salt_2007_03_04

For Volunteers, Donors and Nonprofits

Gold RushLow Teo Ping, President of Singapore Sailing, Takes a Leap of Faith

Doing It BetterWillie Cheng on Outmoded

Practices in the Charity Sector

Results of the First NVPC Study on IPCs Revealed

Call ConnectionStarHub’s New Employee

Volunteer Programme

Prime Time NewsSingapore’s Senior Citizens Step Up

Jack Sim’s Plan for Your

Own Obsolescence

No. 20Mar-Apr 2007

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NONPROFIT QWERTIESIt’s important to recognise outmoded work practices and make the appropriate changes. Willie Cheng shines a light on some aspects of the charity scene that could do with a make-over.

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.

10 VOLUNTEER PROFILEVolunteer and grandmother of three, Jayamany Overithi, shows June Lee why there’s more to life than just staying at home.

11 PEOPLE SECTOR PEOPLETan Hwee Hwee learns that life is full of drama: The good kind taught by The Practice Performing Arts School.

19 WALK THE TALKStarHub’s new employee volunteer programme connects more than just underprivileged beneficiaries.

21 NEW SALTDignity Links helps former patients with mental illness serve up a mean cup of coffee (and hope).

27 SALT AND PEPPERYoung Jeremy Lim marvels at how the spirit of volunteerism and philanthropy has grown in his lifetime.

28 SALT KITSometimes, it’s important to know when to let go of a company’s reins. Jack Sim’s been there and done that.

29 CALENDAR

30 SCENE AND SEEN

32 A DASH OF SALT

12

Mar-Apr 2007 SALT • 1

contents SALT No. 20 Mar-Apr 2007

DEPARTMENTS

Singapore’s pool of senior volunteers proves that active ageing is possible. Michelle Bong finds out how they’re doing it and how they’re sharing the experiences of this new journey.

18

WhereTo Now?Kevin Lee highlights the results of NVPC’s first study on IPCs and draws some conclusions. 16

Salt20) MarApr_2_New.indd 1 4/2/07 7:31:29 PM

2 • SALT Mar-Apr 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 BongMervyn ChuaAndrew Duffy

June LeeKevin Lee

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

Akeynote speaker at a charity governance workshop last year described the charity scene in 2006 in the words of Charles Dickens’ opening lines in a Tale of Two Cities: It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.

My sentiments exactly.Now, a few months into 2007, the situation has improved. True, there was the

recent brouhaha over the Youth Challenge salary matter, and we cannot discount further skeletons coming out of the closet as the Charities Unit goes about doing its work. On the flip side, however, there is a stirring in the air, as companies, schools and individuals still seek to do their part for the community, undeterred. Just the other day, I was thrilled to discover that a niece of mine from Malaysia who had just completed her A-levels here, and was staying with us for a couple of days to settle on her university choice, spent a precious many hours to plan a fund-raising campaign with her small group of friends under the Citibank-Youth for a Cause programme. I believe there is an awakening of consciousness of the need to do good, and it is a consciousness that needs to be fanned.

What propels the likes of Kala Karkal and Christopher Lim to start a café that engages recovering mental illness clients as employees? What prompts a retiree like Rajendra Gour to jealously preserve our local film industry archives? What causes StarHub to go beyond donating through their Sparks Fund to mobilise their employees as volunteers? What causes individuals like Sim Wong Hoo to donate to a performing arts cause?

For whatever motivations people have for volunteering or donating, the important thing is to keep that fire burning. NVPC’s recent survey of IPCs reveals that for the majority of them, the top issues include donor fatigue and lack of volunteer commitment (pg 16). How do we manage our volunteers well, so that they will return and bring other volunteers and donors to the fold? How do we account to our donors what we do with their money so that they will want to continue donating, and donate more? This is the next challenge for the close to 2000 charities that we have in Singapore to help sustain their operations.

The environment is going to be more competitive. With the recent change in charity tax rules to attract more international nonprofit organisations and grantmakers into Singapore to grow Singapore as a philanthropy hub, local charities can take a leaf from their books. They have gotten onto the world stage by doing a good job of cultivating their funders, donors and volunteers. If we do it well ourselves, in time we will see our own share of local charities going regional too.

Tan Chee KoonChief Executive OfficerNational Volunteer & Philanthropy Centre

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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 SNew Accounting Standards: Help or Hindrance?

Unlike some specialised industries such as the insurance and banking sector, having a new set of accounting standards for

charities may not be helpful and beneficial.

To make matters worse, it will pose a tough challenge for charities to recruit accounting personnel. In our present materialistic world, how many accounting-trained people will be keen to carve a career in the charities world when they can make better money in the commercial world?

Most importantly, one must be discerning to know that the present charities scan-dals is tied to the integrity of key personnel. For individuals who are prepared to serve, they should be prepared to do exemplary work for low remuneration.

It is tough for external auditors to do a balancing act between risks and rewards in the audit of charities. Some external audit firms are wary of the risks involved in the audit of charities and stay away from them.

One solution is for the relevant charities watchdog to set up a specialised unit to take over the role of external auditors and conduct audits of charities.

In this way, the audit personnel will be more familiar with charities governance and adept at discovering fraudulent practices. They will also be in a better position to share the good practices and internal controls with voluntary organisations.

Therefore, I believe the change of statutory requirements on the audit of charities is more cost-effective than a change of accounting standards for charities. Accounting professional bodies in Singapore should also supply a pool of accountants who are keen to give back to society by taking on the role of treasurers in charities.

In the long term, the next challenge will be for our educationists to instil the right values in our young and nurture the next generation to work for charity.

Lee Soh Hong, FCCA Founder, CancerStory.com

This letter was originally published on ST Forum Online (26 January 2007).

Breaking Even with Direct Mail

Congratulations on the newly-released NVPC survey on IPCs.* Upon reading the survey result summary on your website, one point I do want to highlight is that

in the question on fund-raising methods, the results indicate that Direct Mail (DM) is the most cost-efficient form of fundraising. Although there is some truth in it for the donor retention stage (ie in the long term), DM is known the world over as the ‘most costly’ form of fund-raising to set up in the ‘donor acquisition’ stage. On an average, it takes $1.50 to raise $1.00 (that means it costs more than is raised). Hence it is important to differentiate the efficiency at the various stages of the DM cycle.

What I have seen as a problem with charities that embark on this form of fund-raising is that they do not persevere long enough for the methodology to ‘break-even’. Usually the Board of Directors pulls the plug on the efforts saying it is too expensive, and hence the method ends up being a major drain on the charity’s resources than the effective fund-raising tool it can be. It is only those who stick to the knitting that go on to make it a good source of undesignated income for the charity.

Usha Menon, Director of Resource Development & Donor Country Program, Asia Pacific, Habitat for Humanity International

*The newly released NVPC survey on IPCs is reported on page 16.

“Starting right means placing the right volunteers with the right skills and experience, in the right place,

at the right time, doing the right thing. That’s my modus operandi and it is something that I strive to achieve in my work with volunteers. To me, I strongly believe that volunteer placement is an important determinant of how well volun-teers enjoy their volunteer experience and contribute to the programme in which they are rendering their services. How do I ensure that volunteers are properly placed to ensure a good and meaningful partnership with them? When I began as a volunteer programme manager, I remember struggling with this issue and wondering about the factors that would help to start the partnership on the right footing. I found myself using a simple acronym to help me focus my interviews with volunteers: SPICE-EM!

Skills – Skills, talents, knowledge that a volunteer brings to the task.

Preferences – Preferences with regards to, for instance, when and where a volun-teer would like to render his/her services.

Interests – Target group of beneficiary or kind of services / programme a volunteer is keen to participate in.

Commitment – The volunteer’s level of commitment: once-off, ad-hoc or regular long-term commitment. This would have implications on the type of programme the volunteer can participate in.

Experience – What prior volunteering experience does the volunteer have?

Expectation – What expectations does the volunteer have of the organisation or programme? Does the volunteer, for example, expect reimbursement of transport, meal allowances, certification of their involvement, training etc?

Motivations – Why does the volunteer want to volunteer? It is important to understand the motivation so we can gauge whether participation in a particular programme will yield a mean-ingful partnership and good results.” ✩

James Lim Soon Leong, Volunteer Coordinator, Territorial Headquarters of The Salvation Army knows how to

find the right volunteer.


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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

Shop and SaveIt was the season to be jolly even for children from low-income families. Last

Christmas, thanks to the support and generosity of global express carrier TNT and Lion’s Club of Singapore Sentosa, 60 children aged between six and twelve years

from Ponggol and Hong Kah Primary Schools (two beneficiaries of the Lion’s Club of Singapore Nassim) were treated to a free shopping spree for new clothes at John Little department store. The group of children, which included orphans and children from single-parent families and broken homes, teamed up with more than 60 TNT volunteers, over 30 Lion’s Club Members and teachers from their respective schools, on the one-hour retail expedition.

The children received S$5,000 to spend while some TNT staff and Lion’s Club members also contributed from their own pockets to purchase gifts for the children. After the shopping trip, the children were treated to lunch at Burger King.

Little League: TNT volunteers with their wards at John Little.

SECOND CHANCE

On 8 February, NVPC partnered with the Industrial & Services Co-operative Society Ltd to present another

session in its VConnect series. The session “Ex-Offenders Giving Back” was designed as a platform to

enable volunteer managers and coordinators to share experiences, exchange ideas and alternative

solutions on volunteer management related issues; be informed of good volunteer management practices;

and to explore partnership opportunities. Participants asked how ex-offenders could best contribute to the

community through volunteering. They examined issues such as where ex-offenders have been actively

contributing; the strengths and weaknesses of such volunteers, the risks involved and how companies could

best engage their services. The testimony of an ex-offender volunteer in ISCOS Youth Wing was also heard.

TAX CHANGES BOOST SINGAPORE’S PHILANTHROPIC DRIVE

The development of Singapore as a

philanthropy hub was one of the many

initiatives, announced at this year’s Budget

speech by Second Minister for Finance,

Tharman Shanmugaratnam in Parliament on

15 February. SALT brings you a snapshot on

what these changes mean for the sector.

1) Removal of the 80:20 spending ruleThe removal will enable charities to optimise their activities in Singapore and the region, and the use of their funds over time to sustain their programmes.

2) Relaxing of the 80:20 fundraising ruleThis relaxation will help the efforts of repu-table charities and grantmakers with an international or regional orientation, provided that the funds are raised from private donors rather than from the general public.

3) Double tax deductions for certain donations to grantmakersDouble tax deductions, previously provided to individuals and companies donating to IPCs, will also be extended to all philanthropic grantmaking organisations, as long as these donations are subsequently channeled to an IPC in Singapore.

4) Introduction of tax incentive schemeAn EDB-administered tax incentive scheme will be introduced to provide tax exemption to targeted NPOs that can bring economic value to Singapore.

McHAPPY TIMES

An advanced Chinese New Year party treat for

beneficiaries of the Ang Mo Kio Family Service

Centre was held at Bishan Park on 12 February.

The event, jointly hosted by McDonald’s, was

another community outreach initiative that saw

some 60 adults and 40 children enjoying

McDonald’s Prosperity Meals and Happy Meals.

Ronald McDonald, McDonald’s Chief Happiness Officer, entertaining the children with special magic up his sleeve and doing what he does best: Bringing smiles to kids.


BROTHERLY LOVE

The elderly needy were given a boost in December last year when the Hong Leong

Foundation gave away $401,540 to a number of organisations including $100,000

to PAP Community Foundation, $100,000 to Nanyang Technological University’s Wee Kim

Wee Endowment Fund and $50,000

to the Singapore Zoological Gardens

for its Wildlife Conservation

Singapore Fund.

The foundation also threw a

6-course Chinese lunch celebration for

Tai Pei Old People’s Home residents at

the Orchard Hotel’s Hua Ting restaurant.

There were performances by NTU

Cultural Activities Club Choir, as well as

a jianggu storytelling session by The

Theatre Practice who performed the

folktale “10 Brothers”.

Tan Soo Nan took over as

the Singapore Totalisator

Board’s Chief Executive

with effect from 1 January.

