The Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF) and the National Council of Social Service (NCSS) is launching a new Change for Charity initiative and extending Community Chest's ongoing Share As One (SAO) programme.

The announcement was made by Minister for Social and Family Development Masagos Zulkifli on Friday, Mar. 5, during the ministry's Committee of Supply Debate.

MSF said in its release that it hopes to encourage greater charitable giving to support social service agencies (SSAs) that offer important services and programmes.

Change for Charity initiative

A new Change for Charity initiative will be launched to encourage individuals to give as part of their everyday lives.

This initiative will run for five years from 2021 to 2025.

Community Chest will partner with businesses to offer opportunities for customers to donate to Community Chest through their payment platforms.

Businesses can enable customers to donate to Community Chest while they complete their payment transactions through:

• Providing regular donation options together with subscription-based services
• Donating full/partial sales proceeds by businesses
• Redemption of rewards or points into cash donations
• Platform or channel for small and spontaneous acts of giving by individuals at the point of purchase

The government will provide a matching grant of S$0.50 for every dollar donated by customers through participating businesses' payment platforms, up to S$25,000 per business per year.

Donations by businesses and their customers will be eligible for three years of matching, starting from the year of implementation.

In addition, the government will offer a one-off Enabler grant of up to 50 per cent of the cost incurred by businesses for the adoption and enhancement of giving capabilities on their payment platforms, capped at S$10,000 per business.

All donations and matching funds under this initiative will go to Community Chest to support the various SSAs providing key social services and programmes.

More details on the application process will be revealed by Community Chest at a later date.

Extension of Share As One (SAO)

The SAO programme was first launched in 2016 and provides dollar-for-dollar matching for any additional donations to Community Chest's monthly Share programme to encourage companies, employees and individuals to give regularly.

The SAO programme will be extended until 2023, to support the agencies and their programmes after donations to Community Chest declined due to the economic downturn.

100 per cent of donations through this programme go towards supporting SSAs that serve groups such as:

• Children with special needs and youths at risk
• Adults with disabilities
• Persons with mental health conditions
• Seniors and family

Through the programme, participating companies can use 50 per cent of the matching funds (capped at S$10,000 per year) to organise Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activities for their employees.

SSAs can apply to use the matching funds to organise volunteer activities for corporates and strengthen their volunteer management capabilities.

It will also provide dollar-for-dollar matching for any additional donations from companies, employees and individuals through Share over and above donation levels of the preceding year.

Under this extension, participating corporates and SSAs can continue to use the matching funds to support their own CSR efforts and volunteer management capabilities respectively.

Top photo via MSF's Facebook page for illustration purposes