By Leong Sze Hian
I refer to media reports that the President’s Star charity show raised a record $5.4 million.
According to the Straits Times’ report on Oct 1, 2007:
“This year’s musical extravaganza raised a record $5.46 million for 32 charities, out of which viewers donated $567,700 by calling hotlines. The rest of the money came from corporate donors.”
TODAY newspaper, Oct 2, reported that:
“The biggest individual donor was Lippo Group president Stephen Riady — who gave $1 million — while the largest corporate donor was the Lee Foundation with its pledge of $1.5 million. Six other organisations — Singapore Totalisator Board, Kwan Im Thong Hood Cho Temple, Continental Steel, Singapore Pools, Singapore Sports Council and The Jewish Community of Singapore — contributed a total of $3.25 million.” (link)
The total donated by corporate donors was $5.75 million (Lee Foundation $1.5 million, Lippo Group $1 million, and 6 other organisations $3.25 million).
Adding the above $5.75 million to the public donations of $567,700, gives a total of $6.3 million. So, why is the total donated amount only $5.46 million, which is $840,000 short?
Where has the $840,000 gone to? Shouldn’t there be some disclosure on this?
To my living memory, I believe $567,700 may be the lowest amount ever for donations from the public, excluding corporate donors.
Why is this so?
Since the NKF saga, I understand that practically every television charity show was touted as raising new record amounts. However, I notice that the amount of donations from the public appears to have been declining.
Can the relevant authority please confirm whether this has been the trend?
In the first President’ Star Charity show following the NKF saga, for the first time in the history of Singapore, donation calls were toll-free.
I wrote to the newspaper forum applauding this change, and suggested that it be continued. However, subsequent donation calls have started to charge 21 cents per call again.
Running out of funds
There have been various reports in the media of Voluntary Welfare Organisations (VWOs) running out of funds. I have just received a call from a friend who sits on the board of a 30
year old VWO appealing for donations, because it is about to run out of money.
At almost every meeting of VWOs that I have attended, I hear the general problem of the greater challenge of raising funds, since the NKF issue.
According to he National Volunteer and Philanthrophy Centre’s (NVPC) 2006 Individual Giving Survey Results, “dollars donated have declined” from an estimated $438 million in 2004 to $341 million in 2006. This is a decline of 22 per cent.
The donor incidence rate also fell from 97 per cent to 89 per cent, and the average donation per donor fell from $155 to $125.
Donor fatique was ranked as the highest “main issue” that VWOs faced in their fund-raising efforts.
Poor donating more than rich
According to the SALT magazine (For Volunteers, Donors and Non-profits) of Jul-Aug 2007, “For Richer or For Poorer ?”, the lower income donated the most, compared to the highest income. Donors earning less than $ 1,000 a month, donated 0.65 per cent of annual income, those earning $ 8,000 – $ 8,999 and $ 9,000 – $ 9,999 donated only 0.04 and 0.13 per
cent respectively.
In average absolute dollar terms, the poorest donated $ 6.49 a month, and the rich donated only $ 3.60 ($ 8,000 – $ 8,999 earners).
If we do not acknowledge the problem of declining public donations, and focus on announcing ever record-breaking total donations in charity shows, how will Singaporeans be encouraged to donate more?
I’m not surprise on the above-mentioned. All my friends and relatives I spoke to are not opening their wallets because they are not happy on the verdict from the NKS saga.
The defamation law had been used by the old NKS to silence the poor peasants when they stood up and spoke the Truth nothing but the Truth. The Government has done nothing to restrict the use of defamation law to prevent future abuses.
The law in Singapore favour the rich people who have deep pocket and IMHO justice over here only apply if you are rich and powerful.
Lippo Group is the organisation which Yeo Cheow Tong joined isn’t it?
unfortunately after the minister salary hike, my 80 year old mom has banned all of us from donating to president charity – she said the president (and ministers) can donate their own pay to the President charity – Thank you.
If it costs $840,000 of donors’ money to raise just $567,700 from the public, then perhaps we might as well forget about the charity show, since corporate donors would have donated the $5.75 million anyway, with or without a charity show! Unless, without a television appearance may mean less corporate donations?
ironic life in SG… i guess most pple lost faith in charities and in the gahmen.