He remains Chief Executive

Officer of Singapore Pools.

He was formerly the CEO

of Temasek Capital (Private)

Ltd where he oversaw direct investments,

both locally and overseas for Temasek Holdings.

Before Temasek, Mr Tan spent 29 years in DBS

Bank where his last held position was as Senior

Managing Director.

Joanna Koh-Hoe took

over as President of Focus

on the Family from Tan

Thuan Seng with effect

from 1 March. With a back-

ground in psychology and

diverse work experience

that includes youth, special

needs children, family crisis and psychiatric

rehabilitation, her passion for family has led her

to serve with Focus Singapore since its launch

in 2002. Mr Tan, a full-time volunteer who was

integral to the setup of the organisation, will

stay on as a board director to assist Ms Koh-Hoe

in Donor Ministry and Social Enterprise.

With effect 1 January,

Zuraidah Abdullah was

seconded from the Singa-

pore Police Force (SPF), for

two years, to be the new

CEO of Yayasan MENDAKI.

She joined the SPF after

graduating with a Bachelor

of Engineering (Civil Engineering) from NUS.

In her 20 years with SPF, she has held several

key appointments including Deputy Commander

of Training Command and Deputy Director of

Planning and Organisation Department. Ranked

Deputy Assistant Commissioner, she has been

the Commander of Jurong Police Division since

August 2004.

James Wong Kok Fatt became executive director

at Spastic Children’s

Association of Singapore

on 1 February. Prior to his

appointment, he spent five

years in the social service

sector as Executive Director

of Family Life Society and has accumulated 36

years’ worth of senior management experience

in the private sector. He has also worked for

the financial sector and recently completed his

Master of Social Sciences.


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

Making Business SenseFor the second time, Youth Employment (Singapore) (YES) partnered with

Salesforce Foundation to organise a hands-on entrepreneur workshop for youth from low-income families. The hands-on project based workshop took place on

18–22 December, during which ten students learnt about business planning, finance, marketing, manufacturing, selling and technology.

In particular, they developed business plans, pitched to venture capitalists and investors to raise seed investment capital for their product ideas, learnt and practised networking techniques, manufacture, and marketing of their original products.

On 22 December, a “Market Day” was held at which the students offered their products for sale.

Force-field: The young team members from Salesforce and Youth Employment.

The NTU Cultural Activities Choir serenades residents of Tai Pei Old People’s Home with Christmas tunes.


Leslie Teo joined Handicaps

Welfare Association (HWA)

as its Executive Director on

1 November 2006. Before

joining HWA, Leslie spent

8 months as the Executive

Director of I Love Children

(ILC) and prior to that,

he was, for 16 years, the Executive Director

of Singapore Anti-Narcotics Association. HWA’s

mission is to enhance the quality of life of

people with physical disabilities and integrate

them into mainstream society.

Dom LaVigne has more

than 14 years of interna-

tional management and

government experience,

primarily focused on Asia

Pacific affairs. He comes

to AmCham Singapore

as Executive Director in

January after having served in recent positions

as Regional Director for the US-ASEAN Business

Council, and as Executive Director at AMCHAM

Malaysia. He had previously worked for

AmCham Singapore as its Government Affairs

Manager in 2003-2004.

Lionel Lee was appointed

Executive Director of

Action for AIDS (AfA) in

2006 October. Before this,

he was a volunteer with

AfA in 2004; an active

member of the Candlelight

Memorial Organising

Committee and the Anonymous HIV Testing and

Counselling Site. Collaborating with Indonesian

based non-government organisations, he has

helped spearhead outreach programmes to

male travellers to the Riau-islands and also

patrons of local karaoke bars and pubs.

Foo Pek Hong joinedKidney Dialysis Foundation (KDF) as its CEO in January. She has nearly 21/2 years of experience as the Fund Raising Director of a large VWO and has 30 years of management and business development experience in the financial sector, of which her last 25 years were with HSBC Asset Management. Together with the KDF Board and their staff, Mrs Foo hopes to be able to help KDF develop and fulfill the next lap of its mission as well as to continue looking after the well being of needy people stricken with end-stage kidney disease.

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


Art and SoulThe theme for this year’s M1 Singapore Fringe Festival

was Art And Disability. Not surprisingly, the heartfelt performances tackled both physical and non-physical

afflictions. Thirteen countries, including Belgium, Britain and Portugal, participated in the event (now in its third year) which ran from 30 January to 11 February.

A highlight of the festival was the Symposium on Inclusive Design. Over two days, designers, architects, students and public members huddled together in an attempt to explore how environments can be adapted to make the lives and activities of the physically disabled easier.

Alvin Tan, co-artistic director of the festival, noted, “Most of us forget that there are social, economic and psychological disabilities that surround and afflict us. We need to realise that all of us face incapacitation of some kind, and that we can overcome these disabilities in ourselves and the world.”

TEAM.ONE came up with the winning idea for the 48-Hour Inclusive Design Challenge – Wunder, a panty with detach-able sides (which does not require the user to bend over to put it on or remove it) that is “easy to put on, flirty and always feminine”.

MAKING CENTS

To commemorate Radio 100.3’s fifth anniversary

last December, the station gamely raised funds

for a community project by local contemporary

Mandarin theatre company Drama Box. Named “more

than just five cents”, the charity project encouraged

the public, between 1 and 25 December last year,

to drop five-cent coins into the donation boxes

placed at twenty designated Besta Customer/Sales

Counter in Popular Bookstores across the island.

Once again proving the adage that cents

make dollars, 73,000 5 cent coins was collected

(totaling $3,650) to help fund Drama Box’s

upcoming community projects in places such as

old folks homes and children shelters.

SURGICAL STRIKE

Over the next two years, a multi-

disciplinary team of 20-30 Singapore

medical specialists will travel to Surabaya,

Indonesia to train over 100 health care

professionals. The SVO Specialist Team

(Reconstructive Surgery) Project is

organised by the Singapore International

Foundation (SIF) as part of its Singapore

Volunteers Overseas programme.

The goal is to improve medical care in

three critical areas of reconstructive

surgery: craniofacial surgery, burns and

wounds, and microsurgery.

The Project is the sixth to be carried

out under the Memorandum of Under-

standing signed between SIF and the East

Java Provincial Government in June 2005.

The SVO team will conduct training

every three to four months at Surabaya’s

Dr Soetomo General Hospital, a leading

national referral hospital for East Java,

and the Faculty of Medicine, Airlangga

University. The Project will also support

the reciprocal attachment of a team of six

Indonesian doctors, therapists and nurses

from Dr Soetomo General Hospital to

Singapore, for a period of four weeks in

March 2007.

Boxing Day: Cents make dollars.


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Despite spraining her foot at a temple event the week before, Mrs Jayamany Overithi – or just

Jaya to friends and grateful recipients of her voluntary activities – is back on her rounds. Sprightly and youthful at 59, she easily looks 10 years younger, and gives no indication of her own discomfort as she brings cheer to the elderly on her volunteering rounds.

Having coped with her own bedridden mother, Jaya has had ample experience with elder care that she now puts to good use. “Old people are gold to us,” she says, simply. “Some people think why they should bother when ‘these people are not my relatives’, but when you see these old people completely alone, even the most hardened will have tears. They don’t need money, they would just like you to talk to them.”

Chatty and confident, Jaya is a firm believer that volunteering creates its own share of peace of mind for the volunteer. Being involved in activities that help others has not only helped her to overcome a horrific accident, but also reconciled her to bitter life experiences that she would rather not divulge. “I was the oldest of two brothers and a sister,” is all she will say, noting that she was married early at 16, and has two grown children.

Jaya worked as a cleaning supervisor at Changi Airport for 15 years, a career she loved and enjoyed until a road accident caused spinal and head injuries that left her bedridden for four months. “I couldn’t

sit and didn’t think I could walk again,” she says softly, but quickly regains her sparkle. “Do you know, I was very well taken care of by the nurses?” she exclaims. “I thought, today the nurses are helping me, so I can be like them – tomorrow, I will do some-thing for others.”

Braving the world again, Jaya joined self-help group Singapore Indian Devel-opment Association (SINDA) in 2000 as a volunteer, and quickly branched out with various other organisations such as the LIONS Befrienders and Salvation Army. Volunteering wasn’t new territory to her – she had been involved in the St. John’s Brigade since her days as a student in St. Theresa’s Convent in the mid-1960s.

“Some people have time, but no heart,” muses Jaya, who utilises time and heart to great effect. Most mornings, till about 3pm, she’s moving around town, dividing her time between reading to children,

visiting homes with residents, counseling families with financial and personal problems, and orga-nising outings and trips. Once one factors in the administrative work and project planning that she clocks in at SINDA headquarters, it’s clear that she spends a good deal more than the four to eight hours a week that she modestly claims. In addition, she spends time at Murugan Thirukunram Temple cooking, cleaning, serving and assorted other duties.

One of Jaya’s lasting contribu-tions is the example she sets to others. Full-time homemaker Mrs Suba, who met Jaya while volun-teering at the temple, is one of the inspired friends who has started joining Jaya in her different acts

of charity. “This is better than staying at home watching TV, and I can see that when you do good things to people, good things will come to you,” notes the enthusiastic Mrs. Suba. Jaya is pleased that first time volunteers often feel good after their selfless acts. “After their first visit, they want to come back because they enjoy it,” she says. “They start asking me when they can go visit again!”

Even when Jaya’s friends are unable to join her, they will often chip in with a small donation, with sums up to $50 which can be used to buy toys, food and books. “Sometimes we just get together and do a potluck – if there are five of us, we’ll have five dishes to bring to the home!” smiles Jaya. “I would be wasting my life if I were not doing any good,” concludes this humble senior citizen, whose spirit and charm, like her, remain young and evergreen. ✩

The Golden YearsThere’s not enough time in the day to do everything that volunteer Jayamany Overithi

wants to do. For this perennially young grandmother of three, there’s more to life than just staying at home. JUNE LEE tags along for the ride.

“ I would be wasting my life if I were not doing any good.”

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

Taking charge: Jaya (right) with some friends from her volunteer work.



The Practice Performing Arts School (PPAS) was founded in 1965 by choreographer and

dancer Goh Lay Kuan, and her husband the late dramatist Kuo Pao Kun. Both were Cultural Medallion recipients and they were careful to pass on the passion for their craft to their students. So much so that PPAS alumni include such power hitters as Goh Boon Teck, Chief Artistic Director of the Toy Factory; Theatreworks’ Artistic Director Ong Ken Sen; Alvin Tan of the Necessary Stage; and Yang Choong Lian of Dance Ensemble of Singapore.

Perhaps the most widely recognised alumni is Creative Technology founder Sim Wong Hoo himself, though his time with PPAS is not that widely known. Sim has been quoted as crediting his creative bent that led to the creation of his money-making Soundblaster product to the musical training he received as a teenager learning the harmonica with PPAS in its early days. Perhaps in appreciation of the significant impact that this avant garde school had on his development, in 2000 he provided seed money and space in his Creative Technology premises in Jurong East for PPAS’ Theatre Training and Research Programme (TTRP). It now has new premises at Emily Hill.

This significant equipping and empowering of the work of PPAS would not have come about if not for the driving vision and operating philosophy of Kuo Pao Kun and Goh Lay Kuan, in

developing a performing arts school of excellence.

Originally called the Practice Arts School, PPAS began as a small haven of learning on the seventh floor of an apart-ment building in Clemenceau Avenue before it moved, in 1966, to 12 Somerville Walk. In 1984, it changed its name to Practice Performing Arts School and in 1989, under the National Arts Council’s Arts Housing Scheme, PPAS moved to its current home at Waterloo Street.

From the beginning, the school had a clear-eyed philosophy that arts education would play an integral part in the total development of an individual. “Our students are taught to take on life and not just examinations,” says Kuo Jing Hong, vice principal of PPAS, who carries on her father’s legacy. “To achieve these goals, we always strive to adapt and develop sound curricula to suit the needs of people who live, work and play in Singapore.”

