ... in providing care for the needy in Marin Country, California, and for other non-profit, charitable, religious or educational purposes in Marin County, California”.

It is fair to say that Mrs Buck did not anticipate that her gift would grow from the original amount of less than US$10m

to US$280 million by 1980. The San Francisco Foundation, which administered the trust, sought to apply the money to charitable purposes in the entire Bay area surrounding San Francisco where the need was arguably greater than in wealthy Marin County. Representatives from Marin County fought the move in court. The court ruled that Mrs Buck’s intention to use the money for the benefit only of Marin County was clear and turned over the administration of the Buck Trust funds from the San Francisco Foundation

to a newly created Marin Community Foundation. Today the foundation has more than US$1 billion in assets.

The Asian tsunami crisis presented similar donor intent dilemmas for many charities. During the initial weeks follow-ing the disaster, there was a frenzied donation of clothes, food and other items by Singaporeans. These were piled up high at various collection centres. The bottleneck was in the air, sea transport and land transport needed to get them into the hands of those who needed the donations most.

After more than a month sitting at the collection centres, there were discus-sions in NGO circles as to whether some of the goods, especially the food perisha-bles, would be best diverted towards local charities. The goods were clearly donated for the tsunami victims and using them for other purposes, no matter how noble, did not sit right with many. Identifying the donors and getting their consent to do otherwise was not practical. In the event, the goods were finally shipped although they sat for another long spell at the Indonesian ports.

Three months after the Asian tsunami, another earthquake struck the Indonesian island of Nias. The resulting tsunami from the first earthquake killed

122 people and rendered hundreds homeless. The second earthquake killed 800 with 2,000 casualties. In this case, many NGOs had raised a tremendous amount of money for the tsunami and at that time, a significant part of it was uncommitted and hence available to apply to the second Nias earthquake.

At the time, the Archdiocese Crisis Coordination Team, a Catholic charity that I was involved in, discussed the matter. We had collected $1.5m from parishioners for the tsunami. Nias clearly had an immediate need and coincidentally had a predominant Christian population. After some debate, we concluded that we had to honor the basis on which the funds were raised as parishioners had clearly donated for the tsunami. Any support we provided would have had to be for the original disaster and a separate fundraising would be needed if we wished to give any money for the second Nias earthquake.

Given these examples, you can see that it’s important for a charity to be broad when defining its fund objectives and to proactively identify what it would do with its excess funds. In public fund raising, there really is no getting back to specific donors to ask for a change in their intentions.

A good example of this approach is the Courage Fund. While the general perception is that the money was collected only for SARS, the fact is that the objectives of the Fund include bene-fiting healthcare workers, and benefiting the wider Singapore community affected by widespread infectious diseases. Thus, while the SARS Crisis is over (for the time being) and only half the money has been committed, there are other broader objectives that the remaining funds can be applied to.

More charities – big or small – need to think about the issue of reserves. They especially need to be more proactive in developing a reserves policy, and fund raising targets and objectives – and communicating these issues to donors. In this way, the problem of plenty may stop being a ‘problem’ as such and become, instead, a boon. ✩

“When a donor gives with a specific intent, that intent must be respected in perpetuity.”



AD


How Should Leaders Influence?CURT GRAYSON explains how leaders convince others to their point of view.

Such an approach acquires special importance in the context of volunteer organisations which may not have ‘normal’ hierarchical structures.


Today’s organisations have flexible and interactive structures that rely far less on hierarchy than ever

before. In other words, your position in an organisation and the power it gives you are sometimes not enough to motivate others to do what you ask of them.

Influence has been acknowledged for years as one aspect of leadership, but increasingly the ability to influence others is viewed as essential for success. This is especially true in volunteer organisations where people come together out of a desire to serve the community and the nominated leaders of these organisations often do not have formal authority over their members.

Developing influencing skills allows things to get done and desirable outcomes achieved. Influence skills can strategically be used to communicate a vision; align the efforts of others in the organisation and build commitment from people at all levels.

The first step to understanding influence and honing one’s influencing skills is to identify and understand your stakeholders. Each stakeholder has special concerns and issues, their own agenda, perspectives and priorities. Various groups and individuals will require different approaches for influencing.

