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The charitable donations of family foundations and offices in Singapore are financing educational, health and poverty projects in the region and beyond.
Roslan Rahman | AFP | Getty images
A presence of more Bentley and Porsches on the roads is just a sign of the number of rich individuals and their private investment companies, which have arrived in Singapore from around the world.
Schools, beneficial organizations and social companies are also flourishing, fed for generous donations of these rich newcomers.
Your presence can be seen on many fronts. The Low Tuck Kwong Foundation, which bears the name of the billionaire founder of Indonesia’s Bayan Resources, headed the list of donors based in Singapore in 2023, the last year for which there are comparative data available, when it gave 127.6 million dollars of Singapore ( around $ 94 million) to educational and medical care causes, according to social impact consulting Soristic.
Most of the funds was for the Lee Kuan Yew Public Policy School, a postgraduate institution that is part of the National University of Singapore.
In addition to broad -impact initiatives, such as education, health and poverty relief, donors are also supporting specialized causes such as marine conservation.
Dalio Philanthropies, which has the support of the family office of the Titan Ray Dalio Coverage Fund, last year sponsored a three -week program So that almost 400 young people and educators in Singapore learn about oceanic sciences and maritime operations.
Family offices, which are private companies established by rich individuals and families to administer their finances, play a key role in this philanthropic wave. The Dalio Family Office, based in Westport, Connecticut, announced plans to open a satellite office in Singapore in 2020 to supervise its investments and philanthropy in Asia.
Dalio Philanthropies is also part of the Blue Oceans initiative of the Asian philanthropy alliance, which brings together organizations to support the conservation of the ocean and the sailor in Asia. The alliance has the support of TeMek Trust, the philanthropic arm of the state of the state of Singapore, TeMek Holdings.
Other members of the Asia philanthropy alliance include the Jollibee Group Foundation and the Tanoto Foundation, the latter founded by the president of RGE, Sukanto Tanoto.
Stacy Choong, partner of the International Lawyers Withersworldwide, attributed the increase in philanthropic activities to several factors, including the growing concentration of wealth in Singapore, favorable regulations and fiscal incentives, and the desire of high value people of the backward network To society. .
The reputation of the city-state of good governance is also a draw.
“People want the assurance that their trusts and foundations will be managed in a responsible and effective way once they are no longer present,” said Choong, who advises clients about heritage planning and philanthropic initiatives.
Singapore as a philanthropy center
According to the Monetary Authority of Singapore, the city-state now houses more than 2,000 single-family offices, compared to 200 in 2019. The Government aims Singapore.
Already, several foundations based in Singapore support initiatives that extend far beyond Asia. The Chandler Government Institute carries out personalized training for more than 500 government leaders annually in Africa and Asia, while the activities of the Ishk Tolaram Foundation include providing training in prosthetic skills and limbs in Nigeria.
“What has changed in recent years is that the Singapore government is driving to become the philanthropic center of Asia,” said Anthonia Hui, a philanthropist and enthusiastic defender of the performing arts that moved from Hong Kong to Singapore in 2000 . Ldrice, a popular local theater group, has Hui and her husband among her greatest followers.
Hui, who has experience in heritage management, said that financial advisors did not automatically include philanthropy as part of their conversations with customers in the past, but they are doing it now due to government incentives. These include a 100% fiscal deduction in funds donated abroad if certain conditions are met, according to the monetary authority of Singapore.
Measurement problems
Evaluating the true size of the philanthropic sector of Singapore is a challenge due to the many ways in which donors can give.
Total Sorist estimates Total donations by privately financed philanthropic organizations registered by Singapore reached SG $ 431 million in 2023, almost double the total by 2022.
Charitable foundations whose directors accumulated most of their wealth outside Singapore represented three of the 10 main donors: The Low Tuck Kwong Foundation, the Tanoto Foundation and the Family Moh Foundation, which was created by the Furniture Magnate family, Laurence Moh, who made his fortune in the United States.
The 117 organizations that sorist monitors exclude philanthropic groups funded mainly by public donations or government sources, as well as those with political or religious affiliations, according to their website. Their data does not include family offices that assign part of their resources to philanthropy or funds administered in private that are not registered as beneficial organizations or subsidies in Singapore.
Looking to the future, Choong of Withersworldwide said that Singapore’s philanthropic ecosystem benefits from a network effect. In addition to the numerous donors based in the city-state, there are also organizations such as the Community Foundation of Singapore and Majurity Trust that will help to match the possible donors with initiatives examined.
As Singapore consolidates its status as a global wealth center, it is also emerging as a power for philanthropy, where fortunes are not only preserved but also put to work for the greater good, industry actors said.
