To look forward to the future, we build capability and lay the foundation for what is to come. This means breaking new ground and exploring new frontiers, whether it’s in social innovation, groundup mobilisation or impact and outcomes management. By pushing the boundaries, we can create new opportunities and unlock possibilities that have the potential to shape the giving landscape for years to come.

A Society Of The Future

Our care for tomorrow starts today. To build a future-ready society, the Future-ready Society Impact Fund and Knowledge Partnership was launched to bring together community partners to address complex social issues and emerging needs.

This initiative, a partnership between Tote Board, the Lee Kuan Yew Centre for Innovative Cities (LKYCIC) and the Institute of Policy Studies (IPS), bridges knowledge and action, starting with two thematic areas: Future of Resilient Families and Empowered Communities, and Future of Civic Engagement. Futures research will be carried out in these areas, and insights will be used to develop solutions that can be piloted under the Impact Fund. Five pilot projects are expected from 2023 to 2025, with lessons learned shared with the wider community.

Tote Board has committed $6 million over three years to the programme.

From The Ground Up

The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the impact of groundup efforts in Singapore, particularly in the rise of informal giving. However, there are still knowledge gaps about the landscape in which groundups operate, and a complete understanding of the sector has yet to be achieved, according to Michele Wooi, Deputy Director of Community Resource & Networks at the National Volunteer & Philanthropy Centre (NVPC).

To address this, Tote Board has partnered NVPC in commissioning the Groundup Initiative Study in 2021. The study sought to provide insights into groundup motivations, barriers and behaviours which could affect their success. These will be useful in understanding the value of groundup initiatives, formulating strategies to empower groundup groups, encouraging greater citizen participation, and providing better care to the wider community.

“The findings of the study will be the start of building a more connected and integrated ecosystem that better supports groundups in achieving their impact,” said Ms Wooi.

The research findings are fruitful in understanding fellow groundup groups and the areas for improvement and growth. Looking forward to the launch of the study and the handbook. Mathilda Ho Advocate For Refugees - Singapore

For Impact And Change

Measurement and impact go hand in hand. To ensure that our grantmaking efforts achieve the intended positive impact on our beneficiaries, we have developed and piloted the Impact and Outcomes Management (IOM) Framework since 2022.

The IOM Framework provides a common language on impact and outcomes, as well as a standard for evaluation. It covers a wide spectrum of focus areas under our strategic outcomes and enhances transparency for Tote Board and our partners. By moving away from traditional methods of measuring impact, we can achieve more strategic, evidence-based funding outcomes that can address wider social issues.

In FY2022, Tote Board worked with our grant partners to conduct 15 pilots on existing programmes to test the IOM Framework and gather insights and learnings. Over 100 hours of capability building sessions were held, allowing staff and external stakeholders to engage in conversations on how the framework could be implemented for each programme.

The IOM Framework has the potential to revolutionise grant-aking practices, enabling us to effectively assess the efficacy of our giving and drive greater social impact in key strategic areas.

We’re grateful to be on this journey of the pilot with Tote Board with the Arts Grant. Through this effort, we were able to better evaluate and measure the Art Grant’s impact, both from a qualitative and quantitative basis for a diverse range of student profiles, ranging from mainstream schools to special education schools. We look forward to continuing this collaboration with Tote Board in its journey of being a more impactful giver. May Tan
Director, Education & Manpower Development, National Arts Council

Measuring outcomes and impact are critical to effective grant making. The Tote Board IOM framework enables grant makers to have fruitful conversations with our grantees on understanding their theory of change to address problems and gaps, as well as the intended outcomes from their interventions. Angela Yak
Director, Sector Planning & Development, Agency for Integrated Care