For this reason, the school’s courses are predicated on the assumption that classes are not just about the acquisition of academic skills. Rather, a student’s

time in the school is the starter-kit for life-long learning. Says Kuo, “The courses are created for the long term development of our students. We believe in growing with our students as they gain in knowledge and self-confidence. PPAS believes that arts education can be used to not only impart sound practical knowledge in the performing arts, but also to nurture students of integrity that are inde-

pendent, compassionate, imaginative, confident and, most importantly, aware of the world around them.”

The PPAS offers courses for children with engaging titles like Story Bang and Talking Art. And for the adults (because learning is a life-long process), there are classes in Chinese aerobics, salsa, sword dance and adult ballet.

Story Bang, in particular, illustrates the school’s approach to fostering an enduring passion that extends beyond the merely academic. Assistant Artistic Director Wong May Lan says that the course, established in 1986, is engaging and interactive. “The teacher tells the story, the students listen to the story and then we encourage them to repeat the story back to us and to their friends. We get them to change the story a bit, change the ending or add one character to the story. That’s how we teach them communication, encouraging them to talk and create.”

From the looks of things, this is one act that’s well worth following. ✩

School of LifeThe Practice Performing Arts School believes that drama isn’t just about teaching the young about the arts, but that it can also bequeath them with useful life skills. TAN HWEE HWEE takes a lesson.

“ Our students are taught to take on life and not just examinations.”

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

And scene! PPAS students go through their paces in a drama dance performance of “2105”


A nne Bong is a secretary-turned-homemaker who traded her shorthand notepad for the spatula

years ago. Her four daughters are now grown up, and her retired husband keeps busy working as an administrator for a car exporter. At 59, Anne’s responsibilities to her family are greatly reduced, but life is by no means less satisfying. She channels her energies towards pursuing personal

interests such as travelling the region with her friends and playing tennis to keep active. In addition, she also

dedicates her time to the Kandang Kerbau Women and Children’s

Hospital’s Play Therapy programme, supervising weekly two-hour playtime sessions for the hospital’s young patients,

some of whom are terminally-ill.“We are there to help the children

forget about their pain, for a short time, as they read storybooks, bang on toy xylo-phones, or play on the Xbox. The smiles on their faces really light up the room,” says Anne, who has been volunteering for over three years now as an extension of her inherent mothering instinct. She adds, “Unlike me, today’s younger adults don’t have the time to do this, nor the experience when it comes to handling children. As a mother who’s brought up four brats, I am in the best position to make such a contribution to society.”

Anne is not alone in wanting to pay it forward. Across the island, members of Singapore’s silver generation of adults aged 55 years and up are making their

presence felt in schools, parks, hospitals, retirement homes, churches, temples and the like. Armed with vim, vigour and considerable amounts of enthusiasm, they assume roles such as mentors, fund-raisers, activity coordinators, board members, teachers, caregivers and even telephone hotline operators who lend a listening ear to those who need help.

Shining ExampleMore than just inspirational stories to their peers, the roll-call of senior volunteers who are making an impact in their communities seems endless.

Buoyed by the firm belief that “patients, regardless of their condition, need care and communication”, Mdm Lee Ah Hong plies the paediatric ward of the National University Hospital every Friday morning. She is accompanied by her cart of crayons, colour pencils, stencils and craft papers, ever-ready to greet expectant faces for an art and craft session. She also spends the afternoon trimming patients’ hair and creating new hairstyles to the delight of her ‘clients’.

Mdm Theresa Yip, an energetic grande dame at 77, travels to almost all four corners of the country to teach the art of making handicraft ranging from soft toys to Japanese washi dolls. Her students include Down’s Syndrome children, elderly residents and nurses at homes for the aged who, in turn, pass on their acquired skills. The former midwife and Active Senior Citizen of the Year 2005 merit award winner, who has been a volunteer for 23

Life begins at 55 for Singapore’s pool of senior volunteers, proving that there is no limit to giving back to society regardless of your age. By MICHELLE BONG.




years and still counting, is also a Lions Befriender coordinator and a board member of the Lions Befriender (Bendemeer) Neighbourhood Link.

Over at Singapore Action Group of Elders (SAGE), 43 senior volunteers between the ages of 50 and 79 man the Seniors Helpline (1800-555-5555) to give information and advice on services for seniors as well as provide a listening ear to peers who, facing stress, anxiety or loneliness, need to talk about their personal issues while maintaining identity confidentiality.

Then there’s Rajendra Gour, who was recently featured in a Channel News Asia article as Singapore’s earliest known award-winning film-maker. Rajendra is a volunteer at not just one but two organisations. He can be found at the Asian Civi-lisations Museum – where he does reception duty and organises the refreshments table when talks are held – and at various secondary schools, where he screens his films and conducts talks on the art of film-making and preservation as part of efforts by the Asian Film Archive (AFA) to educate the young.

“I come away with a good feeling that someone has benefited from the skills I impart – skills that have taken years of experience to hone,” says Rajendra. “At the end of the day, volun-teering in this manner is my way of doing something for myself and to satisfy my conscience. The older generation has a lot to contribute. It is important that we are self-reliant, independent and visible in our efforts to groom the next generation.”

Ngiam Tong Yuen, a board member and chairperson of the mentoring programme at Retired & Senior Volunteer Programme Singapore (RSVP), a society of seniors who volunteer for community projects, agrees. RSVP mentors in 11 primary schools to some 200 students’ two or three afternoons a week. The mentors are both a guiding hand and a friend to latchkey children from low-income families, and facilitate cross-generational interaction as they help with homework and conduct activities

such as singing, gardening or preparing a simple meal. RSVP mentor team leaders Tan Peng Yam and Leong Sue Yin, who have a banking and family business background respectively, both profess a love for children and say they enjoy much satisfaction in imparting life skills to their young charges.

“It is gratifying to help mould these children, to bring them out of their shells, see them stand up and be confident. It’s a good way to get to know the younger generation,” says Leong who has been a mentor for the past nine years and devotes her time to RSVP five days a week, helping with human resource and administrative matters as well. Adds Tan who also contributes the bulk of his week to RSVP activities, “My friends have noticed a change in me, and commend me for my work as a mentor. In response, I tell them to join me! Volunteer programmes are flex-ible, and there is something for everyone.”

What’s Your Preference?Indeed, the plethora of volunteering avenues available guarantees volunteers the chance to share their experiences with the community, as well as indulge in their specific passions at the same time. For instance, Sidek bin Kiah is able to draw on his years as a plant collector at

the Botanic Gardens in his role as a volunteer with Mendaki. He organises activities for Floral and Fauna Fantasy (an outdoor experiential learning programme) at the Botanic Gardens to reach out to “at-risk” youths under Mendaki’s Youth-In-Action programme. The 75-year old grandfather says he volunteers to “socialise, and spend quality time for a good cause”.

Meanwhile, Mdm Mazenah bte Ahmad indulges the humanitarian in her by collecting donations to build an orphanage in Batam, counselling ex-addicts at Taman Bacaan Female Halfway House and coordinating volunteer resources for the Moral Thye Hua Kwan Society’s Inter-Racial Inter-Religious Harmony Nite event. According to her, those who can help, volunteer. Those who can’t, donate. But she “enjoys the best of both worlds – I volunteer and donate!”

Seniors who have in mind a skill they want to nurture can approach organisations to indicate their areas of interest. Alternatively, those who are open to options can be suitably matched up based on preference or life experience at a society like RSVP, which has an impressive

range of placement possibilities such as mentoring children, hosting interna-tional exchange students, and educating fellow seniors on staying relevant in the information technology age. Most activities are based on flexible schedules, so that seniors can choose what they would like to volunteer for and when, without compromising the pursuit of their personal, social or recreational activities.

Senior volunteers aren’t the only ones happy with such an arrangement. Says Tan Bee Thiam of AFA, “Our senior volunteers are such a valuable resource to us – they come with a lifetime of

“We are not the frail old men and women wobbling around on walking sticks, as generally portrayed. We are healthy, active and knowledgeable, with much to share!” — NGIAM TONG YUEN



learning and experience to share. They have fewer distractions and genuinely want to help. At a heritage organisation like AFA, we are especially concerned about films that continue to influence people over time. Our four senior volunteers are great keepers of memo-ries and it’s wonderful to have their personal perspectives while we unlock our history,” he says.

“The satisfaction these volunteers receive is spiritual,” adds Margaret Seow, counsellor and officer in charge of the Senior Helpline, “and they are a great source of passion and a willingness to serve their peers.”

Stand Up and Be CountedBut just how many Sue Yins, Theresas, Annes and Rajendras are out there? According to the National Volunteer and Philanthropy Centre’s (NVPC) 2006survey figures on individual giving, the volunteer participation rate for those aged 65 and above is only 11%, while the rate for those between 55-64 is slightly better at 13%. In contrast, the volunteer participation rate for those aged between 15 and 24 is a whopping 28%, whilst the national average for all age groups is 15.5%.

Why aren’t more seniors, who have proportionately more time on their hands as opposed to the younger generation who attend school or hold down jobs, giving their time to the community? After all, they certainly don’t have the proverbial “I have no time!” argument to fall back on.

Ngiam suggests that unwillingness on the part of most seniors to adhere to volunteer schedules is one possible reason. “Out of our 850 members, there is a large dominant group that needs persuasion; they cite reasons such as the need to help take care of their grand-children as grounds for their inability to commit. RSVP’s challenge is to make a connection with these members to make that first step,” he explains.

However, some believe that the level of volunteerism out there is healthier than perceived. Dr Chiang Hai Ding, executive director of the eight-month old Centre for Seniors (CFS), believes that the statistics do not fully reflect the actual number of

senior volunteers who are making a difference in the community. “I have come across many seniors who devote their time at churches and other places of worship, supplying fresh flowers or maintaining the cleanliness of the area. Others visit their neighbours to help with marketing for groceries, or running their errands. To me, these people are volunteers contributing to society,” says Dr Chiang.

This view is shared by newly-appointed Nominated Member of Parliament and

Associate Professor at the National University of Singapore’s Department of Social Work, Dr Kalyani Mehta, and Gerard Ee, one of Singapore’s most well-known community activists. Says Dr Mehta, “Seniors are already contributing widely in many spheres. However, their contri-butions are not visible. In many ethnic and religious organisations, seniors are offering a great deal of community service.”

Adds Ee, “Some are in it for personal gains and others are there to “pass-it-on” in appreciation of the blessings they have been filled with thus far in their lives. It is for this reason that many would prefer to just help people without being part of a structured organisation. Such volunteers are seldom captured by the statistics.”

Dr Chiang also says financial reasons may be preventing more senior volunteers from stepping forward. “Overseas, retirees get pensions from the government, but here in Singapore, retirees depend mainly on their CPF to get by,” he says. “Perhaps if the relevant authority can give provisions

to seniors in the form of transport reimbursements and the like, more will be attracted to join the senior volunteer pool and do their bit.” CFS, he says, intends to provide an allowance to its volunteers.

Going the DistanceNo doubt, many will agree with Dr Chiang that more can be done to

offer the proverbial carrot to give senior volunteerism a boost. RSVP’s Ngiam says his society is working towards creating awareness among the public as well as its members. Communication tools include newsletters sent to homes, talks given at the National Library and events such as Volunteer Appreciation night to give volun-teers and would be-volunteers a chance to mingle and share their experiences.

“The climate in Singapore is getting better when it comes to volunteerism

awareness,” says Ngiam, who adds that he is appreciative that the local media is always happy to publish articles about their activities. He hopes that this, in turn, will alter the image of seniors in Singapore. “We are not the frail old men and women wobbling around on walking

sticks, as generally portrayed. We are healthy, active and knowledgeable, with much to share!” he says firmly. “That previous image needs to be changed!”

Indeed, Singapore’s seniors have embraced active ageing well – evident from how they are keeping active. Ask anyone and he or she will tell you of a retired family member or acquaintance who still indulges in a second career, social activities or exercise sessions. Meanwhile, the Government’s efforts in creating a conducive environment for seniors to grow old continue. The success of initiatives such as Senior Citizen’s Week and Senior Citizen’s Awards – which turns seven this year – will be built on, to further drive home the importance of recognising Singapore’s “national treasures” in the home, the workplace and within the community.