How much interpersonal power you have with those you are attempting to influence is an important determinant of how successful you will be at influencing. Two types of interpersonal power are personal power and positional power. Personal power refers to the level of trust, respect and relational commitment you

have with another person. This develops over time and with experience. Positional power refers to the organisational power given through title or specific responsi-bility. Both types of power can affect your ability to influence. However, in organi-sations with fluid structures and collab-orative processes, personal power holds greater sway.

The question then arises, “How do you influence others?” You are actually influencing others all the time, but many people don’t know how they do it. Many leaders have the idea that influencing is a complex, often subtle, process of persuasion that either works or doesn’t. In reality, influencing tactics fall into one of three categories: logical, emotional or cooperative.

The most effective influencers know how to utilise all three approaches. We call this influencing with head, heart and hands.

Logical appeals (head) tap into people’s rational and intellectual positions. You present an argument for the best choice of action based on organisational and/or personal benefits. Tactics include objectively and logically explaining your

reasons in a clear and compelling way; and demonstrating clearly and logically why your idea is the best possible option, showing that you have carefully consid-ered other possibilities.

Emotional appeals (heart) connect your message or goal to an important emotional motivator. An idea that promotes a person’s feelings of well-being, service or sense of belonging has a good chance of gaining support.

Cooperative appeals (hands) build a connection between you, the person you are trying to influence and others to get support for your proposal. Working together to accomplish a mutually impor-tant goal extends a hand to others in the

organisation and is an extremely effective way of influencing. Building

those connections include involving others in the process of deciding how to carry out your goals; reducing difficulty by removing barriers to success, and thoughtfully responding

to concerns and suggestions.To maximise your personal influ-

ence, you need to understand your own style of influencing and what tactics you currently use. If you rely exclusively on logical appeals you may be missing the chance to engage people through their emotions, values and relationships. If you overemphasise emotional or cooperative appeals, you may be leaving out the data and rationale that shore up your plan. ✩

Curt Grayson is co-author of Influence: Gaining Commitment, Getting Results. He is a faculty member at the Center for Creative Leadership, an educational institution with an office in Singapore. For more information, call + 65 6854 6000, e-mail [email protected] or visit ww.ccl.org/asia.

S A L T A N D P E P P E R

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“To maximise your personal influence, you need to understand your own style of influencing and what tactics you currently use.”


Someone once said, “Often, a crisis happens not because the problem is too big. It happens because we

feel too small.”The year 2000 was the heart of a

recession. Like most others, my building material business was not doing well. Worse, my French partners decided to sell out their shares. However, I wanted the company to stay afloat, so I bought them for about $6.5m and became heavily indebted to the bank. Staff morale was low – as was mine.

I felt like a failure. Financially and mentally, I was exhausted. I knew that I needed to find a way out of the situation before it became too late.

The only hint that I was still a useful human being was my work with the Rest-room Association which was going very well. I much preferred going to the happy association rather than my sad office. My philosophy is that if I am sad, I don’t want to spread the sadness to the staff.

The work the association was doing made me feel so good that, in 2001, I did what many thought was absolutely ridicu-lous: I started the World Toilet Organisation (WTO), a global platform that covered toilet and sanitation issues. Having no money, I operated my company, the asso-ciation and the WTO single-handedly.

Needless to say, this took up plenty of my time. My company staff were shocked and told me I was crazy to do more volun-teer work when my company was in trouble

and needed me most.The truth was I needed to feel useful

again. At the office, I felt a little helpless, but, miraculously, volunteering at WTO and the association made me see I could make a difference in society. And on a global scale.

My self-esteem went up. My mind started to feel young again. Slowly, I came out of my depression. I stopped being a negative and confused person. The body became healthier, happier and energized. I found I could think clearly with each success I made hosting the World Toilet Summit series, convincing governments to take toilets and sanitation seriously, getting acknowledgement from the global media, and having others saying, “It’s good that Jack started talking about toilets. Someone ought to have done this long ago.”

I returned to my office with a positive mind and reorganised it. I recovered debts, reduced inventories, removed staff who were destroying value, and even increased pay for good staff. I returned account-

ability to each business unit and installed cluster leaders to self-manage their work. While the volume of business did not improve, wastage was reduced which resulted in cost-savings and profits.

