Government increases matching grant for Self-Help Groups

Starting from this Financial Year (FY), the Government will increase its matching grant to the Chinese Development Assistance Council (CDAC), Eurasian Association (EA), and Singapore Indian Development Association (SINDA). The Government provides funding support to these Self-Help Groups (SHGs) through such grants which match donations raised by the SHGs.

The CDAC will receive a one-off grant of $10 million from FY2014 to FY2018. EA and SINDA will receive up to $400,000 and up to $3.4 million, per annum, respectively. Funding for the SHGs is based on the size and needs of the community. The Government recognises that smaller communities face greater constraints in fundraising, and will generally be more generous in our funding approach and quantum.

The CDAC, EA and SINDA have recently announced that individual monthly contribution rates to the CDAC Fund, Eurasian Community Fund and SINDA Fund will be revised from 1 January 2015, so as to ensure that their programmes and assistance schemes remain sustainable with the expanded outreach.

Mr Lawrence Wong, Minister for Culture, Community and Youth said, “It is commendable that the SHGs are providing more programmes and expanding their outreach to meet new needs in their respective communities. The increase in Government’s matching grant will help support these new areas of need. This reflects the Government’s commitment towards building stronger social safety nets and to uplift low-income families. We will continue to work together with community partners including the self-help groups to help individuals and families in need.

The Government has similarly increased the matching grant cap for Mendaki, Association of Muslim Professionals and the other Malay/Muslim Organisations from $4 million to $5 million per annum from this financial year. This was in response to calls from the Malay Muslim community to do more.

The programmes and services by SHGs complement national efforts in the areas of education, employability, youth and family services, and reach out to over 164,000 beneficiaries.

The overall revised matching grant caps for the SHGs from FY2014 are as follows: