Charity Transparency and Governance Awards 2022

SPEECH BY MR EDWIN TONG, MINISTER FOR CULTURE, COMMUNITY AND YOUTH AND SECOND MINISTER FOR LAW, AT CHARITY TRANSPARENCY AND GOVERNANCE AWARDS 2022 AT SINGAPORE CHINESE CULTURAL CENTRE, FAR EAST ORGANIZATION AUDITORIUM, LEVEL 9 ON 9 NOVEMBER 2022

Dr Gerard Ee, Chairman of the Charity Council,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

1. Good evening.

2. The Charity Transparency and Governance Awards 2022 celebrates the good work by our charities and recognise those that have adopted high transparency and governance standards.

3. In this speech, I will make the point that these are so important as we deal with the public today, how we invest in their trust and how we reciprocate with good governance and transparency.

Importance of Transparency

4. Indeed, today, charities already face a difficult task trying to rally  support, get resources, challenging that space. There is a lot of demand for that giving dollar. Your mission to do good is not made any easier with:

a. the fast-evolving nature of the charity landscape and, in  some cases also,

b. a few acts by black sheep in the sector, it affects the rest of us.

5. The point I made earlier about trust is that it  is a very fragile thing. It takes a long time to build up, but it can be destroyed very quickly.

a. It requires constant investment of resources, care, nurturing, attention to it to build it up.

b. Our charities have worked very hard to strengthen the public confidence in them.

6. It is important that we continue to work together to foster a safe giving environment for Singaporeans, so that we can support the causes we believe in. So that Singaporeans can step forward to support the causes that they believe in with a peace of mind.

7. Two very critical factors that contribute to building trust are transparency and good governance. Charities should always strive to

a. be transparent about your charity, your charitable work, your goals, your partnerships that you make; and

b. importantly communicate regularly as well.

8. These are essential to achieving a sustainable social compact in Singapore and serve as guiding principles as our charities develop and adapt to take on future challenges.

Congratulate the winners and applaud their commitment to achieve the highest level of transparency and governance standards

9. The Charity Transparency and Governance Awards (CTA and CGA) recognise and celebrate charities in Singapore for their achievements.

10. This award took a hiatus for two years in 2020 and 2021 but the Charity Council did not keep still and reviewed and launched the Charity Transparency Framework.

11. The framework serves as a self-diagnostic tool for charities to gauge and assess themselves against good disclosure standards.

12. I am very glad to see that many charities have placed an emphasis on taking ownership and investment in their governance, recognising that it is important to come across as transparent, open, well regulated, and inspire confidence in the public.

13. By enhancing their policies and operations, they have continued to improve their transparency and accountability to the public in the way charities operate.

14. In the past, eligible charities are being automatically assessed for CTA. However, this format has changed, and I think for good reasons.

a. Charities are now required to conduct a self-assessment and

b. submit their own assessment online, which would be validated by a team of assessors from Singapore Management University (SMU) and Institute of Internal Auditors Singapore (IIA).

c. Thank you to our long-time partners SMU, and IIA for your continued support and commitment to support our charities to enhance and improve governance and transparency over the many years.

15. This move with self-assessment encourages the charities to take even greater ownership of their learning and participation for the award.

16. I am very glad that close to 200 charities have submitted their applications for CTA this year and today, we have 85 winners.

a. It represents the highest number of charities receiving the award since it started in 2016.

17. This evening, three of our CTA recipients will also be receiving the Charity Governance Awards (CGA). Let me speak a little bit about them,

a. Mindset Care Limited,

i) is a charity set up to make a tangible difference to the local mental health community.

ii) The Board has continued to demonstrate their passion to closely review, discuss, and approve its programmes and track performance outcomes to ensure their feasibility and alignment and also relevance to the charity’s vision and objectives.

b. Prison Fellowship Singapore Limited (PFS),

i) reaches out to prisoners, ex-offenders, and their families in Singapore, and

ii) it is their first-time achieving CTA and CGA.

iii) PFS has developed a robust succession strategy to ensure Board renewal.

I. Board members are identified not just based on their time commitment, competencies and professional experiences but also their suitability to help achieve a balanced yet diverse combination of capabilities on the Board.

II. Members collectively complete the Board Competency Table to provide an overview of the aggregated capability of the existing Board and to identify any potential talent gaps so that the Board can plug them as they look at renewal.

c. The National Kidney Foundation (NKF),

i) is a well-known charity that provides affordable and sustainable dialysis for all who are in need for it and educates on the prevention of kidney disease.

ii) NKF has put in place prompt and systematic processes to ensure that their services to the patient were not disrupted by COVID-19.

