Strengthening the digital and stakeholder engagement capabilities of charities in the new normal

Speech by Mr Edwin Tong, Minister for Culture, Community and Youth & Second Minister for Law at the Charity Governance Conference

Dr Gerard Ee
Chairman
Charity Council 

Mr David Gerald
Founder and CEO
Securities Investors Association (Singapore)

Ladies and Gentlemen

1. Good morning!
2. Thank you for joining us today. It is my great pleasure to introduce you at the 2020 Charity Governance Conference, organised by the Securities Investors Association (Singapore), with support from the Charity Council.
   
   

   Charities play a key role in building a more caring and inclusive society

3. Today, the theme is “Governance for Leadership – Sustainability for a Resilient Future”. This theme is not only timely today, but highly necessary. And with us, both Gerard and David, you really have a lifetime working on this and we are really glad to have your support in today’s conference. The fight against COVID-19 is not over yet by any stretch, but we must at the same time cast our eyes to the future, and have a look at what the future holds for us and how we should prepare for that in a new normal.
4. Charities play a key role in our civil society. Together with your staff and volunteers, the work that you do benefits the most vulnerable segments of our society. Much of your work is critical to our national drive to build a more caring and inclusive Singapore. One that we will be proud to call home, and one where you want your children and their children to continue living in.
5. The past few months have not been easy for all of us, as we navigate through the challenges brought suddenly by the pandemic hitting our shores. The charity sector has been no less affected.
   
   a) But I am heartened to know that many of you have reorganised and adapted quickly, come back stronger, change your working methodology, change the way you interact and also ensure prevailing safe management measures. 
   
   b) You have embraced the spirit of Singapore Together, by partnering with government agencies, businesses and ground-up organisations to deliver services to your beneficiaries, all while ensuring to balance safe management and looking out for the beneficiaries who need the assistance in these times.
   
   c) For example, the Lions Befrienders Service Association (Singapore) adapted quickly during this COVID-19 period and collaborated closely with partners such as the Agency of Integrated Care (AIC) and the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) to equip and teach their elderly clients in using smart phones to connect with one another. The usage of smartphones now is quite important in the way we socialise and interact.
   
   d) I would like to thank all of you for your dedication, hard work, and most of all, for continuing to believe in the work that you do, and that I think is most important because the believe sustains the passion, sustains the drive and helps keep all of us constantly striving to do our best so that our beneficiaries can get the most on what we do.
   
   

   Charities need to strengthen their digital and stakeholder engagement capabilities to thrive in the new normal

6. To survive COVID-19, and thrive in this new normal, I hope you will continue to press on in your efforts to strengthen and build your own capabilities, to push the envelope and the boundaries a little bit more. In particular, in two aspects in digitalisation and also in stakeholder engagement. Some charities have already reaped the benefits of being early adopters of digitalisation.
   
   a) I want to give a shoutout to arts charity Ding Yi Music Company. They have been engaging their audiences online through producing digital content. The charity has since staged its first online concert via Facebook, and also created a digital series of performances to help viewers who have been at home during Circuit Breaker and beyond to really chase away their stay-home blues during the period. 
   
   b) Another example is social and welfare charity SUN-DAC which has tapped on iShine Cloud’s Services in areas of human resource management and shared folders. These have enabled their teams to work remotely and efficiently during the COVID-19 period.
7. To further support charities in strengthening their capabilities during this period, I am happy to share three new initiatives. 
   
   a) First, the Commissioner of Charities (COC) will be rolling out a Charities GoDigital Kit to help charities kickstart their digitalisation journey in November 2020. This toolkit will highlight the importance of going digital and raise awareness on cybersecurity issues – which is an issue that we have to deal with as we embrace and enhance our digital services. The kit also includes a guide on possible digital solutions to support charities’ corporate or administrative functions, and stakeholder engagement and management. This toolkit will be complemented with other resources such as the VWO-Charities Capability Fund and learning initiatives to enable charities to build and leverage, and eventually take advantage of digital capabilities.
   
   b) Second, the Charity Council will be introducing the revised Charity Transparency Framework. Transparency, as with accountability, is key in building trust with donors and stakeholders. The more transparent a charity is, the more well-governed a charity is, the more confidence a donor will have in that charity. This framework serves as a guide to help charities define their own  policy and approach to transparency because we know that it is not one size that fits all. We have to look at it in the context of your own organisation or your own charity. It will outline good disclosure practices, and help charities to communicate better to their stakeholders. The revised Charity Transparency Framework will be published on the Charity Portal as well as on the Charity Council’s website in October 2020.
   
   c) Third, the COC will be signing a Memorandum of Understanding with the Institute of Singapore Chartered Accountants, Law Society Pro Bono Services, Institute of Internal Auditors Singapore, and Shared Services for Charities. These four new partners – each of them are leaders in their own right but they bring more than just their professional qualifications and expertise to the table. They bring with them dedication and a heart for service and that’s why they are here with us, partnering with us, signing an MOU, and I am very grateful for their goodwill and support. I know that each of them in these times, are already grappling with their own challenges in their sectors but yet find the time and the bandwidth to step forward to come and help us. So thank you very much to all four of you.
8. Apart from these new initiatives, I encourage charities to continue committing time to learning and attending the webinars organised by the COC. These webinars in this new normal and format are tailored to address the concerns that we gather on the ground about how you operate and the challenges that you face. And it will also help you to better engage with your stakeholders.
    
   a) I am happy to know that All Saints Home attended one of the webinars on online fundraising, and found new ways to communicate its cause, such as by using music to tell stories about their residents. We all have heard that a picture tells a thousand words. Now we know that music transcends boundaries and can communicates in ways that sometimes words in a speech form does not help.
   
   

   The Ministry will continue to support and promote the growth of the charity sector

9. The charities sector is really the engine behind a lot of good work in the society. And it is the glue which holds Singapore together.
   
   a) It is also not coincidental that we have charities across the sectors to play this role. One of the points that many of the members on the Charity Council shared with me earlier was that just as important as it is to have good governance, it is equally important to share best practices, share know-how, communicate. And so, much as we want to build on the resources of professional bodies, we also want each of you to leverage the strengths of each other. Coming together as a community is something that we hope to foster at MCCY and also at the COC. Not only so that we can learn from each other, but so that we can also foster a warmer, and more caring ecosystem of charities, charity providers, donors, and beneficiaries.
10. MCCY and COC will continue to work with our partners and provide resources to help you in your work, to strengthen your outreach and build a thriving and certainly more resilient charity sector. One that will withstand not just the pandemic but really the test of time as we move forward.
11. Overcoming this pandemic will take all parts of Singapore society working together. It is in times like this that we find strength in adversity and find that we are able to better support and help one another to overcome these challenges. I urge all of you to remain united, to remain cohesive in  your outlook, to remain strengthened by the diversity that we have in Singapore, and to move the charity sector forward. Because ultimately, the stronger the charity sector is, the more our beneficiaries will be able to benefit from the good work that they have done.
    
    

    Conclusion

12. Let me end by thanking again the Charity Council, the speakers and particularly Securities Investors Association (Singapore) for putting this Conference together, and for not just lending your expertise but also like I said earlier, the heart, the dedication, the passion and most of all your time in contributing to the sector. I wish you all a fruitful day ahead. Do interact with the speakers, ask questions, learn from each other but most importantly, make new friends – even if it is just across the Zoom camera. Thank you very much and have a good day ahead.