As the company stabilised in 2004, I did the next ridiculous thing: I appointed a general manager to take over my role and I resigned from my own company to do full-time volunteer work at WTO for no-pay. In 2005, I started World Toilet College. I also handed over the presidency of the Restroom Association to Ms Tan Puay Hoon so that I could concentrate on the global work of improving toilet conditions and sanitation.

“How could a boss resign from his own company?” my peers asked and I answered, “Life is short, we need to do what we feel is important and what will make us happy.”

I tell this story to impart a few lessons. To do what we do well, we need energy. Energy comes from high self-esteem. Do all you can to lift your self-esteem without tipping over to arrogance. Importantly, volunteering is one way to find yourself; in a sense, doing more is not necessarily taxing, if you enjoy it. What we hold on to may, in fact, be our burden. Find good people, trust them and let go. With the new freedom, you may discover your larger potential. It is also normal to grow old. But it is no good growing tired. Do things that agree with your spirit, find out what you enjoy doing and, trust me, you’ll feel young again.

And if you are still clueless, just volunteer at the WTO! You’ll meet very happy people there. ✩Jack Sim is the founder of the World Toilet Organisation, World Toilet Congress and the Restroom Association of Singapore. He was also Singapore’s inaugural Schwab Social Entrepreneur of the Year in 2005.


Getting the Best Out of a CrisisFor many, a crisis is a time to throw in the towel.

For others like JACK SIM, it’s an opportunity to find yourself.

S A L T K I T

“What we hold on to may, in fact, be our burden. Find good people, trust them and let go.“

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D A T E S T O N O T ECALENDAR

DO YOU HAVE AN EVENT YOU WOULD LIKE TO PUBLICISE? We welcome your news of upcoming events and pictures. Please send them to SALT, 7 Maxwell Road, #05-01 Annex B MND Complex, Singapore 069111; or email [email protected] include your name, the name of your organisation, address and telephone number. SALT reserves the right to edit submissions for space and clarity.

12 – 13 MarchInternational Conference on Character Development Through Service and Experiential LearningVenue: National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, 1 Nanyang WalkThe National Institute of Education

(NIE), which is the sole teacher provider

in Singapore, implemented a manda-

tory Group Endeavours in Service

Learning programme for all new

students in 2005. It is one of the few

institutions in the Southeast Asian

region where service learning is a

campus-wide activity.

This conference seeks to share the

experiences of service and other forms

of experiential learning that students

in higher institutions are exposed to.

The NIE invites participants

from the community to share their

knowledge and research findings

in this immensely important aspect

of students’ learning.

For more information, visit www.

iccdtsel.nie.edu.sg; call 67903269 or

email [email protected].

20 April – 20 JunePassage of Hope 2007 – The Plant for the PlanetVenue: Singapore Management University, Campus GreenPassage of Hope is an annual event

which highlights regional environ-

mental issues through the universal

language of art. Its goal is to educate

and motivate the public to take action

in local and global conservation

efforts. Organised by the Eco 4 the

World Foundation, Passage of Hope

2007 will participate in UNEP’s Billion

Tree Campaign by planting 100,000

trees in Singapore.

International artist and sculptor,

Philippe Pastor’s “The Burnt Tree Exhi-

bition” consists of 40 burnt trees and

aims to sensitise the public to the

damages in nature and to address the

need to preserve our natural resources.

Community participation, espe-

cially in the tree planting exercise, is

encouraged. More details are at www.

eco4theworld.org or 64230114.

Pass-It-On (www.passiton.org.sg)Pass-It-On is an online portal which

matches unwanted but useful house-

hold items to less privileged families.

The matching is made by the organi-

sation’s social assistance officers

as well as social workers in various

Voluntary Welfare Organisations such

as Family Service Centres and Senior

Citizen Centres. With the launch of

Comcare, registered grassroots leaders

will also be able to use Pass-It-On to

obtain household items which may

be needed for the less privileged

families they identify. This service is

open to all residents in Singapore.

Interested VWOs should register

on-line or call 63709813.

5 FebruaryShine in Your Golden YearsVenue: Dramaplus Arts Ltd, 33 Kerbau RoadFor anyone who’s ever wanted to try

stagecraft, The Glowers will be

conducting Drama 101 workshops

for all seniors aged 50 and above.

