Enhanced Fund-Raising Programme

Support of dollar-for-dollar matching up to $250,000 per charity for grounds-up initiatives that raise funds to help the underserved in our community. Charities that have fully utilised their $250,000 dollar-for-dollar matching cap may still be able to continue to qualify for Tote Board's 40% matching, capped at $100,000 per application, for eligible fund-raising projects during the qualifying period.

Each charity applicant is entitled to a maximum of five applications for each Financial Year (FY).

Funding Cap :

Up to $250,000 per charity applicant per financial year
Applicable to :

Singapore-registered charity
Application Deadline :

At least 30 days before the actual event date of your fund-raising project

About Enhanced Fund-Raising Programme

Tote Board's Fund-Raising Programme was conceived in 2006 to catalyse community support. Our aim was to support charities in doing more to serve the vulnerable groups, to build cohesive and caring communities and to make Singapore a more vibrant and liveable home. Since the inception of the Fund-Raising Programme, Tote Board has supported thousands of fund-raising projects to benefit the charity sector.

Tote Board and the Government to provide enhanced support for charities' fund-raising efforts in FY2020 and FY2021

In FY2020, to help the charities during the difficult COVID-19 period, Tote Board and the Government provided joint support through EFR at a dollar-for-dollar matching: Tote Board doubled our matching contributions from 20% to 40% of funds raised, capped at $100,000 per application, and the government topped up EFR to provide additional matching contribution of 60% of funds raised, capped at $150,000 per charity applicant for projects. This applies to funds raised on physical platforms and/or on approved digital fund-raising platforms.

In FY2021, the Deputy Prime Minister, Coordinating Minister for Economic Policies and then-Minister for Finance, Mr Heng Swee Keat, announced in his Budget Speech on 16 February 2021 that the Government will also maintain and extend its support for charities through EFR for an additional year.

[NEW] Tote Board and Government to extend EFR for three years (1 April 2022 - 31 March 2025, both dates inclusive)

As part of Budget 2022, Minister for Finance, Mr Lawrence Wong, announced that for FY2022-FY2024, Tote Board and the Government will extend our joint dollar-to-dollar support for successful EFR applicants. This will continue catalysing charities' fund-raising efforts so that they can better support their beneficiaries.

The formula for the joint matching support* for funds raised (excluding Tote Board's and Government's contributions) for each FY is as follows:

Tote Board will provide matching contributions of 40% of funds raised (excluding both Tote Board's and Government's contribution), capped at $100,000 per application; and
The Government will top up EFR to provide additional matching contribution of 60% of funds raised (excluding both Tote Board's and Government's contribution), capped at $150,000 per charity applicant.

*This matching is applicable to eligible fund-raising projects with Expenditure/Income (E/I) Ratio ≤ 35%; and with start date within the respective FY. This applies to funds raised on physical platforms and/or on approved digital crowdfunding platforms.

** [For Tote Board's matching component] Charity applicants can qualify for Tote Board's 40% matching, capped at $100,000 per application. Each charity applicant is entitled to a maximum of five applications for each FY.

*** [For Government's matching component] Each charity applicant is entitled to a cumulative cap of $150,000 per charity applicant for each FY.

All caps will reset at the start of each FY. FY2022 is defined as the Financial Year starting from 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2023. FY2023 is defined as the Financial Year starting from 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024. FY2024 is defined as the Financial Year starting from 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025.

Key Notes for EFR:

Applications must be made by the charity (not the 3rd party fund-raiser) and received by Tote Board at least 30 days before the actual event date of your fund-raising project.
[New for digital fund-raising applications] From 1 April 2022 onwards, to strengthen governance, Tote Board will only match funds raised on the approved digital crowdfunding platforms. The approved digital crowdfunding platforms are those which have signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Commissioner of Charities to adhere to the Code of Practice for Charitable Online Fund-Raising****. Please note that funds raised electronically through charities' corporate websites will no longer be matched under EFR. For charities to benefit from EFR, charities' corporate websites could direct donors to the approved digital crowdfunding platforms instead.

****Please refer to the Charity Portal for the updated list of approved digital crowdfunding platforms. Please note that the platforms may levy a fee/charge for their services.

