Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports

	MCYS in Promotion of Philanthropy
	The Community Chest
	President's Challenge
	National Volunteer & Philanthropy Centre (NVPC)
	Institutions of A Public Character (IPCs)
	Information for Charities

"If we are to build a cohesive society, then individuals must form lasting ties with their larger community. To feel passionately about Singapore is to care about more than just those things that directly affect our families, our friends, and ourselves. It is to be strongly committed to the well-being of our fellow Singaporeans, and to show compassion to those who are weaker than ourselves."

- SM Goh Chok Tong in his National Day Rally Speech in 2001.

MCYS is committed to building a resilient and cohesive community.A cohesive society is necessarily founded upon a compassionate society,a society where each citizen is committed to the well-being of his fellow countrymen. One indication of a society's cohesiveness is the amount of charitable giving.

MCYS believes in promoting philanthropy as it is through the mutual self-help that the community bonds are strengthened. MCYS facilitates charities' efforts in raising funds and in providing programmes and services to the community. MCYS also works closely with the National Volunteer and Philanthropy Centre (NVPC) to promote informed, active and strategic charitable giving.

MCYS and NVPC are committed to developing the capabilities and improving the governance of the charitable sector to enhance donor confidence, as well as encourage informed, active and strategic giving.

Top

The Community Chest functions as a centralised fund-raising arm of NCSS. In 2007, it raised $52 million to serve more than 310,000 people supported by 147 programmes under 57 charities.

The Community Chest explores and harness resources within the community including funds, donations-in-kind and volunteers for the social service sector. Funds are raised mainly through its SHARE (Social Help and Assistance Raised by Employees) programme that encourages employees to contribute an affordable but consistent sum to charities through GIRO, credit card or payroll deductions on a regular basis. In FY 2007/2008, SHARE contributed to 24 per cent of total funds raised.

For more information, you can log onto www.comchest.org.sg or call the hotline 1800-210 2600.

Top

"Begin today and henceforth every day of your life, find a way to do more good for someone less fortunate."

- President S R Nathan.

The President's Challenge is an annual series of community-driven fundraising and volunteering activities. It represents a coming together of people from all walks of life, under the President's patronage, to help those who are less fortunate.

It is the President's call to all Singaporeans to have a big heart and join our efforts to build a more caring and cohesive society.

For the past 9 years, President's Challenge has raised over $70 million for around 400 voluntary welfare organizations. In 2008, President's Challenge raised almost $13 million for 41 charities and the Community Chest.

Year	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008
Amount (million)	$3	$4.1	$6.3	$9.6	$8.8	$9.7	$8.8	$12	$12.9

2009 marks the 10th anniversary of giving to President's Challenge. Several events have been held to commemorate this significant milestone.

	President's Command Performance The inaugural President's Command Performance was an evening of spectacular performances held at the Esplanade Theatre to commemorate the President's Challenge 10th Anniversary. This event honours our nation's finest who have placed Singapore on the world map with their stellar achievements in fields such as singing, literature, fashion and music. See highlights of President's Command Performance

Parties interested in getting involved in President's Challenge are welcomed to contact the President's Challenge Secretariat, Ms Janet Neo Si Yin at Janet_Neo@mcys.gov.sg. For more information on the President's Challenge, please visit http://www.pc.org.sg.

Top

National Volunteer & Philanthropy Centre (NVPC)

The Singapore 21 vision of an active citizenry strengthening the Singapore heartbeat provided the impetus for the establishment of the National Volunteer Centre (NVC) in Jul 2000. It took on an additional role of promoting philanthropy in 2003, and was renamed the National Volunteer & Philanthropy Centre (NVPC). NVPC serves as the national coordinating body to promote giving, whether of time, talent or money, as the means for people to give back to the community.

NVPC's mission is to promote and develop volunteerism and philanthropy at all levels of society, furthering the Singapore 21 vision of an active citizenry. It functions as a first-stop centre and catalyst in promoting volunteerism and philanthropy across all sectors, ranging from the arts & culture to sports, environmental conservation and health, as well as to the social service sector. NVPC functions as a non-profit, non-government organisation, with funding support from the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports.

To find out more about the National Volunteer and Philanthropy Centre and volunteer work in all sectors, log on to www.nvpc.org.sg, or call the hotline 1800-3250965. Alternatively, you can drop by the Centre at 6 Eu Tong Sen St, #04-88 The Central, Singapore 059817.

Community Foundation

IN 2008, NVPC spearheaded the establishment of The Community Foundation of Singapore, which aims to provide a simple, yet powerful and highly personalised approach to giving, especially for those who seek professional advice on the philanthropic causes to give to, or know what causes to support.

Click to download the Community Foundation of Singapore brochure.

Top

Institutions of a Public Character (IPCs) are non-profit or not-for-profit organisations. The majority of the IPCs are charities, while the rest are sports associations.

Only those organisations with approved IPC status are authorised to receive tax-deductible donations (i.e. donors are given tax-deduction for donations made to these organisations).

Please visit the Charity Portal for more information on IPCs.

Top

Charities are organisations set up exclusively for any of the following charitable objects:

relief of poverty,
advancement of education,
advancement of religion, or
other purposes beneficial to the community, such as:
1. the advancement of health;
2. the advancement of citizenship or community development;
3. the advancement of arts, heritage or science;
4. the advancement of environmental protection or improvement;
5. the relief of those in need by reason of youth, age, ill-health, disability, financial hardship or other disadvantages;
6. the advancement of animal welfare; and
7. the advancement of sport, where the sport advances health through physical skill and exertion.

To sustain the level of giving by donors, and hence the charities' income level from donations, MCYS believes that donors must be able to have a high level of confidence in the charities. Charities should aim to manage their accounts properly, practice cost-effective fund-raising and provide their services (if any) in an effective manner.

Please visit the Charity Portal for more information on charities

Top