NVPC - Towards a City of Good

Last Thursday, 18 July, the National Volunteer and Philanthropy Centre recognised 290 organisations for their corporate purpose efforts on a national level through the Company of Good Conferment ceremony which was held at Raffles City Convention Centre and attended by over 400 business and industry leaders. The Conferment, graced by Guest-of-Honour Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat and Special Guest Minister of State Sun Xueling, marks the first year where companies are conferred under the expanded recognition system, following the shift of our Company of Good strategy from corporate giving to Corporate Purpose.   It was truly inspiring to see so many purposeful businesses learning from each other’s giving journeys over dinner. Along with our partners and conferred organisations, NVPC is committed to amplifying social impact and encouraging corporate purpose across Singapore's people, public, and private sectors.    Our heartiest congratulations to this year's cohort of Companies of Good, who have gone above and beyond in their commitment to Corporate Purpose and impact!   Check out the full list of awardees here: https://lnkd.in/egXWqpRH    #nvpc #cityofgood #singapore #corporatepurpose #socialimpact 

Our ongoing Colabs on Fostering series with Ministry of Social and Family Development, Singapore (MSF) is gaining momentum! 🌟 The Fostering Colabs series aims to engage the wider community to develop, implement and drive solutions to bring onboard more foster parents and to support the fostering cause.   Our second session (Learn), was held in conjunction with the Fostering Open House 2024, organised by MSF and the five Fostering Agencies (Boys' Town, Epworth Community Services, Muhammadiyah Association, Persatuan Pemudi Islam Singapura (PPIS) and The Salvation Army Singapore)! At the Fostering Open House, members of the public were invited to gain insights into fostering through heartfelt stories shared by Foster Parents and former Foster Youth.  Attendees participated in parenting workshops led by Focus on the Family Singapore and TOUCH Community Services. Additionally, enthusiastic individuals from various organisations including Fostering Agencies, corporate partners, and community organisations engaged in a lively discussion organised by NVPC to delve into the underlying reasons of what is stopping potential foster parents from fostering.     Interested in being part of the fostering discussion? Join us at the upcoming session where we will brainstorm for creative solutions to drive foster parent recruitment!     📅 15th August 2024  🕙10am to 3pm   *Session venue will be confirmed via email       Let's work together to make a difference! 👉 Sign up now: https://lnkd.in/g2r7R_3K  #FosterAChildSG #LetsTalkAboutFostering 

"The vision of Singapore as a City of Good entails building a more caring society where people take action to make life better for all. While many individuals had indicated that they were likely to volunteer in the future, factors such as lack of time may pose barriers. How can we encourage people in Singapore to volunteer more actively?" This is the real-world problem statement that the National Volunteer and Philanthropy Centre is contributing to the Ministry of Education, Singapore (MOE)'s new A-level Project Work H1 subject in schools this year through the PW Marketplace Of Ideas. Students who chose to tackle it gathered for a chat with our director of Strategy & Policy, Soek Mun Ng. In her session on Encouraging More Volunteerism, she held a Q&A and shared takeaways from our recently released National Giving Study 2023. Childhood exposure to giving, it found, makes people more likely to continue giving as adults. Our contribution to the MOE syllabus is thus part of our many efforts to drive giving as a social norm across generations. #nvpc #cityofgood #singapore #volunteerism

Sree Narayana Mission (SNM) Singapore and Girl Guides Singapore have brought together girl guides from over 30 schools to conduct weekly Intergenerational Interaction programmes for seniors at SNM Nursing Home since 2010. These interactions cultivate empathy, understanding, and respect for the elderly, fostering a sense of social responsibility and compassion within students. For the seniors, these regular interactions alleviate feelings of loneliness and isolation. SNM and Girl Guides Singapore won the City of Good award in 2023, which recognises cross-sector partnerships that made an outstanding impact on communities. Know of similar partnerships making a significant and sustainable impact in the community? Shine a spotlight on their collaboration by nominating them at www.pvpa.sg today! #CityofGood #PVPA2024

On 5 July 2024, NVPC partnered with the LEGO Group to organise a second session on Learning through Play for 8 charities serving children and youth beneficiaries. The LEGO Group’s ‘Learning through Play’ session hopes to enable charities to better appreciate the benefits of play based learning for children across a range of educational outcomes and how to incorporate these into charities existing programs. Following this, participants engaged in a Build The Change session led by The LEGO Group, aimed at empowering children to voice their hopes and ideas for a meaningful future. Charities then collaborated in a brainstorming session facilitated by NVPC, refining concepts using principles from Learning through Play and insights from the Build The Change segment. The participants gained a deeper understanding of how the ‘Learning through Play’ concept can benefit their organisation and the children and youths they serve. We would like to express our sincere gratitude to our attendees and co-organising partners, The LEGO Group for making this session possible.