Please see the following illustrated examples for Tote Board and the Government's joint EFR matching:

(Please see FAQs for more worked examples)

efr example clear_resized 2

The annual caps are FY-specific and non-transferrable. Any unutilised cap from the current FY will not be carried forward to the next FY. Similarly, any unutilised cap from the current FY will not be carried backwards to the previous FY.

Check Your Eligibility

01

Cap of five (5) EFR applications per charity applicant per FY

Each charity applicant is entitled to a maximum of five applications for each FY.

02

Fund-raising projects should be for local charitable causes, and they should have well-defined outcomes that support Tote Board’s strategic outcomes, namely:

✔ Equitable Opportunities for Vulnerable Groups
✔ Cohesive and Caring Community
✔ Vibrant and Liveable Home

Examples of purposes that are not permitted would include:

✘ Project(s) that benefit only an individual;
✘ Religious activities for the promotion of religion;
✘ Political activities for the promotion of political ideology or party;
✘ Commercial project(s) for the sole purpose of profit making; and
✘ Debt / loan repayments

03

Project must satisfy the Expenditure/Income (E/I) ratio of 35% or less

To qualify for funding, the total expenditure for your project should be no more than 35%* of the total funds raised, excluding Tote Board’s contributions and Government’s additional EFR matching**.

Description	Example 1 Expenditure/Income Ratio =<35%	Example 2 Expenditure/Income Ratio >35%
Project Expenditure (A):	$40,000	$90,000
Income from funds raised (B):	$150,000	$150,000
E/I Ratio (A/B):	$40,000/ $150,000 = 26.67%	$90,000/ $150,000 = 60%
Status	Project is eligible for Tote Board’s contributions and Government’s additional EFR matching	Project is not eligible for Tote Board’s contributions nor Government’s additional EFR matching

* Please note that calculations of the E/I ratio will be rounded up.
** All income and expenditure (excluding in-kind items/contributions) are to be reported on a gross basis (i.e. no netting-off of items).

04

The fund-raising project should not have benefited from other Government matching grants

Only fund-raising projects that have not been matched from other Government matching grants (such as, but not limited to, Community Silver Trust, Community Capability Trust, Cultural Matching Fund, One Team Singapore Fund) will be considered for EFR matching. For further clarification, please refer to the FAQs.

05

Other than physical fundraising platforms, you may wish to consider using one of the approved digital crowdfunding platforms for your digital fund-raising projects, namely:

Crowdfunding platforms which have signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Commissioner of Charities to comply with the Code of Practice for Charitable Online Fundraising. Do note that the platforms may levy a fee/charge for their services.

Please refer to the Charity Portal for the updated list of approved digital crowdfunding platforms.

Please note that each application is subject to Tote Board’s approval and we reserve the right to reject any application in our sole discretion without providing any reasons.

Applicants are encouraged to submit their applications early.

Applications must be received by Tote Board at least 30 days before the actual event date of your fund-raising project.

All income and expenditure declared in the Application Form must be specific to the particular fund-raising project submitted and should be reported on a gross basis.

You are required to submit the following as supporting documentation during Claims Submission:

Physical fund-raising projects (e.g. charity golf tournaments, gala dinners, carnivals etc.): photographs of the physical fund-raising event
Digital fund-raising projects (e.g. campaigns on approved digital platforms, online concerts, e-walkathons and other virtual events etc.): screenshots which include the URLs/campaign IDs of the relevant campaign pages/virtual events

See Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) for further information.

1. APPLICATION ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

You will receive a system generated reply once the application has been successfully submitted.

2. APPLICATION ASSESSMENT

Please allow processing time of up to 45 working days as we receive a high volume of applications.

3. APPLICATION OUTCOME

An email notification will be sent out to inform the applicant on the outcome of your application.

Claims Submission

1. When do I submit a claim?

Claims for all approved projects have to be submitted within nine months of the “project end date”

If your claims are not submitted on time, or if they are incomplete, we reserve the right to withdraw our support for your project and to reject late claim submissions, amendments, and appeals.

You can submit your claims ahead of the 9-month deadline, but it should not be submitted any earlier than the “project end date”. The project end date is the date on which your Organisation ceases raising funds/receiving donations and incurring expenses for the fund-raising project.

