The Centre for Asian Philanthropy (CAP) was officially launched in Singapore in February 2008 amidst a rising tide of philanthropy in Asia. In Singapore alone, charities pulled in a record $820 million last year – a jump of more than 50 per cent from 2006. The first generation of ‘chequebook signing’ philanthropists is slowly being succeeded by a second generation of ‘high-engagement giving’ philanthropists. The purpose of setting up CAP is to facilitate such high-engagement giving in an effective and strategic manner as well as increasing levels of giving to community causes in Asia.

CAP provides a range of philanthropic services including workplace giving, matched giving by businesses, donor advised funds consultancy, grantmaking for high net worth individuals, and capacity-building for Asian non-profit organizations. This is made possible by bringing together the resources of the Economic Development Board of Singapore (EDB) and Charities Aid Foundation (CAF) Australia. The EDB has provided two years’ seed funding for CAP while CAF Australia is playing the role of consultant and adviser.

Singapore is proving attractive to international non-profit groups because of its location, its excellent infrastructure, and the large number of multinational companies based here. The number setting up here has doubled to more than 60 since 2005, with about 10 arriving over the past year. The waiver of the 80:20 ruling (which specified that NGOs must spend 80 per cent of funds raised on local programmes) for such international non-profit groups and the availability of seed funding are key factors in CAP setting up in Singapore.

This first-of-its-kind philanthropic management service will encourage charitable donations and link them to organizations in need within the region, thus establishing Singapore as the philanthropy hub of Asia.

For more information
Contact Ian Leo, Executive Director of CAP, at ianleo@caphilanthropy.org