Commissioner of Charities partners Singapore University of Social Sciences to help charities build stronger capabilities

1. The Commissioner of Charities (COC) has partnered Singapore University of Social Sciences (SUSS) to develop a new course that will help impart knowledge and skills to charity leaders and staff, and raise capabilities in our charities to become high-performing organisations. The Certificate in High Performing Charities will begin its run in August 2019, for board members and staff from charities (Singaporeans and Permanent Residents) at a subsidised cost of $100. A Memorandum of Understanding between COC and SUSS on this new partnership was signed today at the Singapore Chinese Cultural Centre.

2. Witnessing the MOU signing was Ms Grace Fu, Minister for Culture, Community and Youth, as well as Professor Cheong Hee Kiat, President, SUSS. Ms Fu said, "As we grow the SG Cares movement in Singapore, we need a thriving charity sector to provide opportunities for people to do good. This partnership with SUSS is a step towards raising the capabilities in the sector so that it can serve more beneficiaries and continue to gain public trust. It is a good example of how the private and community sectors can partner the Government to make a positive impact on our community. In the next phase of our development, the Government will build new partnerships with the private and people sectors, with the aim of serving our people better."

3. Professor Cheong said, "We are delighted to sign this MOU with COC to upskill personnel involved in charity organisations. It is in line with our University’s applied education model accompanied by a strong social focus.  Charities are an important component of our social fabric, and giving them support through training can raise their positive impact on society. Experienced industry leaders will be involved in conducting the workshops thereby enhancing the quality, relevance and realism of training."

Other Shared Service Initiatives

4. The COC began developing partnerships to provide shared services for charities in 2018. The first phase focused on helping charities ease their resource constraints, and meet basic regulatory and governance requirements. The first 4 partner organisations¹ in this phase were the Chartered Secretaries Institute of Singapore (CSIS), Singapore Buddhist Federation (SBF), iShine Cloud Limited (iShine) and Centre for Non-Profit Leadership (CNPL) (a part of the National Volunteer & Philanthropy Centre). So far, over 600 representatives from various charities have benefitted from the training sessions, consultation clinics and other shared services provided by these partners.

5. Other examples include:

   • Earlier this year, the COC partnered Temasek Trustees Pte. Ltd (TTPL) in May 2019 to co-locate the shared services at the recently launched Temasek Shophouse. The Shophouse is located near Dhoby Ghaut MRT Station and offers a physical co-sharing meeting space for organisations that wish to make a social impact. CSIS and CNPL have been conducting free consultation clinics for charities at the Shophouse.  More shared services will be made available at the Shophouse at a later stage.

   • In June 2019, the Hindu Endowments Board (HEB) and COC established an MOU for HEB to promulgate best practices and pool common resources among Hindu charities. HEB will address queries from the Hindu charities on governance and regulations, as well as consolidate a list of common services for Hindu charities.

6. Said Dr Ang Hak Seng, Commissioner of Charities, "The shared services initiative serves to provide affordable services to charities so that they can be more efficient in their operations, ensure strong governance, and deliver effective programmes and services to their communities. This initiative will lead to more high-performing charities, and will in turn help to ensure that Singapore will continue to have a thriving and trusted charity sector."

Annex – Factsheet on Shared Services Initiative [PDF, 470 KB]

For media enquiries, please contact:
Ms Joyce Poon
Senior Manager, Corporate Communications Division
Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth 
Contact Number: 6837 8433
Email: Joyce_POON@mccy.gov.sg

¹ CSIS and SBF provide shared services in the form of training sessions and walk-in consultancy clinics on annual submission technical know-how and governance matters. CNPL under NVPC assists charities in talent recruitment while iShine provide information technology shared services.