The workshops – covering theatre

games, basic acting, movements and

improvisation – will be conducted by

veteran actors and drama instructors

Catherine Sng and Tony Quek. No

previous acting experience is required.

The goal of The Glowers is to

provide senior citizens with oppor-

tunities to dramatise their life experi-

ence with a view to personal and

social enrichment and to entertain

and educate Singaporeans of all ages

about ageing. They are supported by

the Ministry of Community Develop-

ment Youth and Sports under its GO!

(Golden Opportunities) Fund.

The workshops will culminate in

a performance on April 2007.

Call 62990013 or email dramaplus

@pacific.net.sg for more details.

8 February – 11 FebruaryCity CarnivalVenue: Singapore Management University CampusTime: 10am – 7pmThis year’s City Carnival will be a mega

bazaar of more than 300 vendors

selling products made by non-profit

organisations. A fun packed fusion

of several themes – such as Chinese

New Year Sales, International Food

Fair, Chocolates Galore, Trendy

Fashion, Wellness and Toys – the initi-

ative is a community-based project

that aims to provide an opportunity

for the student vendors and selected

less privileged residents from Central

Singapore and organisations from

the social community to embark on

retail entrepreneurship and network

with the commercial vendors.

For more information, or to volun-

teer, log on to www.citycarnival.com.sg

11 FebruaryTemasek Junior College’s 30th Anniversary fundraiserVenue: South East CDCTime: 8am onwardsJoin Temasek Junior College in its 30th

anniversary celebrations. The college

has chosen to align its celebrations

with its community involvement initi-

atives. Kicking things off, the entire

college will be mobilised to collect old

clothes and newspapers to raise funds

for charitable organisations. The event

will commence on the morning of 11

February and cover about 600 blocks

of flats in the SE CDC district. The

college will be working in collabo-

ration with Altvater Jakob Pte Ltd,

Lions’ Club and alumni members.

For more information, or to volun-

teer, log on to www.tjc.edu.sg

11 FebruaryECO Clubs @ Community CentresVenue: Siglap Community CentreTogether with the Siglap Community

Centre and artistes, the Environmental

Challenge Organisation (ECO) will

launch ECO Youth Clubs. The objective

is to integrate, in an innovative way,

the environment and the arts to create

interesting art pieces and clothing

from recycled materials. The launch

of the first club will coincide with

Temasek Junior College’s 30th Anni-

versary celebrations.

For more information, log on

to www.eco-singapore.org or email

[email protected]

15 February3rd International Childhood Cancer Day (ICCD)The Children’s Cancer Foundation (CCF)

is holding its third International Child-

hood Cancer Day on 15 February 2007,

in collaboration with the International

Confederation of Childhood Cancer Parent Organisation.

The ICCD aims to educate the public about childhood cancer, raise

donations through fundraising events and promote the work of CCF.

To commemorate the event, NETS (Singapore) has designed a special Cash-

Card for anyone making a minimum donation of $7 to CCF.

CCF hopes to raise $20,000 for its public education outreach programmes.

Whilst the card has no stored value, card holders are entitled to free drinks

and monthly movie benefits. (More details at myc.com.sg).

Additionally, for every Combi CashCard retail transaction or eNETS

transaction made from now till the end of 2007, NETS will donate one cent

to CCF, with the aim of raising $250,000 for the beneficiaries.

For more details, contact [email protected], call CCF on 68352665 or

visit www.ccf.org.sg.



SCENE&SEEN

Vege-MightMetta Charity Banquet, 4 November 2006, Swissôtel The Stamford

The complementary

nature of voluntary and civic groups prompts the Metta Welfare

Association to partner various grassroots organisations in holding

its annual charity banquet. Last year, Metta Welfare Association

teamed up with Kebun Baru Community Club to hold a vegetarian

banquet. 900 guests joined in to celebrate “Together Towards

A Better Future”, an evening of ethnic performing arts dedicated

to the lives of the needy. Over $270,000 was raised for Metta’s

operational funds and KBCC’s upgrading funds.