This is vital in a country where the first batch of post-war baby boomers will reach 65 years of age in 2012. Today, one out of every 12 Singaporeans is aged 65

Volunteers: Frequency/Intensity of Volunteering Frequency Average hours*

Current Current Current volunteers volunteers volunteers aged aged aged All 55 years 55 years less than current and over and over 55 years volunteers

Weekly (per week) 38% 7.19 4.22 5.06

Monthly (per month) 18% 13.92 13.21 13.27

Occasionally (per year) 45% 18.08 15.87 16.15* Volunteer hours exclude traveling timeSource: Survey on Individual Giving in Singapore, 2006, National Volunteer & Philanthropy Centre.

“Every one needs a purpose in life. Active ageing is living out that purpose – having a reason to wake up in the morning, gaining a feeling of self-worth.”

— GERARD EE


or above. By 2030, this ratio will become one out of five. Says Dr Mehta, “We need to prepare now for that time. A lot of policies and services programmes have to be designed so that we are ready for a greying society. I think it’s important, as a lot of attention is given to youth issues, but not enough to ageing issues.

“In anticipation of the baby-boomer generation, we can expect the senior volunteerism rate to increase. However, a well-managed volunteer recruitment and guidance program has to be in place.”*

And indeed it makes sense for non-profit organisations to put together a well-structured volunteer management programme to engage all types of volun-teers, particularly senior volunteers. NVPC’s Individual Giving Survey 2006 shows that respondents aged 55 years and over (a) give more hours, (b) have longer commitment periods, than other volun-teers (see table). Interestingly, too, the most common kind of activities under-taken by senior volunteers are pretty much similar to those below 55, namely fund-raising, general services and administration as well as volunteer coordination.

Busy BodiesTill then, Singapore’s good track record for active ageing can be a catalyst to promote senior volunteerism. As more and more seniors are encouraged to get out of their homes and into the commu-nity, they enlarge their social networks and are better exposed to the range of activities they can participate in. And if currently active senior volunteers continue to extol the significance of what they do, who is to say many more won’t be inspired to come forward?

Says Ee, “Every one needs a purpose in life. Active ageing is living out that purpose – having a reason to wake up in the morning, gaining a feeling of self-worth. That being said, being active and being a volunteer are two different things, because volunteering has to do with one’s personal values.

“But it is fine to start with just being involved. The best way is to share your passion with others – organise groups to go bird watching and teach the participants about the subject, teach others to dance, or start an interest group in stamp collecting. Sooner or later, others will be touched

and the purpose of volunteering will change into wanting to touch more lives”.

According to Ee, volunteerism should not be restricted to retired PMEBs. Similarly, to be an effective volunteer, one does not have to be well-educated since “a retired fishmonger can teach others all about fish – how to tell if it is fresh, or even what fish to use to make fish balls. Likewise, the pork seller, chicken seller, durian vendor, gardener, carpenter all have a story and certainly skills to share. Anyone and every-one can be a volunteer.” ✩* To help NPOs to recruit senior volunteers, NVPC has released an online guide “Doing Good Well – Engaging Senior Volunteers: A Guide for Non-profit Organisations” at its website, www.nvpc.org.sg.




In Singapore, there are charities and there are institutions of a public character (IPCs). Not every charity

has IPC status. There are about 900 IPCs in Singapore, compared to about double that number of charities. The objects of IPCs must be charitable in nature and their activities must be carried out on a non-profit-making basis. The charitable activ-ities must be beneficial to the community as a whole and not confined to sectional interests, i.e. they must satisfy the public benefit test, unless otherwise approved.

NVPC’s previous research had focused on the givers of time and money (volunteers and donors) of the nonprofit landscape. Late in 2005, NVPC initiated a study on the “receiving” side of these gifts of time and money to understand what challenges IPCs face in volunteerism and philanthropy.

The IPC survey was carried out through computer-assisted telephone interviews (CATI) with 287 IPCs from all sectors, an overall response rate of 33% from the almost 900 IPCs in Singapore1,and through desk research of financial

information2 made available by IPCs. CATI interviews were conducted from 16 Nov to 27 Dec 05. Financial information collection and data cleaning ended on 20 Jul 06. The research was carried out by Taylor Nelson Sofres Singapore Pte Ltd.

The IPCs surveyed were as varied as the needs they serve in the community, covering sectors such as arts, community, education, health, social service and sports. They come, too, in various sizes in terms of total financial receipts and years of operation. The number of years respondents had been in operation in the survey varied from as short as a year to a century: The average age was 18 years.

Notwithstanding the variety, NVPC found discernible patterns in volunteerism and philanthropy among the 287 IPCs surveyed.

Volunteerism

86% of respondents engaged volun-teers in 2004. Among the pool of volun-teers available in the sample, only 53% were active, i.e. participated on a regular or ad-hoc basis during the year.

65% of respondents that engaged volunteers had designated volunteer coordinators, or volunteer programme managers, who coordinated volunteers. When asked what the most critical problem area faced in managing volun-teers was, few respondents considered gaining new volunteers as a problem area. Instead, they cited a lack of commitment from volunteers, the difficulty in sustaining the interest of volunteers, as well as limited resources for a designated volun-teer coordinator.

Of these figures, Mrs Tan Chee Koon, NVPC’s CEO was glad that “the issue

Volunteersand

Donors:In Perpetual

Churn?As part of its study of

Singapore’s volunteerism and philanthropy landscape, NVPC commissioned its first ever survey of IPCs. KEVIN

LEE highlights the study and draws some conclusions.



now is not so much one of ‘Where are the volunteers?’ as that of sustaining volunteer interest. This finding reinforces what NVPC has been advocating all this time – the pivotal role of volunteer coordinators in managing volunteers.” (see side story)

Philanthropy

Compared to the 86% of respondents which engaged volunteers, fewer respon-dents (69%) engaged in fundraising activities in 2004. While 50% of respon-dents that raised funds had designated fundraisers (by comparison, 65% of respondents that engaged volunteers had designated volunteer coordinators), on average, fewer staff were involved in volunteer management (1.7 effective full-time staff) compared to fundraising (12).

Among respondents that used more than one fundraising method, organising special events for specific audiences (eg gala dinners, as opposed to mass events like fun fairs which are aimed at the general public) was rated as the most effective method in terms of the absolute dollars raised. Direct mailers were considered most efficient, in terms of costs incurred per dollar raised.

The main fundraising issues which respondents faced were donor fatigue and limited resources for designated fundraising staff.

Commenting on the tendency of some IPCs to allocate more staff resources to fundraising than volunteer manage-

ment, Mrs Tan suggested that IPCs would do well to steer more resources towards volunteer management. This is because NVPC had found, in its Individual Giving Surveys, a link between volunteerism and philanthropy. The surveys found that current volunteers donated more (in terms of average amount donated) than former and non-volunteers. “Volunteers give their time,” said Mrs Tan. “And time, certainly, is money, not just because volunteers work without salary, but also because volunteers may be donors. And they may, as a result of a positive volunteering experience, encourage others to donate and give more them-selves over time.”

Indeed, examples abound of volunteers doing their bit to raise funds. For example, the award-winning Hair for Hope campaign run by the Children’s Cancer Foundation involved volunteers who had their heads shaved to spread the message of childhood cancer and raise funds. The campaign had started small in 2003, when nine volun-teers had their heads shaved and helped raise $2,000. By 2006, the number had risen to nearly 900 shorn heads and raising over $776,000.

“Where IPCs have designated staff to carry out donor and volunteer

SVivakanandan, the former CEO

of SINDA who now heads up

the Ang Mo Kio Community

Hospital once likened the spirit of

volunteerism to a lighted candle, as

it was every volunteer organisation’s

job to keep the flame burning to help

sustain the growth of the organisation.

For a long time now, the idea of

sustainability has been a key concern

in the nonprofit sector. NVPC’s recent

Institutions of a Public Character

(IPC) survey threw light on this issue.

86% of respondents engaged volun-

teers. Top volunteer management

concerns included sustaining volun-

teers’ interests and limited resources

for designated persons (known as

volunteer coordinators, volunteer

managers or volunteer programme

managers) to manage volunteers.

The role of a volunteer manager

is often a difficult one that involves

delicately balancing the strengths

of the volunteers with functions

an organisation needs fulfilling.

“After volunteers have begun on the

assignment, a volunteer manager

evaluates their performance to

ensure the right job match,” says Ms

Loi Boon Lee, Director, Community

Partnerships of the Society for the

Physically Disabled. “Motivation

and retention of volunteers is also

important, for which the volunteer

manager organises regular volun-

teers’ network sessions and

looks out for suitable training

courses for the volunteers.”

Interestingly, NVPC’s

study shows that on average,

fewer staff were involved

in volunteer management

(average 1.7 effective full-

time staff ) compared to fund-

raising (average 12 effective

full-time staff ). So could

more volunteer managers fan

the flame of volunteerism?

Specifically, would raising the

ratio of volunteer managers to

fundraising staff result in better

volunteer retention?

Alfred Tan, executive director of

the Singapore Children’s Society feels

that the volunteer manager’s role is

definitely strategic to an organisation,

Keeping Volunteers VolunteeringA volunteer program manager is crucial to keep an organisation’s volunteerism flame flickering. By MERVIN CHUA.

“ A designated volunteer

manager is in a position

to feed back the problems

the volunteers face to the

management, which is a

valuable resource on how

things can be improved

within the organisation.”—Loi Boon Lee

“Imagine the value of

volunteers and donors who don’t just give once-off,

but who are soencouraged

by their initial experience that they continue

to give over the years.”

—Mrs Tan Chee Koon



but cautions that having more

managers must depend on produc-

tivity levels of the organisation itself.

Loi speaks of two immediate

benefits of having a designated

volunteer manager. First, the position

humanises the organisation. “The

familiarity of that one face is many

times the only link to the manage-

ment. If the volunteers have problems

carrying out the assignment, it helps

if they have someone they can trust to

turn to. Without this, they could end up

quitting volunteering prematurely,”

says Loi. “A designated volunteer

manager is also in the position to

feedback the problems the volunteers

face to the management, which is a

valuable resource on how things can

be improved within the organisation.”

Alfred Tan agrees that volunteer

feedback is crucial to the organisation’s

improvement but notes so is the exit

interview process. “It’s a sensitive topic,”

says Tan, that is best approached

with a “less negative” approach like

half-yearly reviews for volunteers to

better dovetail both organisation

and volunteer needs.

At the Singapore Children’s

Society, a full-time volunteer manager

at the headquarters “strings a lot of

things together”. And because the

Society operates 10 centres, the

manager coordinates all the centres’

volunteer needs and liaises with each

centre’s social worker. The efficiency

gained from the manager’s aerial

perspective means that volunteers

don’t hop from centre to centre.

This system is further enhanced by

posting all volunteer activities on

their website that has an online

application. In addition, the Society’s

manager also liaises with the Social

Service Training Institute to keep

their volunteers apprised of

enrichment courses that can open

a volunteer to more areas of service.

For Loi, the bottom line is that

“more volunteer managers would

mean greater attention given to the

individual volunteers. The greater buy-

in to the organisation may also translate

to some giving more than just their

time”. This is something supported in

NVPC’s 2006 research on Individual

Giving in Singapore which showed

active volunteers donated more in

terms of average amount compared to

former and non-volunteers. Also, these

volunteers are good spokespersons

to encourage others to donate.

For an organisation, to have or

not to have a volunteer manager is

therefore more than an academic

question. Good managers may not

just help retain good volunteers, but

if the existing data is anything to go

by, they could well multiply time and

money available to help ensure that

organisation’s long-term viability.

management work, such work may be in addition to other work, because of resource constraints,” said Maretta Emery, the treasurer for the Association for Fundraising Professionals Interna-tional Board. “Donor fatigue is sometimes due to staff fatigue.” When people wear multiple hats, it sometimes happens that some work (eg service to beneficiaries)

gets higher priority than others (eg donor and volunteer management).

