All You Need to Know About Making Donations in Singapore
Singapore may be a world superpower, but it’s definitely not immune to social issues and has its share of vulnerable communities. From housing to employment, there is still room for improvement!
Luckily, there are thousands of registered charities that support causes that alleviate such issues and help communities get back on their feet through donations.
New to this? Here’s your chance to do good today with a comprehensive guide to making donations in Singapore!
How to Make Donations in Singapore
Step 1: Choose a charity or cause to donate to
Before donating to charities in Singapore, it’s important to ask yourself what causes matter to you.
There are thousands of charities in Singapore that are worthy of attention and support, so deciding on a single cause that resonates with your values, principles, or experiences makes giving a lot simpler and easier.
Once you’ve decided on a specific cause you want to support, start looking up charities that address it.
Several types of charity organisations address the same issue but through various means.
That said, it’s crucial to research the charities you’ll be donating to.
Types of Charities in Singapore
In Singapore, charities are formed through either public organisations, private foundations, or private operating foundations.
- Public organisations. These are usually religious groups, schools, health institutions, and hospitals. These charities use fundraising as a way to support their causes.
- Private foundations. These are funded by grants or investments from a select group of high-net-worth individuals. The assets are then used to fund causes or other charitable activities hosted by other private foundations.
- Private operating foundations. Private operating foundations, like museums, libraries, and zoos, mainly put up programmes to support communities and individuals.
Step 2: Check if your chosen charity is genuine
No one will stop you from donating to more than one charity. In fact, we support that conscious act of giving generously!
However, it’s also crucial to donate safely. It doesn’t hurt to make sure that all your hard-earned money goes to the people you want to help.
Before donating, get in touch with a representative and ask these questions:
- Who will receive my donation?
- How will my donation be used to help?
- Will the charity notify me about my donation?
How to Verify a Charity
- Look through the organisation’s About Us page and find their accreditations and annual submissions. These are critical traits of a registered charity that verifies how they use donations.
- You can also follow your chosen charity’s social media pages to see the latest campaign news and updates. This is also one way for you to find out how active they are in their communities and what projects are currently ongoing!
- Check out CharityPortal, a Singapore government agency site that primarily helps charities with registrations, compliances, and regulations.
The site is also a great source of resources about the registered charities in Singapore.
To check if your chosen charity is verified, you can simply search the charity’s name on the search bar and learn more about their accreditations and annual reports there.
Step 3: Decide on what kind of donation you’ll give
Now that you have a charity in mind, decide on what kind of donation you’ll be giving. There are plenty of ways to donate, and we’ll discuss a few of the common ones below.
Monetary
The most common kind of donation is monetary. While it’s common to donate cash directly to the charity, others prefer to donate through programmes such as the Central Provident Fund (CPF).
Here, companies give their employees the option to donate a portion of their retirement savings to the Community Chest of Singapore, the philanthropy arm of the National Council of Social Service (NCSS).
Volunteering
Another way to donate to charities is to volunteer. This type of donation is obviously non-monetary, but instead, you donate a portion of your time to help communities and be on-call for campaigns.
Volunteers don’t get paid a salary or an allowance and perform duties out of the goodness of their hearts. They freely take part in collecting donations, fundraising, hosting events, or undertaking onsite tasks like teaching.
If employed, ask your company’s human resource department about any ongoing Corporate Social Responsibility activities you can take part in during your free time.
Donating Essential Items
Another non-monetary way you can help charities support a cause is to donate clothes, toys, books, or other essential items that vulnerable people may need.
These types of donations are usually collected for projects like book drives, disaster relief operations, and medical missions.
Most charities accept items for donation, and if you have a lot of spare clothes or goods to give away, get in touch with a charity to drop them off!
Step 4: Choose a donation method
Next, choose a donation method that is convenient for you. I’ve enumerated the most common ways you can donate to charities or causes below.
Crowdfunding Platforms
Crowdfunding platforms are becoming more popular as a donation method because they allow donors to give as much as they want to as many causes as they choose.
For example, GoGetFunding.com is a website that lets users publish personal fundraisers for specific causes. The website publishes these fundraisers and categorises them into types of causes.
