By Theresa Tan

CHARITY leaders now have a shot at attending top universities to learn about managing non-profit groups without dipping into the charity's pockets or their own to pay for it.

The Singapore Totalisator Board (Tote Board) has started offering overseas scholarships, worth up to $20,000 each. It will hand out up to five scholarships a year, tenable at universities that it identifies. To qualify, the applicant has to be in the charity's top executive position, show a good track record and commitment to developing the social service sector, among other criteria.

In July, two charity heads attended a week-long programme on non-profit management run by the Harvard Business School in the United States.

A spokesman for the Tote Board said: 'These selfless professionals work tirelessly and usually on a lean budget to improve the lives of disadvantaged Singaporeans...and often miss out on opportunities to upgrade themselves for lack of funds.'

HCA Hospice Care's chief executive, cancer specialist Dr R. Akhileswaran, 50, said the course honed his administrative skills and knowledge in areas such as social enterprises.

For Mrs June Tham, 57, going to Harvard was beyond her wildest dreams. The executive director of Rainbow Centre, which runs two schools for disabled children, said: 'After coming back from Harvard, I'm thinking 'Can I do more and can we do things in different ways?''

The National Council of Social Service has also started sending social workers for training.

This article was first published in The Straits Times on 1 Nov, 2008.