Singapore public trust in charities rebounds

But more needs to be done to encourage volunteerism
Alicia Wong, Today Online 10 Sep 08;

PUBLIC confidence in charities has increased this year, despite the high-profile scandals at the Ren Ci Hospital & Medicare Centre, according to the National Volunteer and Philanthropy Centre’s (NVPC’s) latest survey.

The Individual Giving Survey 2008,involving 1,894 interviews between April to May, showed that 40 per cent of respondents had “above-moderate to complete confidence” in charities, up from 28 per cent in 2006, when the National Kidney Foundation (NKF) fiasco sank public confidence.

Government moves to ensure greater transparency in the accounting and governing procedures in the charity sector have helped bolster public trust, said NVPC’s board member Peter Ong. He noted that “many of the Institutions of Public Character also went out pro-actively to seek board members with greater standing in society”.

Mr Ong said that the financial irregularities at Ren Ci might have kept the level of trust below the 50 per cent mark. But steps taken by the authorities to improve governance following the arrest and prosecution of the hospital’s chief executive Ming Yi had restored some of that lost confidence, he added.

The NVPC hopes to achieve its 70-per-cent target in public confidence in the next two years, Mr Ong said.

The NVPC’s survey also found that donations as well as the level of volunteerism have increased. The NKF received $25 million in donations last year, according to unaudited figures, and its volunteer programme launched last year attracted 257 regular and 56 ad hoc helpers.

But, Mr Ong said that more programmes are needed to encourage volunteerism.

One challenge is that Singapore is “very cosmopolitan and not very homogenous,” he said, comparing the Republic to Nordic cities, where “people help one another because they look very similar to one another.”

According to assistant professor Joonmo Son from the National University of Singapore, while people may be more altruistic in a homogenous environment, “it is also true that diversity among people does not really prevent volunteering or donating behaviour, as we can see from the United States, another cosmopolitan society.”

Prof Son suggested promoting volunteerism and charity within each ethnic group in Singapore as a first step.

“If you do not volunteer within your own ethnic group, it is hard to expect you to take your time and money for people dissimilar from you,” he said.

And from there, volunteerism and givingcan be spread to the wider community beyond one’s ethnic group, he said.

Charities should also be more open to taking on ad hoc volunteers, said NVPCdirector Kevin Lee. Just as non-profitorganisations accept donations in various amounts, they should also accept people who just want to give some of their free time, rather than stipulating a minimum number of volunteer hours, he said.

But this is not as straightforward as it sounds. Ms Low Mui Lang, the executive director of Peacehaven Nursing Home, which gets help from many ad hoc volunteers, said: “It’s easy to let them participate in programmes we plan, but if we want to do something more significant, it’s more difficult.”

While Mr Ong suggested letting such volunteers help in the areas they excel in, such as administration, Ms Low said administration is done during weekdays.

“It’s hard to get ad hoc volunteers” on weekdays, she said.

But for the founder and chairman of Heartware Network, Mr Raymond Huang, ad hoc volunteers are an invaluable “base” to groom team leaders. “We won’t demand 40 hours of service from them,” he said. “But if you can win them for four hours, you can perhaps win them for 40 hours.”

More Singaporeans donate to charities as public confidence increases
Pearl Forss, Channel NewsAsia 9 Sep 08;

SINGAPORE: A recent survey by the National Volunteer & Philanthropy Centre (NVPC) has shown that more Singaporeans are donating to charities and taking part in ad-hoc volunteerism.

Public confidence in charities plummeted in 2006 after the National Kidney Foundation charity scandal, which saw its former CEO jailed for using a false invoice to deceive the organisation. But the situation has since improved, according to the survey.

40 per cent of some 1,900 respondents expressed "above moderate" to "complete confidence" in charities, compared to 28 per cent two years ago.

Kevin Lee, director, Sector Development, NVPC, said: "It is partly because of what the charities themselves have been doing to account to their donors and be transparent. It is also part of what the regulators have been doing, in particular the Commissioner of Charities and the Charities Unit."

Donation amounts have also risen from US$240 million in 2006 to US$670 million this year, with 53 per cent going to religious organisations and 11 per cent to foreign causes such as disaster relief.