You can even check how much has been raised in real time. All of the fundraisers have a goal amount, and kind donors can donate as much as they want.
Plus, if you know of a cause or person that needs support, you can start your own fundraiser on the platform!
There are certain rules and regulations set in place, of course, but if you want to extend your act of kindness by starting a personal fundraiser for someone else, this is a good place to start.
But before doing so, ask for the consent of the person or family you’re setting up a crowdfund for. This is because you will be sharing their photos, story, and identities on an online website.
Online Donation
Online donations are simply donations sent via a charity’s website.
Here, donors can input a certain amount they want to give and send it using a credit card, debit card, or an e-wallet.
Before hitting send, ensure that the website you’re making an online payment to is secure. Check if the website handle starts with “https” and not “http.”
The benefit of using this donation method is that it is quick and easy. Most charities will even send you a notification of receipt, which is always a huge plus!
If you wish to donate to a cause regularly, you can establish a monthly donation with a charity through your designated bank account. You can set an amount you wish the charity to deduct from your credit or debit account each month.
Direct in-Person Donation
If you prefer to send over a cheque or money in person, you can visit your chosen charity’s office or satellite branches and hand over your donation to a representative.
This is a good way to donate safely and directly and is one of the most traditional ways to donate, although it takes a bit more effort on your part.
Step 5: Ask for updates
Aask your chosen charity for regular updates. You should be able to receive notifications through email or phone regarding the status of your donation.
If you’ve subscribed to a monthly donation to your chosen charity, your bank and the charity should send you updates about any transfer activity.
Recommended Charities to Donate to in Singapore
1. Metta Welfare Association
Address: 32 Simei Street 1, Singapore 529950
Contact Info: +6565804688
The Metta Welfare Association delivers social service programmes across several sectors in Singapore. They collaborate with vendors, organisations, and private donors in providing aid and assistance to vulnerable communities.
The social service programmes they provide are divided into five main divisions:
- Children Care
- Disability Care
- Medical Care
- Special Education
- Youth Employment Support
Metta Welfare’s Children Care programme focuses on delivering early intervention resources to help children with learning disabilities.
This programme complements the association’s Special Education programme that targets children with intellectual disabilities.
The association provides vocational training and classes to the children with the help of volunteers and professionals.
The Youth Employment Support programme enables teenagers and young adults to get the training they need to support themselves despite their disabilities and lack of resources.
The Disability and Medical Care units focus on providing assistance to disabled and sickly adults. They host activities for those with disabilities and even provide housing assistance to vulnerable adults.
For adults with chronic illnesses, Metta Welfare Association also provides home medical care and palliative services to the sick.
2. Singapore Children’s Society
Address: 529 Bedok North Street 3, #01-570, Singapore 460529
Contact Info: +6564486658
The Singapore Children’s Society aims to protect children and address social issues that threaten their safety.
While they focus on helping youth across all ages and religions, the Singapore Children’s Society also provides support to vulnerable families.
They have over ten service centres in Singapore that offer support to four main divisions:
- Vulnerable Children and Youth
- Children and Youth Services
- Family Services
- Research and Advocacy
The Singapore Children’s Society is also known for its large network of volunteers, all of whom are given professional training in handling complex family cases.
All volunteers and staff members are trained in looking out for abusers, providing emotional support and counselling to children and their families, and communicating with authorities.
Almost every aspect of child support and family services is covered under the programmes of the Singapore Children’s Society.
That said, the charity is always looking for volunteers who are ready to help out!
The Singapore Children’s Society also regularly puts up fundraisers and donation drives across Singapore. The charity’s website has an established and regulated online payment platform where donors can send over donations securely.
3. Ronald McDonald House Charities
Address: 5 Lower Kent Ridge Rd, Singapore 119074
Contact Info: +6567781934
The Ronald McDonald House Charities supports vulnerable families to get the medical care and housing resources they need to start new lives.
There are over 350 ongoing Ronald McDonald House programmes in the world that provide comfortable housing for homeless families.
There’s also the Ronald McDonald Family Room programme that provides private medical wards for children suffering from serious illnesses.