Friends for LifeNational University Hospital (NUH) Volunteers Appreciation, 8 December 2006, NUH Auditorium

Volunteers were lauded at the NUH’s Volunteers Appreciation 2006 event. Guest-of-Honour

and CEO of NVPC, Mrs Tan Chee Koon, struck a chord with many when she noted how

important and special volunteers are. The evening paid tribute to the dedicated volunteers

of NUH Friends, a volunteer programme that is now in its tenth year. The short but touching

ceremony was highlighted by a special video montage in which staff and patients

expressed their appreciation. The evening was book-ended by an exciting games segment

and a touching rendition of ‘Point of Light’ by five ‘angels’ from the Medical Social Work

Department while their colleagues distributed roses to the volunteers off-stage.

Guest-of-Honour Mrs Tan Chee Koon (2nd from right) and

Devi participating in the games segment of the evening while

Chua Song Khim (CEO, NUH) and Eva Chow (Chief Medical Social Worker, NUH) look on.

Solid RockKDF Rocks for Charity, 4 November 2006, Fort Canning Green

The Kidney Dialysis Foundation (KDF) held its first charity concert,

‘Together We Rock for Charity’, in aid of its kidney patients. Rock

group Energy, reunited for the evening with ex-leader Milk, lent

their star appeal. The concert kicked off a series of fund-raising

activities to mark KDF’s tenth anniversary and raised close to

$300,000 from sponsors and ticket sales.

Reunited for Charity, Milk and Energy re-unite for

concert celebrating KDF’s 10th anniversary.

Christmas CheerBoys’ Brigade Sharity’s Christmas programme, 24 November – 20 December 2006

Showing just how easy it can be to bring joy

to someone’s Christmas, Mr Teo Chee Hean,

Minister for Defence, trawled the shopping

aisles for the perfect gift for five-year old

LL Teo. The retail spree commemorated the

launch of 2006’s Boys’ Brigade Sharity Gift

Box which aimed to collect 400,000 food

and household items, as well as fulfil 8,040

specific wishes for children, youths, elderly,

and families in need.

Star performance: Minister Teo puts up the star on the Sharity Wish Tree.

Guest-of-Honour Mrs Yu-Foo Yee Shoon, Minister of State, Ministry of Community Development, Youth &

Sports, receiving a batik painting drawn by Metta School student, Nur Atikah Bte Zaini. On the left is

Metta’s President, Venerable Shi Fa Zhao.



V for VictoryHP V-Challenge for PC2006, 3 November 2006

Over 1,000 Hewlett-Packard employees fulfilled

the wishes of 20 Singaporean charities as part

of HP’s V-Challenge in support of the President’s

Challenge 2006. Dubbed ‘HP Volunteer Day’, more than

2,000 people from the selected charity organisations

– including autistic students from Pathlight School and elderly residents from Moral

Seniors Activity Centre Toa Payoh – were treated to specially planned programmes.

A hundred hearing-impaired children from Canossian School were treated to an excursion

to the Singapore Science Centre, while a group with intellectual and physical disabilities

from the Christian Outreach to the Handicapped visited Suntec City and took a DUCKtour.

Diamonds are ForeverBulgari Charity Auction-MILK Dinner 2006, 4 December 2006, Shangri-la Hotel

More than 350 guests enjoyed an evening of splendour and glamour

at the Bulgari Charity Auction-MILK Dinner 2006. Graced by President

and Mrs S R Nathan, the evening was peppered with delightful enter-

tainment and a lively auction which saw the guests engaged in

a friendly competition for the luxury brand’s jewellery and watches.

The gala dinner was a part of Bulgari’s first charity auction in Asia

(a day auction was held the day before). Net proceeds from the auction

and sales of the $25,000 tables went towards helping the disadvan-

taged and underprivileged children of MILK. The charity aims to raise

$6 million in the coming year for more than 10,000 children.

Oh, Lighten Up!“Lighting Up The Arts”, 29 November 2006, Marina Mandarin

“Marina Mandarin Lighting Up The Arts”, a charity art auction and gala dinner held in aid of

Art Outreach, raised more than $100,000 for the support of arts education in local schools.

Guest-of-Honour, Dr. Vivian Balakrishnan, Minister of Ministry for Community Develop-

ment, Youth and Sports, was joined by the ambassadors and country representatives

from Austria, Brunei Darussalam, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Indonesia, Malaysia,

Mexico, Philippines and South Africa. The glittering evening included a spectacular light-

up of the hotel’s Christmas tree, the soaring voices of the Raffles Concert Singers from

Raffles Junior College and the toasting of Piper-Heidseck Champagne. Guests were also

treated to an evening of aesthetic appreciation with interactive entertainment by “Talking

Portraits” – featuring actresses from Singapore Repertory Theatre’s The Young Company,

dressed as subjects of famous women in iconic artworks.

