For the millennials or people with millennial babies, you may be familiar with an early foray into doing good with initiatives such as Community Involvement Programme (CIP) - replaced in 2012 by the Values in Action (VIA) Programme. And for those currently working, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives are often commonplace. From volunteering and flag days, to supporting various causes in donation drives and events - we have (by our own volition or not) given tangibly to the community in more ways than we can remember.
However as we adapt to having a long-term relationship with the COVID-19 pandemic, many of these avenues to do good have now been put on hold. So here are some suggestions on how you may continue giving back because we need each other now more than ever!
1. LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOUR AS YOURSELF
We don't need to look far to do good. There's an old Chinese proverb that literally translates to "far relatives are not comparable to near neighbours". I think it's always so warming to know that you've got a tight-knit community that makes your housing estate, more like home.
Perhaps some of you may also remember this movie quote by Louis C.K. that spread rather rampantly in our online community some time back!
“The only time you look in your neighbor's bowl is to make sure that they have enough. You don't look in your neighbor's bowl to see if you have as much as them.” - Louis C.K.
And we can start simply by saying hi to our neighbours the next time we see them.
2. GIVING.SG
(Photo Credit: giving.sg)
giving.sg is a one-stop national giving platform to donate, volunteer and fundraise for any of the 550 registered non-profits in Singapore. It is created and run by the National Volunteer & Philanthropy Centre (NVPC), an agency of our Ministry of Culture, Community & Youth (MCCY).
It is incredibly heartening to see that our citizens have rallied together to donate a portion or all of their Solidarity grant, with total donations on giving.sg reaching a record of S$13.6 million back in April 2020. On top of online donations, you will also be able to find other various ways of volunteering our help on their website! Which also brings us to our next platform to do good:
3. VOLUNTEER.SG
It is extremely fulfilling to be hands-on in our giving. volunteer.sg was created by the SG Cares initiative as an integrated and intelligent volunteering ecosystem to help people step up and partner agencies to contribute back to society, and also co-deliver meaningful programmes for fellow citizens. (Source: volunteer.sg)
As part of the SG Cares initiative, this includes even joining a ground up activity or being part of the Singapore Kindness Movement. To date, more than 1.17 million actions to do good have been pledged!
4. GIVE.ASIA
GIVE.asia was co-founded by two NUS undergraduates in 2009 as they wanted to make it easier for people to donate to charitable causes (Source: The New Paper). According to their website, GIVE.asia has raised close to S$74 million with more than 1.6 million givers! To put that into context, Singapore's estimated population (2020) is only that of 5.8 million - even though these givers most likely span beyond the borders of our island nation. That's the beauty of the internet that transcends borders!
Furthermore, not only are you able to support different causes and contribute to those in need, you are also able to start a campaign of your own to raise funds for your appropriate causes.
One of dogood.sg 's beneficiaries, Blessings in a Bag, organises and raise funds via campaigns held on this platform. Find out more about the current campaign we are supporting here.
5. SUPPORT A CAUSE
And finally it appears we've once again reached the part of a listicle where the brand gets promoted. Well okay, not really.
As much as we count on your generous support, advocating for a cause encompasses a broad range of initiatives. From championing animal adoption and/or other animal welfare projects, to supporting local and/or other social enterprises, the team at dogood.sg sincerely hopes that we may all find causes to stand for. There are many people out there who would really need all the help they can get, including yours!
If you'd like to seek some inspiration, feel free to also check out one of the most intriguing URLs I've come across - www.sg
Where doing good is concerned, every bit helps. And we hope that you've found this list helpful in some way as well! Do drop us an email at hello@dogood.sg if you have suggestions on other platforms to do good. Or thoughts and feedback about anything at all actually - we would love to connect with you!
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