SINGAPORE: Donating money to the disadvantaged and less privileged remains a popular form of giving back in Singapore, and more people tend to donate at the end of the year and on special occasions, said the National Volunteer and Philanthropy Centre (NVPC).
Donations typically surge at the end of the year, especially in December, said NVPC in a news release on Thursday (Feb 5), citing collections from its online donation portal SG Gives.
“From past trends, December has always recorded the highest number of donations for the Children’s Cancer Foundation (CCF) from the SG Gives portal,” said CCF's executive director, Ms Neo Lay Tin. “This is a testament of the generosity of donors who reached out with loving kindness during the year-end season of giving.”
NVPC also attributed the surge in donations to #GivingTuesdaySG - a campaign to encourage individuals, businesses and non-profit organisations to contribute to a good cause.
MORE DONATING ONLINE AND ON SPECIAL OCCASIONS
While NVPC said Singaporeans who were approached during the #GivingTuesdaySG campaign were enthusiastic in helping to spread the message of giving, it also said Singaporeans generally find it challenging to take time off to do something for a good cause.
But at the same time, online donations have become increasingly popular, said Ms Neo. The number of corporate donors on the SG Gives portal went up by 38 per cent on-year in 2014, said NVPC. There was also a 24 per cent on-year increase in the number of unique donors in 2014, added NVPC.
Donations dedicated to special occasions are also gaining popularity. There was a 21 per cent increase in such donations from 2013 to 2014, with remembering a loved one and birthdays being popular reasons to contribute, said NVPC.
SG Gives currently has registered over 330 charities across various causes, and the portal has raised more than S$43 million for the charities registered on its site since February 2010. Results of a survey by NVPC released in December showed that people in Singapore donated a total of S$1.25 billion to various causes in 2014.
- CNA/xq