However, the charity scandal has had lasting impact on some Singaporeans as donor participation rate is currently at 91 per cent – up 2 percentage points from 2006, but still below 2004's 97 per cent.

More Singaporeans donate money to charities, compared to people in the UK and the US. But when it comes to giving time, Singaporeans are less generous.

About 16 per cent of Singaporeans volunteer their time, compared to 60 per cent in the UK. In fact, total volunteer hours have fallen from 49 million in 2006 to 45 million this year.

Those in the charity sector said this is not a cause for concern as volunteer participation rates are at an eight-year high.

Peter Ong, board member, NVPC, said: "We see a trend where most Singaporean residents are moving towards what we call ad-hoc volunteerism."

Ad-hoc volunteerism could be as simple as spending a weekend afternoon with the needy. But NVPC hopes such experiences will plant the seeds for a more lasting and meaningful engagement.

Charities regain public confidence
Survey of 1,900 shows that Singaporeans are now donating, volunteering more
Theresa Tan, Straits Times 10 Sep 08;

PUBLIC confidence in charities has rebounded three years after the National Kidney Foundation (NKF) scandal shook the faith of many Singaporeans, a new survey suggests.

Forty per cent of respondents in a National Volunteer and Philanthropy Centre (NVPC) poll had 'above moderate to complete confidence' in charities, compared to 28 per cent in a similar survey in 2006.

Only 10 per cent of the close to 1,900 people polled this time round had 'below moderate to no confidence' in charities, down from 20 per cent in 2006. The survey, released yesterday, was done in April and May.

Moves by the Government to regulate the charity sector have shored up public confidence in non-profit groups, said charity leaders.

Those measures include the creation of a full-time Commissioner of Charities position, which was given greater powers to take action against errant charities, among other things.

New guidelines were introduced detailing how well-run charities should be managed and new rules were put in place to get charities to disclose more information to the public.

A drive by the NKF to show the public that it has put its house in order may have also boosted faith in charities, said the NVPC's director of sector development, Mr Kevin Lee.

Increased public confidence coupled with a robust economy pushed the average amount each donor gave to $300, up from $125 in the 2006 survey, said the NVPC.

The NVPC estimates that some $958 million was donated by individuals here, almost triple the $341 million in 2006.

About half of the donations in the current study went to religious causes, and 11 per cent to overseas causes, like disaster relief.

Mr Lee said the Sichuan earthquake and the cyclone that ravaged Myanmar in May are likely to have boosted donations.

Singapore Red Cross secretary-general Christopher Chua said widespread images of suffering have a way of 'tugging at heartstrings' and opening wallets.The Red Cross has raised over $30 million to help the quake and cyclone victims in Sichuan and Myanmar.

Besides giving money, more people here are also volunteering.

In the current study, 16.9 per cent of the population has volunteered at least once in the past year, up from 15.5 per cent in the 2006 study.

The study also found that almost all those who volunteered their time to charity also gave money, and current volunteers donated four times more money than those who do not volunteer.

Sales manager Irene Teo, 27, is a regular donor to the Breast Cancer Foundation. She said she has confidence in charities as the authorities are working to 'make sure the NKF saga does not happen again'.

She added: 'The poor will really suffer if everyone stops donating.'

Singaporeans donating more to charity: survey
Noor Aisha, Business Times 10 Sep 08;

SINGAPOREANS have regained confidence in local charities and are donating notably more compared with 2006, according to the findings of a survey released yesterday. However, more can be done to improve our volunteerism levels.

The Individual Giving Survey 2008, conducted by the National Volunteer & Philanthropy Centre (NVPC), cited some 40 per cent of respondents as having confidence in charities, up from 28 per cent in the survey in 2006, which saw controversies among some charities, including the National Kidney Foundation (NKF).

The rate of volunteerism, however, remains low at 16.9 per cent, up 1.4 per cent from 2006.

This lags far behind other countries such as the US and UK, where volunteerism is carried out actively. The age group with the highest incidence of volunteers according to the survey was between 15 and 24.

Total monetary donation by individuals rose substantially from $341 million in 2006 to $958 million in 2008. Of this, $103 million was for use outside Singapore, including the Sichuan earthquake. The bulk of the remaining $855 million went to religious organisations and social service.

The total number of volunteerism hours declined from 49 million hours in 2006 to 45 million hours in 2008.