The inaugural Volunteer Fest opened with much fanfare yesterday at Our Tampines Hub. Mr Masagos Zulkifili, Minister for Social and Family Development and Second Minister for Health together with NVPC's CEO, Mr Tony Soh, and key partners from the social sector, launched the event to celebrate the spirit of volunteerism in our community.   Organised by Ministry of Social and Family Development, Singapore (MSF) and in support of Year of Celebrating Volunteers, NVPC was proud to be a partner of the festival - co-organising volunteering learning journeys for members of the public together with National Council of Social Service (NCSS) on Giving.sg. Even though all the volunteering slots have been taken up, we highly encourage everyone to pop by Volunteer Fest, that is happening every weekend for this month only – Toa Payoh Hub on July 13 and 14; Kampung Admiralty on July 20 and 21; and Lot One Shoppers’ Mall on July 27 and 28. Volunteer Fest will spotlight the diverse resident demographics and volunteering needs across different regions in Singapore with booths hosted by various social service agencies, each sharing their unique volunteering opportunities. Learn more by visiting Celebrating Volunteers - https://lnkd.in/gH6X59b6 #SGVolunteers #SocialServiceVolunteers

🌟 Reflecting on our BoardMatch Networking & Dinner Event that took place on 27th June! BoardMatch is NVPC’s flagship service that matches senior executives to charities’ boards. We were pleased to conduct this BoardMatch networking session which hosted 63 BoardMatch Volunteers (BMVs) and representatives from 7 incredible charities: ARTDIS (Singapore) Ltd, Bowls SG, Canossaville Children and Community Services, Image Mission Ltd, Philharmonic Winds, PM.Haze (People's Movement to Stop Haze) and The Food Bank Singapore The event was a hub of meaningful exchanges, aimed at creating partnerships that benefit everyone involved, opening new opportunities, and expanding professional networks. Thanks to all who participated and contributed to such a delightful evening. We look forward to the successful placements across the passionate BMVs and Charities. #CityofGood

NVPC’s Philanthropy Collective team recently concluded another edition of Design for Community Action (DCA) with BNP Paribas. This edition focused on the theme of “Collaboration”, bringing together non-profits from the arts and non-arts sectors to jointly develop programs. During the session, our non-profit pairs presented an overview of their collaboration project, including their initial problem or challenge statement, expected outcomes and key learnings with their fellow cohort participants. It was an insightful session hearing more about how the non-profits have come together to co-create programs, leveraging their unique strengths to address community needs in innovative and impactful ways. The DCA Programme was created to introduce Human-Centered Design Thinking as a methodology to help non-profits co-create workable solutions for their operational challenges. This edition featured a total of nine non-profits: The Salvation Army Singapore, Sing Lit Station, Sembawang Family Service Centre, Arc Children's Centre, New Opera Singapore, Heartware Network, The Little Arts Academy, Singapore Symphony Group and Music for Good. We would like to express our sincere gratitude to all non-profit participants and our co-organising partner, BNP Paribas for helping us to successfully conclude yet another edition of Design for Community Action. #CityofGood #Designforcommunityaction #Collaboration

Meet Janice Soo, PVPA 2023 People of Good (Open) award winner, recognised for her outstanding commitment to volunteering. As an active volunteer with non-profit organisations such as HCA Hospice Care, TRIGEN, HealthServe, and Filos Community Services, Janice is passionate about bridging gaps and advocating for marginalised groups. She employs her medical training and skills to provide nursing care for young patients, attending to various healthcare needs, and working tirelessly to improve the lives of migrant workers. Know a dedicated volunteer making a positive impact in your community? Celebrate their contributions by submitting your nominations at www.pvpa.sg today!    #CityofGood #PVPA2024 #PeopleofGood 

For non-profits who want to attract more volunteers or draw more attention to fundraisers, here are some recommendations from our National Giving Study 2023: • Emphasising altruism as the reason why people should volunteer or donate is more effective than asking them to contribute due to self-interested factors such as career development. 🥰   • Share regular and concrete experiences of volunteers’ impact on beneficiaries for better volunteer engagement and retention. 🤝  • Strengthen trust by highlighting IPC status and being transparent about which specific programmes or initiatives funds are going to. 🎁  • Offer different ways of giving, like micro-giving or giving in-kind, to increase the pool of contributors. 🥳  • Leverage ties in religious and secular communities through religious leaders or by forming Giving Circles for more frequent donations and volunteering. 🧑🤝🧑    Media outlets, researchers, and educational institutions can also play a part: • Media content can highlight opportunities for giving to link awareness of social issues with action. ⚠️🚨  • Researchers can conduct further studies to understand the causal links between giving in childhood and adulthood. 🔎  • Schools can create more opportunities and exposure for childhood giving to help create lifelong giving habits. 👧👦    What other recommendations would you give? Read our full PDF report at https://lnkd.in/g27VANYg  and share your thoughts with us!  #nationalgivingstudy #nationalgivingstudy2023 #ngs2023 #nonprofit #charity #nvpc #cityofgood #singapore