Anecdotal evidence suggests that even when staff spare some time on donor and volunteer management, they may, because of time constraints, find it easier to focus more on recruitment rather than retention. This may lead to an undesirable “churn”, or turnover, of donors and volunteers. The situation is obviously unsatisfactory since the valuable resources spent on recruiting volunteers and donors,

and their ‘life-time value’, are lost. Conversely, if volunteers and donors are retained, the cost spent on recruiting volunteers and donors would pay dividends. “Imagine the value of volunteers and donors who don’t just give once-off, but who are so encouraged by their initial experience that they continue to give over the years”, says Mrs Tan.

Recommendations

To help IPCs direct more resources towards the area of volunteer and donor management, the study made the following recommendations:a) IPCs could go on to a “recruit, review

and renew” mode to reduce churn which is perpetuated when volunteer and donor management remains in a “recruit them, release them, replace them” mode. This way, feedback is sought from volunteers and donors, and organisational practices reviewed in the light of such feedback. If appropriate review action is taken, volunteers and donors would be more inclined to renew their commitment to give their time and money, thus helping to close the door to volunteer and donor attrition.

b) IPCs could take on an investment perspective and consider channeling a portion of their surplus funds into donor and volunteer manage-ment (where currently such surpluses tend to go straight back into the programmes and services they provide, or to build reserves, with manpower expenses and other overheads a lower priority.) For example, if a $30,000-a-year executive helped to raise $300,000 in funds, the investment would have paid for itself with $270,000 available for programmes and other expenses.

c) Donors and grantmakers could be more open to funding donor and volunteer management positions. Such staff, like social workers, also deal with people – donors and volun-teers. Donor and volunteer manage-ment requires specific skills. If funders are more prepared to underwrite part or even all the costs of donor and volunteer management, such strategic capacity building funding would help yield more resources for IPCs to carry out programmes. ✩

1 Results may not entirely represent the overall IPC landscape. 2 Financial information was for the year 2004.

MOVE ForwardSpurred by the desire to professionalise the role of volunteer managers, MOVE (Managing & Organising Volunteer Efforts) was set up last year by a cadre of young volunteer managers. MOVE has specific goals. First off, it intends to establish geographical cell groups of volunteer managers to establish peer support. It also conducts orientation programmes and a mentoring scheme in an effort to further define the roles and responsi-bilities of volunteer managers. But beyond formalising job scope, MOVE also conducts focus group surveys and publishes articles on volunteer management to its members.

www.move.org.sg

“Donor fatigue is sometimes due to

staff fatigue.”—Maretta Emery



Last December, Peter Chua skived from work to play games. And his employer StarHub knew all

about it. In fact, it encouraged the sales manager to take time off from work to visit and play with the underprivileged children of Club Rainbow.

It’s a new outlook for the telecom giant as it strives to make another connection with the community. Since last December, when StarHub launched its Corporate Volunteerism Programme, employees have been able to take two days of paid leave annually to do voluntary work with events and charities sponsored by the company.

“Volunteering is not just one-way,” says Tan Guong Ching, chairman of StarHub. “People who volunteer have a lot to gain from their valuable experience. It might be learning new skills, getting to know new friends or just feeling good about doing something for someone else. That’s the volunteerism spirit that StarHub aims to promote and we are pleased to support our colleagues through this programme.”

Peter Chua could not agree more. His experience last December volunteering with Club Rainbow, StarHub’s chosen charity, has been more than rewarding. “It made me realise how fortunate we are,” he says.

The trend of local companies demon-strating corporate social responsibility in recent years has been encouraging. In this respect, StarHub leads the way as it had already been involved in community out-

reach programmes since it started operations in April 2000. In July that same year, it launched the StarHub Sparks Fund, in which one percent of revenue earned from all IDD 008 and IDD 018 calls was dedicated to the less fortunate through education/skill enhancement and provision of basic needs.

According to StarHub’s spokesperson, Iris Tham, the company has donated more than $3m from the StarHub Sparks Fund for the purchase of necessities such as wheelchairs, food supplies, electrical appliances, assistive technology equipment and educational tools for over 50 charities.

As corporate social responsibility initiatives go, StarHub’s new programme is a bold and exciting move, for it not only puts in place a structure for charity and employee volunteering, it also encourages employees to get involved with the community.

Tham says, “The objective is to instill a sense of social responsibility by encour-aging active participation in StarHub’s community service projects aimed at helping the underprivileged.”

The response has been overwhelming. The 30 vacancies available for the inau-gural volunteer event with Club Rainbow were filled within the day, and many would-be volunteers were turned away. “We certainly hope that employees will feel a stronger sense of belonging to the company when contributing to society

as a whole,” adds Tham.To celebrate the launch of the

programme, StarHub also donated $200,000 to Club Rainbow from its StarHub Sparks Fund to set up the Rainbow Family Care Centre, which will offer sustained support services to 420 chronically ill Rainbow children and their families.

“StarHub is one such organi-sation that walks the talk,” says Gregory Vijayendran, president of Club Rainbow. “The StarHub and Club Rainbow partner-ship is a superb example of developing a long-term partnership between organisa-tions and voluntary welfare organisations – not just in terms of cash donations, but also contributions by way of in-kind donations and volunteers.”

Determined to drive home the message of volunteerism, StarHub has also spon-sored a $50,000 ad campaign featuring a series of print advertisements for the National Volunteer & Philanthropy Centre (NVPC) in the local newspapers. With attention-grabbing headlines like “Missing”, the objective is to raise awareness and encourage members of the public to come forward to volunteer their time and services, to make a difference in changing lives.

It looks like StarHub may not only be making a difference in the lives of the underprivileged. Its Corporate Volunteer Programme looks set to impact the lives of their employee-volunteers as well. Says Chua, “After volunteering at Club Rainbow, I will definitely continue to do volunteer work in my own time. My perspective in life has been enriched. I ended up receiving more than I gave.”

Now that’s something an employee doesn’t quite expect when they show up for work. ✩

Direct DialStarHub’s new employee volunteer programme connects with more than

just its underprivileged beneficiaries. SAKINAH MANAFF eavesdrops.

“ I will definitely continue to do volunteer work in my own time. My perspective in life has been enriched. I ended up receiving more than I gave.”

W A L K T H E T A L K

Collect call: Peter Chua (top) raises spirits and smiles with the children from Club Rainbow.


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People with mental illness often have trouble finding jobs because of the stigma involved with their

condition. With this in mind, last May, social enterprise company, Dignity Links – a company set up by Kala Karkal and Christopher Lim to help patients recovering from mental illness find work – collaborated with the Institute of Mental Health (IMH) to open Barista Express at Clifford Centre with an aid grant from MCYS.

The only thing differentiating this café from others in the area is that it is staffed largely by clients recovering from mental illness (in general, these range from schizophrenia and bipolar disorder to depression). These clients work in Barista Express for a period of three to six months, after which occupational therapists try to help them find employ-ment in the open market.

Dignity Links decided to set up Barista Express even though IMH already had a juice bar in the IMH complex that was being run by former patients. IMH found that the bar could not provide their clients with the training they needed to adequately cope with the outside world.

Says Karkal, Dignity Links’ operations director, “The juice bar is in a protected environment within the IMH complex, so the difference between the outside world and what they do there is very wide. We needed to do something that would replicate conditions that would give these former patients training in real life situations such as serving and interacting with customers.”

One option that the company examined early on was to look for jobs for patients individually, for example, at a courier company, but that didn’t work out. “The clients can initially only work 2-3 hours, so we had to build up their resilience to be able to work long hours,” Karkal says. “They needed a support system to help them phase in the work slowly.”

The solution was Barista Express; but why a café and not some other business? “When you work in a café, you have to learn how to multi-task,” says Karkal. “Also it gives our clients an opportunity to interact with more different types of people rather than just those they might meet in an office. We want to train them in stress management, customer service, interaction with colleagues – these are the aspects of training which are more important.”

Dignity Links deliberately located the café right in the heart of the CBD because that is a stressful area to work in and which would help provide a good training

ground to teach the café staff how to deal with stress. “Most organi-sations have their social enterprises within their premises where the general public is not aware of it at all,” says Karkal, “so having it in a public place where we’re not hiding the fact that the people working here do have psychiatric illness creates more acceptance and

awareness as most of our regular customers know about the clients employed here.”

Dignity Links also provides a comprehensive support programme for the clients working at Barista Express. It runs a one year wellness programme that teaches clients how to cope with mental illness, and once a month, a group comes together for an informal sharing of experiences to help support one another.

There have been many notable success stories. In addition to helping clients gain much needed confidence, to date, two former employees of Barista Express have managed to find gainful work, one in an administrative position and the other in a food and beverage outlet.

These may still be early days, but it’s already very clear that Barista Express is serving up more than just coffee. It is providing hope in a situation that can often be hopeless, offering a chance for social rehabilitation and reintegration for a community that has laboured long under the stigma of mental illness. For the company’s grateful clients, this chance is, very likely, exactly what the doctor ordered. ✩

Café Barista operates at #01-K2 of Clifford Centre, 24 Raffles Place. Its opening hours are 7am to 5pm, Mondays to Fridays.

Cup of Good HopeWith former patients with mental illness manning the counters at Barista Express,

Dignity Links provides more than just a good cup of coffee. TAN HWEE HWEE takes a sip.

N E W S A L T

“ We’re not hiding the fact that the people working here do have psychiatric illness but this creates more acceptance and awareness as most of our regular customers know about the clients employed here.”

Coffee mix: Barista Express staff serve up a blend of goodwill and hope.


Low Teo Ping smiles when he says he should have been six foot two. But he was hit a few times on the

head while working the foredeck in various offshore races. He jokes that the accidents robbed him of those vital inches.

Although the president of Singapore Sailing Federation (SingaporeSailing) never broke the six-foot barrier, he still easily fills a room with his outsized personality and, especially, sound business practices for the sport.

Whether or not his early seafaring mishaps actually altered his height, they certainly never dampened his sailing spirit. Now 61, he has presided over Singapore-Sailing, a National Sports Association, since 1998. In the last 18 months alone, Singapore has won six world titles. The crowning glory was the five gold medals the team brought home from the Asian Games in Doha last December.

Singapore was surprised. One man wasn’t.

In the world according to Low Teo Ping, the fair winds of good business principles and self belief helped Singapore’s sailors to victory.

“We believe in the Singaporeans who are involved in it. The sailors believed in what they were doing and in the organi-sation which was helping them.”

Of course, belief will only get an athlete so far, or else the Singaporean sailors would all have come home with gold medals. Mr Low has brought some-thing more to SingaporeSailing. When he retired from UBS five years ago and turned his attention to sports, he carried

over “the best practices, good corporate governance, interpersonal skills, all the good things of the corporate world.”

One of the first things he did was to establish a mission statement. It is very specific in terms of leadership in sailing in Asia, and focuses on Singaporeans taking to sailing as a national sport and doing it for fun as well as for medals. Very impor-tantly, it gives a clear direction.

“But is that rocket science?” he asks. “Every good organisation would have it, because that is your compass pointing towards how you are going to work.”

In particular, he highlights teamwork as crucial.

“If you succeed, it isn’t about you or your coach. It’s also about many others like your parents, your school principal, your teachers, the people you have been sparring with have all brought you to your level.”

Mr Low certainly walks the talk, and the SingaporeSailing website even has a section called The Engine Room that is devoted to interviews with the coaches, the

administration staff and the supervisors.“You must be aware of the people

around you who have helped you,” Mr Low adds.

Like tennis or swimming, sailing is an individual sport; but a sense of teamwork permeates all levels of the sport.

“We have inculcated such strong team spirit in sailing that everybody helps each other,” he says.

Mr Low’s transplanted business atti-tudes go even deeper. Sailors who want to represent Singapore at a major sporting event must submit a letter of intent to indicate their interest. SingaporeSailing will then involve sailors in intensive training sessions to bring them up to a level at which, later on in the selection process, they are all race-ready.

That means there’s a bigger talent pool to choose from, and it also changes the psyche from one of just wanting to sail to one of wanting to perform and do much better.

“And when you get selected, you sign an athlete agreement to say ‘I abide by the following...’ It becomes very prescriptive,” says Mr Low. “We are the only ones who do that. But it’s no different from the business world where you’re given a manual of responsibilities for your job.” Now SingaporeSailing is condensing its standard practices into a booklet called Sailor First.