I am sorry I cannot donate.
I need my saving for my medical expenses. I have more than $28,000 in CPF Medisave that I cannot use. I need to fork out cash for my medicines and consultation. Unlike my previous heart attack which I stayed in the CGH ICU for days, I cannot use my Medisave to pay for my non-chronic illnesses.
Maybe I should get another heart attack to utilise my CPF Medisave.
Uniquely Singapore
The show must go on, as we are preventing to be a world class nation. Otherwise, our President will have a harder time to explain why he is receiving his huge salary. It make him looked more important when he has a charity show named after him.
Or else, people visiting Istana during the holidays may think that he is a the most expensive gardener in the Istana.
Charity starts at Home thats the familiar saying
There 2 things which has issues at heart
1) The NKF issues which has seen the indian chief getting away
after so much damage he has done
2) The old geezers including the fat gardener in istana who should be paying more to charity till to date they seems to be feeding their face more than giving to the poor (that is poor karma for them)
I suggest we donate the president himself to his own charity. It’s time for the president to make himself useful after all these years of just being a ridiculously expensive puppet-play.
The president should exercised his moral authority and conscience by committing and giving his life for charity cause, which means the president live a pauper life to understand the suffering of the people.
David,
It might be a good idea for the president to give a “State of the Reserves” address every year to let Singaporeans know what the govt is doing with our money.
After all, he is given the so-called second key to safeguard our money, right?
Thus, it is only right that he gives an account of it every year to the people – instead of attending one charity event after another.
Can anyone remember this president doing anything substantial since coming into office some 8 years ago?
Andrew, the best president we have would be Mr Ong Teng Cheong who dared to question the government on the reserves that we actually have. Mr Ong was also the one who initiated the MRT project wasn’t he?
Andrew,
it is known fact that PAP employed ministers and leaders that are essentially YES-MAN. One of example is just our president which I consider a joke. I agree with what you say about president telling us how much reserves we have. On top of that, we should also make it mandatory for president, PM, MM, MP, etc every year to justify why they deserve to hold their post and salary. Perhaps, Andrew, you want to publish the role of president, PM, MM, in here.
Doing so will seriously shame these leaders into doing a proper job rather than just simply fly by and pass all the cost and expense to citizen of Singapore.
Seriously, our government need a overhaul because these leaders have taken things for granted and not worthy of their salary.
Other make and deserve millions from the risk and sweat they taken, our gahmen just simply get millions by default with no justification at all.
Whenever people ask why the leaders deserve their salary, their answer is always about that they create stability and peace. No wonder we never find another Sim Wong Hong, nobel winner, etc in Singapore and we keep marginalised by foreigner and local alike because these leaders doesn’t think out of the box. We deserve a better and exciting society, not one that is dull and about money.
Did the president himself donate to the President Charity?
To Singaporeboleh sorry – did the president donate? Donch you remember that after PM Lee mentioned he will donate his pay rise, Dr Bala said it is a private thing for each individual minister – and they should not publicise this at all?
Anyway, after the Ong Teng Cheong fiasco, the govt has decided to employ only YES MEN to the post of the Presidency. What choice do they have, Seriously…. Did the President say anything to the poor living on $290 per month…..nothing.
Yes men / women – That goes for the 80 PAP MPs who voted to increase the withdrawal age of CPF from 62 to 67 – regardless of Gan Kim Yong indication that only a small percentage of those over 62 will find jobs in future….what kind of planning is that? As far as I am concerned, the withdrawal age + annuity should be sent for further studies before it is implemented – not just the annuity alone.
“Yes men / women – That goes for the 80 PAP MPs who voted to increase the withdrawal age of CPF from 62 to 67 – regardless of Gan Kim Yong indication that only a small percentage of those over 62 will find jobs in future….what kind of planning is that? As far as I am concerned, the withdrawal age + annuity should be sent for further studies before it is implemented – not just the annuity alone.”
The answer is because the old man say so and make the final say and the rest of pappies will just agreed in order to secure their luxury pay.
They rather take your money and leave you with nothing now , than give you the money and leave them with nothing.
