CORPORATIONS are no longer limiting their fundraising to simple canvassing of donations from staff, but are turning to more creative ways to raise funds.

As a result, they are able to raise much more than before, said Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports Vivian Balakrishnan on Tuesday.

He cited two examples: HSBC's 'Not a Walk in the Park' 101 km walk undertaken by its CEO and senior management to benefit disabled groups, which raised $890,000, and The Giving Place, an additional level which Far East Organisation built at its new shopping mall, The Central, for community use.

'This shift to a community space will herald new opportunities for NVPC and non-profit organisations to forge more people-private-public partnerships that will enable us to collectively achieve our vision of doing good well,' said Dr Balakrishnan, who is also the Second Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts, at the National Volunteerism and Philanthropy and Corporate Social Responsibility Conference on Tuesday morning.

In his address, the Minister urged non-profit organisations must to do more than just help people and serve society.

'Now, more than ever, non-profits are facing an increasingly informed donor pool and a more demanding giving public. Non-profits also need to meet donor and public expectations of accountability and transparency.'

Noting that the Tsunami Reconstruction Facilitation Committee (TRFC) would be presenting an update of the Tidal Waves Asia Fund at the conference to show how it has carefully applied the funds that the generous Singapore public donated following the tsunami catastrophe of December 2004, Dr Balakrishnan said this is a good example of how non-profits can and should meet the greater public demands for transparency and accountability.

Established in January 2005 to manage the Tidal Waves Asia Fund, the TFRC also serves as a platform to achieve synergy among Singaporean organisations involved in the tsunami reconstruction efforts. It meets regularly to select projects for funding and monitor the projects to ensure proper execution and accountability.

Every project has to be audited by a public accountant, especially those above $30,000, and the entire Tidal Waves Asia Fund is externally audited at the end of each financial year, again for accountability purposes. The committee has disbursed a total of $75.4m for 67 reconstruction projects.

The Minister also launched the NVPC's Board Match initiative, aimed at helping non-profit organisations identify appropriate individuals for voluntary leadership positions on their Boards and committees.

This programme complements the ongoing efforts by the Charity Council to improve governance.

'Leadership, good management, proper governance and accountability to the donor public are essential in the whole process of doing good well,' said the Minister, who noted that Board Match has already received requests to fill 56 Board and committee vacancies, and interest from 40 individuals willing to serve on the boards of charities.

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