It all sounds time-consuming and expensive, but with the $3 million-plus funding from the Sports Council as well as income from sponsors and concessions at its centres, SingaporeSailing is prepared to pay up.


Plain SailingIt sounds simple enough: Adopt sound business principles and practices to turn a sport

into a national commitment. And win lots of medals in the process. ANDREW DUFFY steps onto the deck with Low Teo Ping, the president of Singapore Sailing Federation.

S A L T S H A K E


R S & M O V E R S


“We are one of the most highly funded sports in Singapore,” agrees Mr Low. “But then, we sent 20 sailors to the Asian Games, and all but one came back with a medal. And there were five golds – so what’s the return on investment there?”

This business language runs through his conversation, and it may be no surprise that the volunteers who give so much support are equally at home in the business community.

“Most of them are parents, all profes-sionals, and come from the business world,” says Mr Low. “So there is a common language. That helps a lot because you become convergent in your tasks, your goals and that counts for a lot.”

Sailing attracts parent volunteers from the professional world partly because the clubs are off the beaten track and need a car to get to. That alone suggests volunteers need a certain income level, a certain professional status.

And since it is not a spectator sport, with the action taking place out at sea, parent volunteers have to do more than shout encouragement from the touch-line. They help transport the boats and the equipment, and get involved with the maintenance and the fundraising. As Mr Low puts it, sailing requires “good home support”.

On top of that, sailing is expensive, with membership of a club costing far more than a soccer ball. It all adds up to the sailing world being peopled by committed, professional types.

It also helps explain why, when some are calling for professional managers to run sports NPOs, Mr Low simply wants them to be run professionally.

“There have been a lot of cries saying sports associations must have [paid] professional management. I totally disagree.

“You’ve got to be managed profession-ally first, and that may sometimes include professional managers. And it may not.”

So, commitment is fundamental. Mr Low’s own commitment to sport began

early. He grew up near the Singapore General Hospital, and sport was what the neighbourhood did, be it soccer, badminton, cricket or cycling, as well as rugby – he played scrum half for the country.

But the sea has always called to him. “I used to water-ski, so it was quite natural in that sense. The wind on your face, the taste of salt water – I think it’s therapeutic.”

Then, 30 years ago, Mr Low went out on a friend’s Hobie Cat, a lightweight twin-hulled racing boat. He progressed to racing yachts, competing in the Hong Kong-Manila and other offshore races, taking the demanding job of working the fore-deck, putting up and taking down the sails.

He still sails, but now more of his time is spent volunteering for sport than playing it: he is also the vice-president of the Singapore National Olympic Committee; president of the Singapore Rugby Union; council member of the Singapore Sports Council; and vice-president of the Inter-national Sailing Federation.

One unusual facet of NSAs – unlike VWOs – is that they work with those who are already fortunate. That can put

some volunteers off, “because in many people’s minds, volunteerism is about benefiting the less fortunate.

So, in tune with this spirit of volun-teerism, SingaporeSailing has started working with the less fortunate, too. Among other things, they have “adopted” the Singapore Anti-Narcotics Association.

Kids at risk who leave school early can fall prey to all kinds of influences that are not good, so SingaporeSailing adopts 15 to 20 of them and teaches them windsurfing. Why not sailing? “Because windsurfing is a lot more attractive. You get to wear cool shorts and sunglasses,” says Mr Low.

The Singapore Sea Scouts also have a facility at the National Sailing Centre. “We felt they were getting disjointed in Singapore because they don’t have a sailing facility. So we have

adopted them,” says Mr Low.“These are the add-ons we’ve done,

so we’re not just a sports association catering for the fortunate and steering a path of just sailing excellence,” says Mr Low. “But we’d like to do a lot more.”

That may ultimately involve every schoolchild in Singapore, and make sailing a life skill to be learned. Like riding a bike.

“We want to embark on a programme where all kids in the first six years of their primary education do four days’ sailing, plus learning oceanography, weather, tide, wind, currents and everything else.”

This last part is a sweetener to parents who he knows are more likely to support (and contribute to) the four-day sailing experience if it has an educational side.

It’s self-interest at some level: to “populate the sport” and have all future Singaporeans understanding sailing and supporting it. And it hints at the bigger picture Mr Low sees.

“I see myself as being involved with a mission, using sports so that the people who go through it come out being better people and better citizens. That’s all. It’s not about winning medals.” ✩

“ I see myself as being involved with a mission, using sports so that the people who go through it come out being better people and better citizens. That’s all. It’s not about winning medals.”

The sailors celebrating their achievement of 5 Golds, 3 Silvers and 2 Bronzes at the 2006 Asian Games in Doha. Singapore-Sailing President Low Teo Ping leaps into the sea to celebrate.


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mented, but through widespread adoption, it continues to be in use even when changes to the original solution could improve it. The reasons often offered for sticking with the original solution are inertia and/or the cost of re-implementing a different solution.

The Qwerty Effect“Qwerty” refers to the layout of the modern-day keyboard and takes its name from the first six letters of the keyboard’s top row of letters. The layout of the keyboard was originally meant to prevent jamming by separating pairs of the most commonly used keys. Of course, modern

keyboards do not suffer from the problems of older mechanical keyboards and the Qwerty keyboard’s separation of frequently used letter pairs is no longer necessary. In fact, several other keyboard layouts have been proposed since the advent of

Many of us take for granted the modern flush toilet and sewerage system as a boon of

modern civilisation. Well, while helping to build rural toilets in Sri Lanka, I was surprised to learn from the sanitation experts that the design of our modern toilet may be flawed.

As Jack Sim, founder of World Toilet Organisation puts it, “God went through the trouble of designing our bodies so that the liquids and solids are separated into two different channels. And what do we do? As soon as they leave our body, we put them back together into one single receptacle! To make it worse, we combine them with kitchen and bath water. We then create an expensive sewerage system to transport the mix over vast distances. And finally, at the end of the line, we expend a lot of energy and resources to – lo and behold – re-separate the liquids and the solids.”

In dealing with the pressures of costs, space, health and water availability issues, alternative toilet solutions have emerged across the world. They range from dry toilets (where the liquids and solids are collected separately as they are discharged from the body) to various other eco-san rural toilets. Most of these toilet solutions seek to cost-effectively recover the waste as source energy and yet not contaminate the surrounding environments. But none of these solutions looks likely yet to displace the mainstream solution of the modern toilet bowl and urban sewerage system that we are all comfortable with.

You could say that the modern flush toilet is a Qwerty – it served its purpose when it was first conceived and imple-


Nonprofi t QwertiesWILLIE CHENG questions some long standing rules, practices

and trends affecting charity in Singapore.

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

“ The Qwerty effect has therefore come to be used in the business world to describe outdated and sub-optimal but perhaps “good enough” approaches.”



the typewriter in 1873. Notable among these is the Dvorak layout which enjoyed some degree of widespread support and which several studies have shown to be more efficient and more comfortable than the Qwerty layout.

However, at the end of the day, theubiquity of the Qwerty keyboard won out. The cost of the inefficient layout is much less than that of retraining typists, and now, every executive who touch-types.

The Qwerty effect has therefore come to be used in the business world to describe outdated and sub-optimal but perhaps “good enough” approaches.

Well, we have our fair share of qwerties in the nonprofit sector. Given our penchant in Singapore for numbers, let’s look at three numbered qwerties: the 30% Fundraising Rule, the 80/20 Charity Expenditure Rule and the 5/10 Estate Duty.

The 30% Fundraising RuleFundraisers in Singapore are familiar with the 30% Rule: the cost of fundraising should not exceed 30% of the funds raised.

Measuring the fundraising efficiency ratio makes sense. But why 30%?

I am told that it’s a carry over from as far back as the 1970s when Customs and Excise would waive entertainment duty for charity shows, on condition that expenditure on the show did not exceed 30% of the revenue raised.

The practice in other countries is mixed. Most jurisdictions around the world emphasise the importance of efficient fundraising. However, some impose a limit and others do not. About a third of the American states impose limits ranging from 15% to 25%. The Better Business

Bureau Wise Giving Alliance in the U.S. suggests a limit of 35%. South Korea has a limit of 15%.

In my view, a blanket 30% is not a meaningful limit for fundraising.

That’s because a whole host of factors affects fundraising costs: the method used, the popularity of the cause, the profile of the constituency, the age of the organisa-tion, and so on. Among these, the method of fundraising probably has the greatest impact on the relative cost of fundraising.

Take a golf charity. A typical charity tournament would ask each golfer to pay, say $500, for a game when the cost of the game and prize giving dinner could come to $250. That’s a cost efficiency ratio of 50%. Is that bad? Well, if there was no golf tournament, the charity would not have received the net donation of $250.

A charity golf tournament would typically raise about $30,000 to $50,000 without any heavy sponsorship. Contrast this with a fundraising campaign like that for the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy that raised $67 million (including grants). The cost of the phone calls, meet-ings and so on is a fraction of one percent of the sum raised for the institution.

Using a single ratio does not appropriately factor in economies of scale. Donors would flip if they were told that it cost $8 million or 30% (which of course it did not) to raise the $27 million (including matching grants) for the Wee Kim Wee Legacy Fund.

What makes the fund raising ratio even less meaningful is that charities can, and do, stretch accounting conventions to meet the rule. KPMG’s recent report on NKF states that “there were repeated instances of fund raising accounts being manipulated by irregular accounting treat-ments to comply with the 30/70 Rule.”

The fact that several IPCs show no fundraising costs in their reports suggests a lack of industry-wide accounting discipline in reporting fundraising costs

One unintended consequence of the 30% Rule is that commercial third party fundraisers tend to use 30% as the guideline to set the success fees for their services. An investment banker remarked

as “unconscionable” the 30% proposal by one such professional fundraiser as the latter’s cut for corporate funds raised for a charity. She remarked that her own experience for similar fundraising in the commercial world was to charge 5-15% of funds raised.

So what makes sense if 30% is not a good blanket figure? My answer is not to have a limit. Under a disclosure-based regime, we should simply have clear accounting conventions on how the compo-nents of the fundraising efficiency ratio are computed and require disclosure of fund raising efficiency for each fundraising project. And then we let the donating public judge how efficient a charity has been in its approach to fundraising.

And like the stock market where investors understand that margins and returns vary by industries and a range of other business factors, donors will learn that they should expect different ratios for different kinds of fundraising exercises from different charities. And like the stock market, independent analysts such as Charity Watch will emerge to help them better understand these differences.

The 80/20 Charity Expenditure RuleThe 80/20 Rule requires that a charity, in order to be exempt from income tax, spends 80% or more of its income and donations on charitable purposes in Singapore by the following financial year.

This is not an unreasonable rule to apply to charities doing work for end-beneficiaries – it ensures that money asked for is spent and not accumulated towards unduly large reserves.

Unfortunately, grant-makers such as family foundations, who can also be char-ities, are caught in the net. A foundation exists to give out money, and preferably

“ One unintended conse-quence of the 30% Rule is that commercial third party fundraisers tend to use 30% as the guideline to set the success fees for their services.”

“ In the U.S., foundations pay out 5% of their assets each year. This approach allows for measured giving over multiple years.”



from a large pool of funds. A good founda-tion should accumulate large endowments and engage in multi-year programme funding for its areas of focus. This is difficult to do with the 12-24 month time window on spending. By pushing a foun-dation to give away its income especially unanticipated income, in a short period of time, the nearest cause available could receive a windfall donation.

Some foundations get around this rule by simply not injecting in the funds until they are needed. Keeping family assets outside the foundation carries the risk that a donor may change his mind or when other family members ascend in influence, they change what might have been the original intent of the founder.

In the U.S., foundations follow a 5% Rule – they have to pay out 5% of their assets each year. This allows for measured giving over multiple years and, if the investments are properly managed, an indefinite life for the foundation.

In the recent 2007 Singapore Budget, the government stated that it will remove the 80/20 spending rule for all charities. Details of the measures to encourage philanthropic giving are to be announced. Hopefully, this will be part of a long term move towards a different set of regulations for grant-making bodies as opposed to end-beneficiary charities.