The charity’s main beneficiaries are children, but it also extends its support to vulnerable and severely ill adults.
In Singapore, the Ronald McDonald Happy Wheels Cart programme, in partnership with the National University Children’s Medical Institute, aims to build positive relationships and environments for children and their families by visiting them at the centre and offering snacks and drinks.
Another nice thing about Ronald McDonald House Charities is that the charity allows donors and other organisations to become partners. This way, more people can put up RMHC programmes in their respective cities and countries.
There’s also a large volunteer network in place. You can volunteer for any of the RHMC programmes near you!
If you’re looking for a simple way to donate to RHMC, simply visit a McDonald’s restaurant near you and look for charity boxes. You can drop your extra change or give bigger amounts each time you buy your favourite meal!
4. Daughters of Tomorrow
Address: 21 Bedok North Street 1, #03-01 Common Ground Civic Centre, Singapore 469659
Contact Info: [email protected]
Daughters of Tomorrow focuses on women empowerment and access to quality education. The charity believes in providing better work opportunities for women in Singapore.
The charity also focuses on helping underprivileged women bring their families out of poverty through various training sessions in information technology, financial literacy, and more.
There are other support programmes that give women access to part-time and full-time job opportunities in several fields like childcare, retail, hospitality, and production.
Daughters of Tomorrow’s Women in Action: Community Childminding Network is a fantastic programme that supports working mothers who need home-based childminders or babysitters while they’re at work.
The aim of the programme is to help boost productivity while building trust among mothers in their respective low-income communities through peer-to-peer support.
What’s great about this programme is that it allows donors to volunteer as a childminder for these working mothers, granted they are thoroughly screened.
You can also donate directly or send an application to become a volunteer through the charity’s website.
5. Blessings in a Bag
Address: 315 Outram Rd, #08-06A Tan Boon Liat Building, Singapore 169074
If you love making children smile, then Blessings in a Bag may just be your cup of tea. The charity opens a lot of volunteer opportunities that involve building safe spaces for children between six to 18 years old.
Blessings in a Bag hosts programmes that support vulnerable children in their formative years in school.
Whether it’s through teaching basic cooking lessons or taking them out on an educational field trip, the volunteers work tirelessly to put smiles on Singaporean children.
The charity is still young, having been established just less than a decade ago. But their growing number of volunteers and happy children give donors from all over the world a lot of hope.
That said, every volunteer goes through a series of training and meetings over a few days or weeks. They must also dedicate a few hours or days of their free time to hosting any Blessings in a Bag activity.
You can also choose to become a Blessings in a Bag sponsor. As a sponsor, your donations will directly go to building schools, providing school supplies and materials, and learning facility renovations.
There’s also an online donation platform available on the website, so in addition to giving your time to help children, you may also support the charity financially.
6. Trash Hero
Contact Info: [email protected]
If you care about the environment and want to see your community become cleaner as it grows bigger? Donate to Trash Hero, a global movement that prioritises cleaning Singapore’s beaches and streets.
The charity’s headquarters is in Switzerland, but its Singapore chapter has garnered hundreds of supporters since its launch in 2017.
Trash Hero aims to promote waste reduction in cities with the help of a large network of volunteers. There’s no need to sign up or apply to help out.
All you need to do to get involved is to look out for meet-ups through Trash Hero’s social media pages.
Aside from cleanups, Trash Hero also partners with local schools to provide educational materials on why it’s important to reduce waste.
Official merchandise is available on the website and all the proceeds go towards funding the charity’s activities.
7. The Humanitarian Organisation of Migrant Economics (HOME)
Address: 495 Geylang Rd, #02-01, Singapore 389453
Contact Info: +6563489939
The Humanitarian Organisation of Migrant Economics (HOME) is dedicated to helping migrant workers in Singapore who have suffered exploitation and abuse since working in Singapore.
HOME also provides legal aid and assistance to victims of human trafficking and forced labour. The charity conducts regular health screenings, vocational courses, and shelter placements for victims who need them.
If you wish to learn more about the prevalent issues affecting migrant workers in Singapore, HOME has online resources. There are hotlines too if you know someone who may be vulnerable to trafficking or abuse in the workplace.