Left: The diplomatic community joins with Dr Vivian Balakrisnan in Lighting Up the Arts.

Below: Art Outreach Chairman Mae Anderson with Dr Vivian Balakrishnan.

Reaching Out: Tan Yen Yen, managing director of HP Singapore with students of Canossian

School at the Singapore Science Centre

Guest-of-Honor President and Mrs S R Nathan sparkle with guests.

Connectingthe DotsAppreciation Day (IVMAD), 1 November 2006

It’s sad but true that volunteer managers

are often overworked and under-appreci-

ated. They work hard to integrate volunteers

into the core work of an organisation, and

still have to put up with rather demanding

requests and expectations from both volun-

teers and organisation.

For all their pain and hard work, volun-

teer managers received some much deserved

recognition on 1 November 2006 with the

inaugural International Volunteer Manager

Appreciation Day organised by MOVE.

A special celebratory dinner was also

held at Singapore Polytechnic Graduate

Guild House. Volunteer managers were also

encouraged to take the opportunity to

support – and connect with – each other.

Volunteer programme managers at the 1st Interna-tional Volunteer Manager Appreciation Day Celebration Dinner organised by MOVE on 1 November 2006.


International Volunteer Manager

It was an evening of celebrations and well deserved

recognition as over 300 guests gathered for a gala

dinner at the Marina Mandarin on 21 November to

celebrate the 2006 National Volunteerism and Philan-

thropy (NVPC) Awards.

For the third year, the awards honoured those who set

excellence benchmarks in encouraging the spirit of giving in

Singapore, whether it be in the form of time, talent or treasure.

The winners of this year’s awards are:

NON-PROFIT ORGANISATION AWARDSociety of the Physically Disabled

INNOVATIVE FUNDRAISING INITIATIVE AWARDHair for Hope (Children’s Cancer Foundation)

CORPORATE CITIZEN AWARDCity Developments Limited (CDL)

SPECIAL RECOGNITION AWARDGerard Ee

There was no recipient for the fifth, New Non-profit Initiative

Award category.

“I think they are a very deserving group of people,” said

Jamil Amin from the Autism Association of the award winners.

“There are a lot of people doing good work out there, and some-

times it takes them a long time before they are recognised, so it’s

good that this year’s winners are finally recognised for their efforts.”

Jack Sim of the World Toilet Organisation also praised the

calibre of this year’s winners and singled out Gerard Ee for partic-

ular praise. “He has devoted his entire life to social work and he

deserves every award that is relevant to this work. It’s also very

appropriate that CDL has won because they have been active

in the forefront in supporting all kinds of community work.”

The guest-of-honour was Mr Abdullah Tarmugi, Speaker of

Parliament. NVPC’s Chairman, Rear-Admiral (Ret) Kwek Siew Jin,

in delivering his welcome address, noted that Mr Abdullah was

one of the earliest supporters of NVPC when the organisation

was first established as the National Volunteer Centre in 1999

since it was during his tenure as the Minister for MCYS’ prede-

cessor Ministry that the Centre got started. In particular, Rr-Adm

Kwek implored the audience not to allow the scandals that hit

THE NATIONAL VOLUNTEERISM AND PHILANTHROPY AWARDS 2006 GALA DINNER


Niam Chiang Meng, Tan Chee Koon, Mrs Yu-Foo Yee Shoon, Abdullah Tarmugi.

Liak Teng Lit, Alex Chan, Lee Keen Whye.

Willie Cheng, Niam Chiang Meng, Gerard Ee.

Rear Admiral (Ret). Kwek Siew Jin, Abdullah Tarmugi, Lim Chee Onn, Dr Ow Chee Chung.

Edward Job, Joseph Cheong, Edward Wan, Dr Chiang Hai Ding, V Thirupathy.


the non-profit sector in the past year distract them from the

great amount of good work that has been done by the sector.