The 5/10 Estate DutyEstate duty in Singapore works as follows: after an exemption threshold of S$9m on residential property, plus $600,000 for all other assets including CPF balance, estate duty starts at 5% for the first S$12m of assets, and then 10% thereafter.

This is very generous when you compare it to the US’s 45% and UK’s 40% maximum rate for estate duty. Our current estate duty rates have declined over the years. There have also been calls to scrap estate duty in Singapore and the govern-ment is currently reviewing this. This is consistent with the experience of many other tax jurisdictions that have sought to lower and eliminate estate duty.

The rationale for reduction or abolition is simple: rich people are very

mobile. If estate duty is high or existent, they will simply move their tax domicile to a more attractive tax location, and the country loses out on that individual and all his related taxes and spending. For Singapore, competitive but low rates of estate duty may make it difficult to justify the administrative cost of collection and the angst created on bereaved families.

But if you think about it – from a tax equity standpoint, inheritance is one of the few income sources that is not “earned”. Windfalls are received by virtue of a blood or other relationship. Estate duty makes for the equitable albeit partial redistribution of wealth back to society.

In addition, cancelling or reducing estate duty deprives the charity sector of a good source of donations. Since donations in wills are not dutiable, this encourages testators to donate part of their assets to charity. It is estimated that 12% of all charitable giving in the US is influenced by the estate tax.

So how should we stop this trend of declining and disappearing estate duty? I would make two suggestions.

First, the major tax jurisdictions of the world could agree on the beneficial impact of estate duty and agree to some consistent moderate rate, thus making the moving of tax domicile, for this purpose, moot.

Secondly, it would be more attractive and palatable if estate duty was directly

channeled to charity, say to a national community foundation that gives out the money to the poor and needy. That way, the rich person dies knowing that any amount sliced off does not go to govern-ment coffers but goes directly to close the income gap.

Other Nonprofit QwertiesWhen I asked some of my nonprofit colleagues for what they might consider to be other qwerties in this sector, here are some of their examples:• Even though charity executive staff

are not volunteers, we persist in paying them hugely discounted wages that values part of their time as free labour.

• The basis of giving by donors often bears little relation to the actual work done for beneficiaries. People give because of who asks, how it is being asked, etc, versus what and how the money is really used for.

• Endowments and reserves for end-beneficiary charities are considered good because they provide a sustained source of income for the charity’s work. But these require large donations that could have gone to other deserving charities and more importantly, take away the need for the benefiting charity to continue to be relevant.

• The more beneficiaries that a charity has, the more successful it is. Yet it could also mean that the charity is dealing with the symptoms and not the root cause. The true measure of a charity should be its extinction, not its growth.

• Charities have typically been too conservative with the way they invest their assets, putting them in fixed deposits, instead of seeking a better return within managed risk parameters.

Some of these may come across more as paradoxes or ironies of the nonprofit sector. But it is when we think in terms of “why” and “what else can we do?” in regards to what we are doing that we will collectively improve the sector. ✩

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“ Cancelling or reducing estate duty also deprives the charity sector of a good source of donations.”


Twelve years have passed since my parents went school hunting for me. Anxiety was written all

over their faces as one kindergarten after another rejected their application, followed by appeal and, eventually, pleas.

To me, it was a flat rejection of a little boy with brittle bone disease seeking an opportunity to develop himself intel-lectually, socially and emotionally. I can still remember being placed on the reception counter at one school while my parents entreated the staff to give me a chance. When she shook her head, my heart sank. It was a double whammy for me. Besides the pain of rejection, I was hurt by my parents’ disappointment. I felt that I was the cause of their failure to get me admitted to the school.

As a desperate measure, my parents approached the Children’s Place, a private kindergarten, knowing that it would burn a huge hole in their pockets. I was offered a place...in the nursery class! Under the circumstances, it was Hobson’s choice – either that or no school.

It was my good fortune that the school had a flexible programme. Two days later, I was allowed to join the K1 class. By the time I ‘graduated’, I was more than ready to take on the challenge of Primary One. However, except for one, all the principals my parents approached did not think so. One principal even suggested sending me to a special school in Margaret Drive.

I owe a debt of gratitude to Mr Chen Keng Juan, the former Principal of Pei Chun Public School, for believing in me. Most importantly, I thank him for looking at my potential and not my disability and bringing great relief to my parents and me.

It is now easier for the handicapped to join the mainstream schools, although there is still at least one school which

does not accept students with disabilities. My mother was informed by a social worker that the principal of this elite school with facilities for the handicapped had said that he did not want any student with disability in his school.

When I was accepted by Temasek Junior College in July 2006 for admission in 2007, the College was not handicap-friendly. Six months later, there were ramps constructed at key points around the campus. To top it off, the College will be installing a lift. By the time you read this article, getting around the school will be a cinch for me.

I understand that there were no funds

for the installation of the lift. But the school still went ahead with it. What can I say to the principal and staff who have shown so much concern, compassion and empathy for a kid with brittle bone disease? A zillion thanks! I will try to emulate your generosity to the best of my ability when the opportunity arises.

I have often been asked: “Do you think the Government can do more for the hand-icapped?” My answer: Yes, it can look into the feasibility of making education compul-sory for them. It can also consider putting special schools under the wing of the Ministry of Education. It can also increase the number of special schools and decrease the special need school fees. The list goes on. However, let me say that nothing worth-while happens in a hurry – so be patient.

The situation today is so much better than it was a decade or so ago, thanks to the efforts of the Government, the voluntary welfare organisations and other volunteer groups.

As my desire to contribute to society started when I was in Primary Two, I am sure that Mr Chen had some influence in my having the spirit of charity in the first place. I was a recipient of his kindness and I knew how it felt. And I want to share what I have so that others can enjoy the same indescribable feeling.

I also feel good doing voluntary service. There is this special feeling that, I believe, you can get only from helping and serving others. I also realise that, to enjoy the feeling, you must not burden the beneficiaries with your pity. You must see them as important people deserving of your assistance and service. After all, the measure of a man is not the number of servants he has, but the number of people he helps or serves honestly and from the bottom of his heart. ✩


One Good TurnYoung JEREMY LIM remembers a less enlightened time – and not so long ago –

for the handicapped. This memory has spurred him, through his writings, to laud and nurture the spirit of volunteerism and philanthropy.

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

“ There is this special feeling that, I believe, you can get only from helping and serving others.”

The writer with his former principal, Mr Chen Keng Juan.



At the infancy stage of an organi-sation, you, the founder, will find yourself doing everything that is

required simply because there is no one else to do it. In the process, you become multi-talented by necessity. During this phase, the satisfaction is very high because you see your baby grow from an idea into a shape and have an impact. You control and make all decisions. There is little consultation and you find this style of working very efficient.

At the growth stage, the founder eventually becomes over-stretched. You cannot do everything anymore. Funds get tight as programmes become larger. Many other new talents and resources are needed and each will come with their own style of working. If you hold onto a centralised control, you might now become a limitation instead of an asset. You must now learn to let go.

But letting go is not always easy.First, it is difficult to build a talent

pool if you do not have much funds. It also takes time for the learning curve of your new staff to mature and you need also to ensure they do not quit because of stiff human resource competition. What’s more, developing a harmonious culture in a group is not an easy process. Of course, the largest hurdle to overcome may yet be an emotional one: Your Ego.

But ultimately, we must put our Mission before ourselves. Our job as founders is to find and motivate talents who can fulfill the mission of the organisa-tion, and let it grow beyond our personal level of excellence. The transformation is from an individual style of management to a consensus mode. The founder has to accept that while decisions may move

slower than before, the organisation will achieve more stability in due course.

This is the time to reflect and ask yourself what your strongest areas are and to focus on them, leaving the rest of the work to your colleagues. As you unload, you free yourself for new opportunities that bring both you and the organisation onto the next higher level.

When I started the Restroom Association (Singapore) in 1998, I did everything simply because there was no one else. Despite several staff changes, the association continued to grow because it was essentially a one-man-show. At this infancy stage, creating legitimacy, a road-map and a belief system are the basic foundations. It is almost like starting a religion. The advantage of running a

one-man-show is that it gives you great freedom and speed.

Eventually with funding from the NEA, the association became a stable organisation with its own executive director, staff and direction. At this growth phase, I discovered that there were many things I had no skill for. I reflected on my strengths and weaknesses. While I am a good entrepreneur, I am not a very good manager because I do not spend time on details. In order to further the mission without hindrance, I had to find the right person for the right job.

I found a successor in Miss Tan Puay Hoon, a person as passionate about the association’s goals as I was. She fit exactly into the role as the new president of RAS Version 2.0!

It gave me great relief that I could deliver my ‘baby’ into safe hands. I could still retain a role as a mentor but not on a daily basis. This freed me to pursue wider dreams at the World Toilet Organisation in building a global network of toilet NGOs which now numbers 55 organisations and spans 41 countries.

In short, a passionate founder or leader needs to often remind himself that while his intentions for the cause are good, the mission is the holy cow and he is just a servant. For, in a funny way, a company that you founded is often a “Trap” you set for yourself. Owning and growing it is the fun part. Maintaining it is a very demanding process. If it grows beyond your ability to manage it, you need professional help. Your joy is in seeing the social dividend and the impact of your idea benefiting your clients. The thing to remember is: It need not always be done by you. ✩

Knowing When to Let GoRunning a company, it is important to know when to initiate something,

when to hold on and when to let go. Jack Sim says this means that you may actually need to plan for your own obsolescence.

“ Of course, the largest hurdle to overcome may yet be an emotional one: Your Ego.”

S A L T K I T


7 AprilMuhammadiyah Welfare Home Flag DayThe Muhammadiyah Welfare Home

– an organisation that aims to

provide shelter to, and rehabilitate

and educate, abandoned children –

is looking for schools to help manage

and organise their Flag Day. Students

will take charge of planning the

entire event, roping in the volunteers

needed and coordinating logistics

and collection with the Home.

The goal is to raise $150,000 and

to achieve that, an estimated 3000

volunteers are required.

Schools that are interested in the

event should contact Mr Rosli at 94563494

or email: [email protected]

9 April (and 2 November)Strategic Fundraising Training at the NVPCTime: 9 am to 5 pmVenue: National Volunteer & Philan-thropy Centre, 7 Maxwell Road, #05-01 Annexe B, MND ComplexCharities that take time to plan

and strategise their fundraising

are often the ones that will best

weather the storms and droughts

in the charity sector. This invaluable

training course aims to provide a

local perspective and insights into

embarking on a successful and

sustainable fundraising campaign.

The course covers such topics as

learning how to plan strategic fund-

raising programmes, solving problems

and protecting your organisation from

unscrupulous opportunists or bad

decisions. Gain practical insights and

study anecdotes of real life successful

and failed fundraising campaigns, as

well as pick up tips on how to survive

as a small charity fighting for space

crowded with more established players.

The course trainer will be

Rosemary Chng, a well respected

figure in the fundraising sector as well

as founder of Rosemary Chng and

Associates, an organisation that helps

charities to brand and fundraise.

Fee is $190 per pax (5% GST

inclusive), before grant subsidy.

For more information, call 65509595.

21 AprilPink Charity BazaarVenue: Ngee Ann City Civic PlazaTime: 10am to 5pmThe Breast Cancer Foundation’s Pink

Charity Bazaar will be hosted by

veteran radio personality, Brian

Richmond. There will be plenty of

food, fun and entertainment with

over 40 stalls of food, handicraft,

accessories and games at the bazaar.

Stand a chance to win a pair of return

tickets to Hong Kong with the purchase

of coupons ($50 per booklet on sale

from BCF). All proceeds go to BCF.

Volunteers keen to help man booths

should call Carol Kuek at 63526560 or

email [email protected] Admission is free.

2 MaySMRT Charity Movie ScreeningVenue: Cathay Cineleisure, OrchardSwing and fight crime with your

favourite web-crawler at a premiere

screening of Spider-Man 3. The SMRT

Charity Gala Premiere aims to raise

funds for needy elderly and their

caregivers as part of the SMRT Silver

Tribute Fund. Proceeds from the sale of

movie tickets will go to eight benefi-

ciaries and their programmes to help

abandoned, lonely or needy elderly lead

more meaningful and dignified lives,

as well as to strengthen the families

and communities that care for them.