I just realised we have to be thankful to Ho Ching. After Forbes put her on the most powerful list, only then did we know the size of our reserves. She did something that no president could do in their lifetime – reveal the size of our reserves. Hail Mrs Lee! Hail Ho!!
Will probably be glossed over as another “honest mistake” yada yada yada
Accountability and corporate governance have never been one of the stronger suites here…sigh
i caught 2009′s charity, still wondering, is the amount S$6million+ we see on the top left hand screen, really go to charity? or is there a split btwn, the media, the authorities and the necessities? or 100% of the amount truely channeled directly to 30 over charity organisations?
i have never heard of our so called president, standing up for rights and welfare of the average citizens. We might as well put a statue at istana with the label “president”. No one would notice the differences.
As for clarity, after NKF drama, the general public have lost faith in the clarity organisations and gov. These days you get approach by folks who ask you to donate, and i think they earn some commission out of it. Isn’t it sick!
Clarity is about donating to the needy, without expecting rewards. It is from the heart.
“$6.3 million. So, why is the total donated amount only $5.46 million, which is $840,000 short?”
If this $840k is the costs of raising funds and that TV show only raised $567k from the public; its an utter waste of donation funds. Mr. Lippo can just donate $935k to charity and spend $65k on a two page color spread on ST saying that he has donated.
With the cases like the NKF saga and Renci; I find it hard to believe that the donation funds will find its way into the hands of the needy.
The President Star Charity show should begin each year with the President and all Cabinet Ministers donating one month of their salary as an example, before asking Singaporeans to give generously, comparing the vast difference between the ordinary Singaporean’s salary as against the Ministers.Always do good to your fellowmen.
God Bless.
No more donate to all this so call “Charity” after the NKF issue…
Why in Singapore all this “Stupid Charity” must depend on citizens?
What is our Govt. doing??
If any person start up a “Company”, asking donation from public…
What ever amount$$ donated, the company
will deduct the expenser (ect.. cars, high salary ..)
then the balance of the $$$ given out for charity… Can we do that??
the exhuastion of sincere individual donors have pushed organizations out there to hire “sales force”, tauting around MRT stations, agressively approached passerbys to donate to the heart and cancer fountation. Initially i thought these group of “sales forces” were non-profitable volunteers. However, i have heard from friends that these people were hired to push “charity sales”, commission were paid when they hit a certain quartile. Why there is such a channel for donation? When has charity became so commercial with a group of sales hungry people disturbing the passerbys during rush and lunch hours? Is there a need to commercialise charity work? Why not the salary and commission paid to these sales force be donated instead?
It is always good to see charitable act and praise the existence of such a society. The only problem is when the “heads” of the organizations making a fool of the public and using the funds for the their own causes instead of helping people who genuinely need the money. The NKF saga IS NOT ALONE. What about the BUDDHIST CHIEF who walked out a free man from jail like he is a hero? And what happened to the other religious chiefs “pending investigations”? Singaporeans are simply tired of the saga, one after another. The government must make a firm stand about making sure organizations do not abuse public funds and prosecute severely the people invovled. If our very own respectable, the late Mdm Kwa can be frugal with herself despite her capabilities and fortune, why does a man working for the needy need a luxurious toilet with a golden tap? Or a man in saffron robes need to survive with several credit cards? The leaders of our country need not contribute their salaries to the charities, they must instead work hard with the tax payers money and make those people PAY HARD AND PAY THROUGH THEIR NOSES for betraying the trust of their fellow countrymen with a big heart for the poor.
Dear brothers and sister,i thanks God for this site and i just want to request any body who can donate to our orphanage home right now we are facing alot of challenges and we really need finacial assitance due to the growing number of children.diversitycfu@gmail.com
If the $840,000.00 was spent “producing” the President Charity and only $567,000.00 was collected from the Public We should stop this money losing charity show….
We should excuse the President from this exhaustive and onerouse task…let him earn his S$3.8million with less effort.
They make use of the needy and disabled to put on a show just to get donations.
That’s PITY MONEY for you.
If it’s such a “star” charity, then make all the local celebrities perform with no pay and the President donate his pay for the month.