I.  NKF remained particularly patient focus and provided good welfare to its staff and nurses (including scholarships, training and care packages) to retain them. That was particularly important, and it stood out especially during the time of COVID-19 for many of these nurses, healthcare workers who were in the front line.

II. NKF also stepped forward and helped hospitals to care for patients needing dialysis.

18. My warmest congratulations to all our winners today! I also understand that we have quite a fair number of first-time winners which is great. As I was chatting with all of you over dinner, many of you spoke about how you aspire to set out to win the award and you looked at your processes closely, spent the last couple of years working towards it. I am glad because this is precisely what the awards are about, to inspire you to achieve that and have that aspiration and goal to work towards.

19. I would also like to take the time to thank the five CGA Judges (Sing Hwee, Woon Teck, Suhaimi, Dickson and Luh Luh) and Ernst & Young Advisory Pte Ltd (EY) for their time and expertise, which not only uplift those in need of guidance, but also influenced and encouraged other charities to achieve good governance.   

Launch of revised Code of Governance in early 2023 to make it more principle-focused to enable sustainability and boost public confidence in the charity sector

20. At the Charity Governance Conference organised last year, the Charity Council had announced the revision of the Code of Governance for Charities and IPCs. This was timely as

a. the public expectations towards the charities have changed and evolved over time,

b. the charity sector has also matured significantly, and

c. the Code principles need to be relooked to ensure that they are relevant for the sector.

21. A Sub-Committee, led by Council Member, Hao Yao, was formed to review the Code.

a. A rigorous consultation was conducted,

i. including having four dialogue sessions with charities from all sectors, and

ii. having a public consultation for the members of the public to submit their feedback online.

b. Many charities have given feedback relating to Board Term Limits and principles relating to charities’ adoption of ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) practices.

c. The Sub-Committee have considered the feedback carefully and will be factoring it in the upcoming revised Code which will be principle-focused with clearer guidelines.

22. The main changes see re-tiering of charities based on their size.

a. The aim is to ensure that charities continue to adhere to principles of good governance and accountability, while

b. making sure that the charities are not overly burdened by administrative requirements that prevent them from carrying out the principle good work that they do and allowing them to work more effectively for their charitable causes.

23. We know that our charities are at varying stages in their efforts to achieve good governance standards, hence, the revised Code is intended to help charities further along in this journey.

24. We have also heard that charities would like to have more guidance on implementing the right actions to achieve good governance; what steps to take, what are the best practices and so on.

a. The Charity Council and COC’s Office will provide trainings and resources to help charities understand and implement the revised Code.

25. The Charity Council will share more details with you early next year.

a. To ensure that charities will have sufficient time to prepare themselves, the new reporting requirements will only take effect from 2024.

Encouraging more charities to embark on journey to good governance

26. Let us take this moment to reflect how important it is that we have good governance as you conduct your charities, do your work, very public facing in many ways. Strong governance and transparency will make an impact on our communities and our people.

27.    Good governance today is not a good to have but a critical factor as we deal in the currency of trust. Members of the public must trust that the given dollar which they have prepared to give will go to the right places that will be looked after, properly stewarded and shepherded in the right causes. It is important for us to remain accountable to the giving.

a. I invite all charities to step up, take a concerted effort to support best practices in governance and management,

b. conduct self-assessment, which I think is a great tool for us to reflect, look at, understand and also measure ourselves or gauge ourselves against the standards and submit for CTA to reassure your stakeholders and the public on your continued commitment to be transparent and accountable, and

c. continue to inspire others to contribute in different ways to build a well-governed charity sector.

28. It really takes all of us to come together, the Government with the Charity Council and COC, looking at the framework that works, and each of you as well, adopting it, self-assessing it, submitting and complying with the Code and best practices. It is difficult to build up trust over a sustained period of time, but very easy to break and it takes only a few of us amongst the group to break it and that will affect the rest of the charities. So, it is really a concerted, consolidated effort by all of us. The Charity Council, COC’s Office and our partners will continue to do our part to help charities to improve their transparency and governance standards.

Conclusion

29. Once again, let me offer my warmest and heartiest congratulations to all the winners today.

30. I tremendously appreciate and applaud all your determination to give your best for others. In Singapore, without the volunteers, charitable causes, I think our country will be a little less meaningful. When we build our country and make it more inclusive and to bring the poorest and the most underprivileged and distressed along, it takes a concerted work of all of you in this charity sector to make that happen. It starts with having good internal governance, transparency, and public confidence in not just you but in your charity. Thank you very much as you do this to strengthen our social compact to build a much more inclusive and truly special Singapore not just for ourselves but for the future generations.

31. Thank you very much.