For more information, please

contact Karen Chow at 63311140 or

email [email protected].

5 MayRiding for the Disabled Association Annual Charity Dinner and DanceVenue: RDA Centre, 5 Jalan MashhorTime: 7.30pm to 1amThe RDA is a nonprofit charity that

provides free, therapeutic horse riding

to adults and children with disabilities.

It teaches people with disabilities

to increase muscle tone, improve

circulation, respiration, mobility

and attain a better quality of life.

Come join the fun at its annual

charity dinner and dance. Charity

tables are also available for an

evening where the dress code is

Swinging 60s and Austin Powers.

For more information, contact

Rosemary Ratcliffe on 62500176 or

visit www.rdasingapore.org

18 MayTicket-4-YouthVenue: Drama Centre TheatreTime: 9 amHundreds of underprivileged

youth are just waiting for an

opportunity to watch a theatre

performance. Drama Box seeks

corporate and individual donations

to help the youth realise this dream.

Funds donated to its Ticket-4-Youth

project will be used to purchase

tickets for “MOMO” – the first

full-length Mandarin theatre

production that’s been specially

created for the youth! Pre- and

post-show activities will give

the beneficiaries a total theatre

experience that is both entertaining

and educating.

Each ticket is $25 and for every 20

tickets purchased, the accompanying

adult is entitled to one complimen-

tary ticket.

Contact Josephine at 63245434

or email: [email protected] for

more information.

30 MaySingapore Children’s Society Flag Day 2007Volunteers are required to help out

as street collectors for an island-wide

Flag Day. Help is needed for two shifts.

Shift 1 is between 7am and noon,

the second is between 12.15pm and

5.15pm. The collection point is in

Tiong Bahru.

Briefing session will be arranged.

For more information, please contact

Lynn Yeo at 62732010 or email

[email protected]

14 AprilSPCA Flag Day 2007Calling all animal lovers for SPCA’s Flag Day.

Supporters and friends (15 years and above) are

needed to rattle a tin for the biggest fundraiser

of the year around the island. If you can spare

Saturday, please call the SPCA at 62875355 or

email [email protected]


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.

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SCENE&SEEN

Fun ManagersLee Wee Kheng Fund for Needy School Children – Cheque Presentation Ceremony, 10 January, Ministry of Education (MOE) Auditorium

In January 2007 came news that the late Lee

Hiok Kwee had left a bequest to set up the “Lee

Wee Kheng Fund for Needy School Children”,

in memory of his late father, Lee Wee Kheng.

A trust fund has been set up by the Estate and the annual income generated

from the investment of the trust fund will be used for needy pupils in primary

and secondary schools to provide food, transport, clothing and book allowances.

The Committee of Trustees – chaired by Prof Tommy Koh, and includes

Mrs Lee Hiok Kwee, Mr Chelva Rajah and Mr Koh Choon Hui – has decided the

annual investment returns of approximately $1 million will benefit schools

which have the most number of needy students under the MOE’s Financial

Assistance Scheme. MOE will administer the trust fund.

In all, a hundred schools will receive $10,000 each from the trust fund annually.

High SocietyChina Night 2007, 2 February, Regent Hotel

Following a lively cocktail gathering, guests at the China

Society’s China Night were treated to a delicious dinner

(graced by His Excellency Zhang Yun, Ambassador to the

People’s Republic of China), performances by the Echoes

of the Valley orchestra, an operatic melody and an auction

of paintings by Henri Chen Kezhan and Chua Ek Kay.

Surplus funds from the evening were ear-marked for the

Society’s expanded programme of public lectures by

experts on Chinese history, art and culture, outreach and

support activities as well as to upgrade its library collection.

Life LineSeniors’ Fair 2007, 25-27 January, HDB Hub Toa Payoh

This year’s Seniors’ Fair jointly organised by Central Singapore CDC and NVPC, was

a resounding success. The theme, Active for Life!, was embraced by the 6,000 plus

participants. Over three days, the fair promoted active ageing through life-long

learning, volunteerism and a healthy mind and body. Over 20 booths were set up

by nonprofit organisations. Activities included dance, drama, aerobics perform-

ances and talks on a variety of topics such as volunteerism, fall prevention for the

elderly, managing finances after retirement and traditional Chinese medicine.

Guest-of-Honour Mr Heng Chee How, Minister of State for Health

presented Life Inspiration Awards to five seniors in recognition of their selfless

contributions to the community.

Guest-of-Honour Mr Heng Chee How, Minister of

State for Health, interacting with staff from Yah!

Community College.

Vietnam EaseSembCorp donates $50,000 to support Vietnamese children and education, 14 December 2006, Vietnam Singapore Industrial Park

Teach a child and create the future. SembCorp Industries

took this axiom to heart with a $50,000 donation to

commemorate the tenth anniversary of its Vietnam Singa-

pore Industrial Park. The donation was made to the Trail-

blazer-Wong Kok Siew Fund, SembCorp’s charitable fund.

Part of the donation will go to the Ho Chi Minh

City Main Public Library to set up the city’s first ever

children’s library. The balance goes to scholarships for

250 high school students from various schools in the

Binh Duong Province, where VSIP is located.

Principals of the recipient schools receiving cheques from Mrs Lee Hiok Kwee.

Mr Zhang Yun, Ambassador of the People’s Republic of China being led on arrival by Mrs Agnes Ma, Chairman, Organising Committee, “China Night” 2007 (right) and Ms Aileen T. Lau, President, The China Society, Behind: Mr Liew Chin Choy and Mr Chua Aik Hong, both Committee Members.

Dignitaries led by SembCorp Park Holdings’ Executive Chairman, Ms Low Sin Leng mark the occasion of the donation to Vietnam’s children.



Making a ConnectionLaunch of The Comcare Connection, 10 February, Gracehaven, The Salvation Army

The Comcare Connection,

the National Volunteer &

Philanthropy Centre’s latest

community-giving initiative

kicked off with a launch ceremony attended by guest-of-honour Mrs Yu-Foo

Yee Shoon, Minister of State for Community Development, Youth and Sports.

The ComCare Connection is a service that matches corporate organisations

interested in volunteering their time and resources on a term basis with

suitable voluntary welfare organisations and social enterprises.

The launch coincided with the commencement of training for Avanade

Asia’s Charity Bike ‘n’ Blade 2007, a showcase event between Avanade Asia

Pte Ltd and its three recently-adopted beneficiaries, the Salvation Army, Ling

Kwang Youth Centre and Pertapis Centre for Women and Girls.

Guest of Honour Mrs Yu-Foo Yee Shoon, Minister of State for Community Development, Youth and Sports shares a moment with a participant of the Avanade Asia Charity Bike ‘n’ Blade 2007. To her right are MPs Zaqy Mohamad, Denise Phua and Zainudin Nordin, Mayor of Central Singapore District.

Hi Ho, Silver!Silver Ribbon (Singapore)Charity Concert, 13 February, HDB Auditorium

Practitioners and supporters of mental health gathered

with cheer and songs to raise funds for more compli-

mentary mental health talks and events. Leading the

evening’s entertainment were Dream Academy’s ever

enjoyable Selena Tan, perennial songbird Mavis Hee (in

her first public performance since her retirement), the

Zingo Drum Troupe, the Finger Players and Trio. Clearly

enjoying herself was guest of honour, Mdm Halimah

Yacob; Chairman, GPC (Health); NTUC Asst Sec-General

and MP for Jurong GRC.

The evening was organised by Silver Ribbon

(Singapore), a nonprofit organisation that fights against

the stigma of mental health stigma and encourages

early treatment.

Rock OnYouths ROCK! @ South West Concert, 20 January, VivoCity

Striving to bust the perception that youths lack the public

service spirit, 3000 young ‘uns took part in 16 community

and environmental activities. These included teaching

residents at the SUN-DAC Centre for the Disabled II to play

boccia, coastal clean-ups at Kallang, East Coast and Pasir Ris

Park, spring cleaning at Lion Befrienders Service Associa-

tion to help the elderly prepare for the Chinese New Year

festivities, and giving Jamiyah Home a fresh coat of paint.

Following the activities, a high energy Youths ROCK!

@ South West concert was held at VivoCity. Guest-of-

Honour Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam, Minister for

Education and Second Minister of Finance brought the

house down with his virtuosity on the electronic guitar

when he teamed up with Garden of Eve, the band from

Jurong Junior College for a jam session on stage.

Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam and Mayor Dr Amy Khor (centre) at

play with 1,000 screaming youths at Youths Rock! @ South West Concert – the finale to Youth

Hands-On! Day @ South West.

No KiddingAPSN Katong Special School receives US$30,000 donation, 12 January

Xilinx Asia Pacific, the world’s leading supplier of programmable logic solu-

tions, donated US$30,000 to APSN Katong Special School – a special school

that provides education for children with mild intellectual disabilities.

The donation reflects the company’s commitment to support education and

give back to the community in which it operates its Asia Pacific headquarters.

APSN has an enrolment of 245 children aged between 6 and 17 with an

IQ range of 50-70. The donation will help fund the school’s Special Education

Programme which aims to empower its students with the necessary skills, attitude

and personality to lead normal independent lives in adulthood. The compre-

hensive curriculum includes areas of independent living skills training, pre-

vocational training, numeracy and literacy skills, and caregiver support services.

Xilinx also announced that it would make additional donations to

support APSN’s healthy lifestyle and creative dance programmes.

Cheque presentation by Xilinx at APSN Katong School. From left: Mr. Wim Roelandts

(President, Chairman & CEO, Xilinx Inc.), Mr. Lee Keng Min (Principal, Katong School) and Mr. Hwang Peng Yuan (Vice-Chairman,

Community Chest Committee)

Dr Lim Cheng Hwa, President of Silver Ribbon Singapore, presenting a token of appreciation (a batik painting done by a consumer) to Mdm

Halimah Yacob for gracing the event.

Error: on page 34 of our Jan-Feb 2007 issue (‘The National Volunteerism and Philanthropy Awards 2006 Gala Dinner’), the picture caption incorrectly identifies Mr Edmund Wan as Mr Edward Wan. We apologise for the error.



A D A S H O F S A L T

“We all know how the size of sums of money appears to vary in a remarkable way according as they are being paid in or paid out.”Julian Sorell Huxley, English biologist, Essays of a Biologist

“The problem is that a certain level of snobbery has pervaded our society... We feel that our hard-earned success gives us the right to sneer at people who will probably never reach our station in life.”Benjamin James Saram in a letter to TODAY, responding to columnist Tabitha Wong’s column on foreign workers and how they are treated by Singaporeans.

“Age and disease should not be a hindrance to leading a full, active lifestyle.”Mrs Teo Jiok Lin, the centre manager for Concern and Care Society.

“So I think the general public has had enough of the rah-rah thing. We’re toning things down. There’s no need to be so loud anymore.”Aware’s current president, Ms Tan Joo Hymn, 38, on Aware’s early fundraising approach in its early days.

“The key thing in promoting public transport is accessibility. But it can’t be just accessible to the able-bodied commuters, but also to others who find it difficult without barrier-free access.”Transport Minister Raymond Lim on the new barrier-free route to Changi General Hospital

“Those of us in the rich world have the chance to improve the lives of billions of people around the world. I can’t think of anything

that’s worth more of our time and effort.”Bill Gates on The Way We Give, Fortune Magazine, Volume 155, Issue 1

“A little over two years ago, I just would not have thought I would ever finish one marathon in a lifetime. It gives you a different perspective on what is achievable in other spheres of your life.”

Tan Yien Hsien, group head, legal and compliance at Standard Chartered Bank, on running 6 marathons in 6 months to raise US$150,000 for Race4Innocence which is dedicated to shutting down child pornography websites.

“In the last few years we’ve started to see a real crossover. We’re seeing year-end giving in other people’s names instead

of just personal donations.”George C. Ruotolo Jr., chairman and CEO of the Giving Institute – an organisation that assists nonprofit groups with fundraising

– on the trend of people donating money as a gift to charity in another person’s name.

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