COLABS

"A Call for Collaborative Giving" Graphic

A Call for Collaborative Giving: Closing the Gap for Disadvantaged Young Persons

The first Colabs publication discusses the challenges that disadvantaged young persons face at home, such as an unconducive family environment. It examines how these challenges impacted the young persons’ educational attainment and social mobility, and offers suggestions as to how givers could collaborate to close the gap for these individuals. The publication, based on the collective insights of over 100 participants who contributed during the series, can be downloaded here.

Media release: CFS and NVPC initiate cross-sector collaborative effort to help disadvantaged young persons in Singapore

Partnership between CFS and NVPC formed Colabs, to drive collaboration among the public, private and social sectors to tackle complex social issuesFirst series tackles social mobility of disadvantaged young persons in Singapore

Two people seated at a table with a 'City of Good' sign in the background.

The Straits Times: New youth collective to level playing field for disadvantaged young

By Seow Bei YiSINGAPORE – To help youth from disadvantaged backgrounds transition from school into the work environment, a new year-long programme will be launched this year to offer them workshops and vocational training.

A room of elderly people doing head exercises

The Straits Times – Volunteerism rate needs to be 70 per cent with ageing population: Grace Fu

In an effort to create a caring and empowering environment for its rapidly ageing population, Singapore hopes to double its volunteerism rate from one in three currently to 70 per cent in five years’ time.“We hope for Singapore to grow as a giving nation with a volunteer in every household,” Minister for Culture, Community and Youth Grace Fu said in a keynote address on Tuesday (June 5) at the Asian Venture Philanthropy Network’s (AVPN) conference

Lunar New Year 2018 – Celebrating a decade of growing giving to impact

CFS’s 10th anniversary celebrations kicked off to a wonderful start with a Lunar New Year lunch on 1 March.Themed “A decade of giving and gratitude”, the event was a testament to CFS’s journey from a quiet start-up a decade ago to a thriving organisation today.

Colabs: doing more for persons with disabilities

As persons with disabilities reach age 18 and exit the school system, they face new life challenges, including living their desired life and gaining access to care and support. With a keen eye on identifying opportunities to improve the lives of these individuals, we kicked off the Colabs Disability series which focused on engagement pathways and employment through catalysing cross-sector collaboration.As part of the series, participants were recently invited to the MINDS’ Idea Employment Development Centre to understand what a sheltered employment workshop in Singapore would look like. Made up of a diverse group, including social enterprises, corporates, philanthropic institutions, government agencies and non-profits, the group bonded over a common desire to learn and do more for persons with disabilities.

Making collaboration a reality

Collaboration for social change has been a hot topic of late. Collaboration’s appeal is apparent in a world beset by complex and evolving social issues — alone we can only do so much, but work together, and look at the change we can achieve.In the same vein, Colabs, a philanthropic initiative by the Community Foundation of Singapore (CFS) and National Volunteer and Philanthropy Centre (NVPC), drives collaboration by bringing together the public, private and social sectors to tackle complex social issues. In particular, Colabs aims to empower givers to discover the roles they can play alongside existing efforts by government and non-profits.

The Business Times: Collective action to meet community needs sustainably

As companies today find themselves caught between the dilemma of limited resources and the compelling desire to create social impact, it is increasingly apparent that the key lies in collective solutions.Challenges facing our society are ever-changing and usually stem from multiple root causes. Therefore, systemic solutions for such issues need collective knowledge, resources and will.

a picture of laurence lien, catherine loh, melissa kwee, and mildred tan

Lunar New Year celebrations and collaborations 2017

This year, CFS’s annual appreciation lunch was held on 8 February at the Regent Singapore. Some 120 guests attended the event which is CFS’s way of saying ‘thank you’ to our donors, charities and partners for their unwavering support. True to the spirit of celebrations, there were happy handshakes, endless conversations and a festive, convivial atmosphere all around. Donors met charity partners, old friends made new friends.National Volunteer & Philanthropy Centre (NVPC) joined CFS as co-host this year as we launched Colabs – a learning network that brings together different stakeholders in the giving system to enable greater and deeper social impact. Chairpersons Laurence Lien and Mildred Tan and CEOs Catherine Loh and Melissa Kwee of CFS and NVPC respectively put their collective signatures on the Colabs board to kickstart this exciting initiative. It is hoped that more signatures will be gathered as we embark on this collaborative journey.