“The charity sector has taken a lot of hard knocks in recent

times. It is time we stop the self-flagellation and agonizing over

shortcomings. Having learnt valuable lessons from the episode,

let us declare, indeed believe, that the NPO sector is strong as

ever, going forward into the new giving environment.”

In much the same spirit, guest-of-honour, Abdullah Tarmugi,

urged the non-profit agencies to collaborate more. “Much as

in society, we expect the strong to help the weak, in the non-

profit sector, it would be desirable for the stronger ones amongst

you to bring along your counterparts...The humanitarian relief

and other agencies out of Singapore like Mercy Relief and the

Singapore Red Cross that were involved in tsunami and other

disaster relief work in the region, for example, collaborate

under the Team Singapore banner, letting each agency lead

where each has the strongest local connections.”

Mr Kwek Leng Joo, managing director of CDL, had this to

say, “The CSR movement is gaining momentum in Singapore,

but there is still room for more local corporations to

embark on their own CSR journey, engage its staff and

stakeholders, to contribute back to our community.

We have found this to be a meaningful journey

and one that we will certainly continue for

many years to come.”

Regarding the NVPC awards, Dr Ow Chee Chung,

Executive Director of the Society for the Physically

Disabled, felt that “in the process of rewarding and

paying tribute to individuals and organisations that

help make Singapore a more caring and compassionate

society, the NVPC Awards also underscore the critical

role of volunteerism and philanthropy. The award may

be a physical trophy but it is the substance that

signifies the many helping hands and gives essence

to the meaning of volunteerism and philanthropy. “

Partners of the NVPC awards on the night

included Harvard Singapore Foundation, DHL and

Fortis Private Banking. ✩


Su Yeang, Mrs Ivy Singh-Lim, Eunice Tay.

(6th from left) Gerard Ee and some family members.

Rear Admiral (Ret). Kwek Siew Jin, Abdullah Tarmugi, Chris-tina Koh, Raphael Lim.

Rear Admiral (Ret). Kwek Siew Jin, Abdullah Tarmugi, Henk R de Glint, Gerard Ee.

Abdullah Tarmugi, Zaqy Mohamad, Henk R de Glint, Lim Chee Onn, Kwek Siew Jin.

Abdullah Tarmugi, Kwek Leng Joo.



A D A S H O F S A L T

“This clean-up will raise public awareness, it gives us a taste of what volunteering is like, and gets us interested. Kayaking is more fun than just picking up litter.”

Tan Wan Wei, 17, from Meridian Junior College on youths kayaking along Pasir Ris beach and into the mangrove areas along Sungei Api Ap, picking up litter.

“A single sad case might prompt kind Singaporeans to donate $500,000, as in the MRT death-fall man. But wouldn’t it be better if such huge sums of money were channeled into a fund that could assist many more needy people? Singaporeans do have a heart.

So call it the Heart Fund, if you will. Let’s tell the desperate in Singapore that they are not alone. Help will always be around the corner.”

Clarence Chang, The New Paper

“The perception exists that Singapore is a society that is bifurcated between elites and the commoners, the scholars and the

Normal stream... and the rich and the poor.”Sin Boon Ann, Tampines GRC

“There is the persistent perception on the ground that more can and should be done to level up the less fortu-nate among us.”Dr Amy Khor, Hong Kah GRC

“We want to build up a network of advocates and activists to spread our message that disabled people are a part of us, not apart from us.”Dr Ow Chee Chung, Society of the Physically Disabled

“The kite was our symbol of freeing the pain and suffering of children with cancer.”Mei Yen, leader of a group of youths who organised kite-flying fund-raising events at East Coast Park.

“I’m now a busybody who wants to make a difference. I have realised that in giving, we receive so much more – the satisfaction is something that money can’t buy.”Gerard Ee

“ Linking VWOs together in a local network is good. We can hop onto the wagon of others and there is no need to duplicate services.”Wicare chairman, Joyce Lye, TODAY

“It’s not a sacrifice, it’s a privilege for me to go to these places. I feel happier and freer in spirit.”19 year old Tan Wai Jia on her orphanage work in Nepal. Proceeds from her book, Kitesong, go to helping Sophia’s Home Orphanage in Nepal.

“I used to complain about life, but compared to the suffering and courage of these children and families, my problems seem so small.”

Celebrity Jerry Yen on helping poor children in Mongolia with World Vision.


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