Please submit your claim only after the project has been completed and after all relevant transactions and documentation to support the claim have been finalised (for example, after all donations cheques have been encashed, and all pledges have been received).

2. How do I file a claim and what do I have to submit?

a. The Statement of Accounts for all income and expenditure of the event/project certified true and correct by the Highest Authority or equivalent, or by the Authorised Representative, on Annex B page (PDF) of the claim form attached in the Approval Letter

b. The electronic claim form (in Microsoft Excel file format)

c. Audited Statement of Accounts (optional and if available)

d.Direct Credit Authorisation Form (for first-time claimants).

Please refer to our Approval Letter and Paragraph 5 of Tote Board's EFR Terms and Conditions for more details of each of the documents to be submitted.

All submissions must be made from a recognised email address of the organisation and sent to grants@toteboard.gov.sg. For documents (a) and (d), the HA or his/her equivalent, or his/her AR, is required to certify the hardcopy documents using wet-ink signature along with the organisation stamp before scanning and emailing them to Tote Board (the person who had certified/signed the documents must be copied in the submission email).

Tote Board will be accepting all new Enhanced Fund-Raising (EFR) Programme applications and its related claims submission on the OurSG Grants (OSG) portal. CorpPass login will be required for all grant applications. However, please note that all existing applications (and its related claims submissions) submitted via Form.SG before 31 August 2020 will not be processed on OSG Portal. Please use the Excel Claim Form (see point b) to submit claims for applications submitted before 31 August 2020.

All approved claims submitted via OSG Portal for EFR would be paid via PayNow Corporate.

You are required to submit the following as supporting documentation during Claims Submission:

Physical fund-raising projects: photographs of the physical fund-raising event
Digital fund-raising projects: screenshots which include the URLs/campaign IDs of the relevant campaign pages/virtual events

What do you need to do to seamlessly receive matching grant payments via OSG from Tote Board?

Check and ensure that you and/or the charity you are raising funds for, have an existing bank account with one of the nine PayNow participating banks in Singapore – Bank of China, Citibank Singapore Limited, DBS Bank/POSB, HSBC, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Limited, Maybank, OCBC Bank, Standard Chartered Bank, and UOB.

If you and/or the charity you are raising funds for, are not registered for the PayNow Corporate service, kindly register for the service at your bank’s online banking platform and link your Unique Entity Number (UEN) to your corporate bank account.

Ensure the UEN of the beneficiaries provided on OSG Portal is accurate, and the PayNow Corporate service has been set up.

PayNow Corporate is not required if:

you are only submitting a claim for an application that was submitted before 31 August 2020; or
you are only submitting a claim for an application that was submitted after 31 August 2020 and your claim is submitted before 25 June 2021.

We would still require you to attach the Direct Credit Authorisation form in your OSG claims submission for our processing of the 60% Government matching (if eligible).

3. How do I complete the Statement of Accounts template?

The items of income and expenditure declared in the Statement of Accounts should be specific to the approved event/project only. These items should fall within the approved project period. The approved project period is the period during which your Organisation will be raising funds/receiving donations and incurring expenses for the approved project.

All items of income and expenditure should be reported on a gross basis (i.e. no netting-off of items).

You are responsible for ensuring that the information disclosed in your submission is accurate, timely, complete and has been prepared in compliance with all applicable laws.

You may wish to refer to the websites of the respective competent authorities for more information (e.g. to the write-ups and guides on the Charity Portal and on the Inland Revenue Authority's website, to the relevant statutes, etc.). If in doubt, please consult your professional accounting, tax, legal or other competent advisors.

4. What are the documents and records that I should keep?

Proper accounting records should be maintained, and made available to Tote Board upon request, to support the claims submitted.

You are required to submit the following as supporting documentation during Claims Submission:

Physical fund-raising projects: photographs of the physical fund-raising event
Digital fund-raising projects: screenshots which include the URLs/campaign IDs of the relevant campaign pages/virtual events

You are encouraged to use the sample template (Breakdown of Income and Expenditure Details) to track and keep a timely record of items of income and expenditure relating to the project, and to consider submitting it to us when filing your claim.

Do note that you may be selected for an audit by Tote Board to validate your compliance with the terms and conditions of our Approval Letter and/or to inspect your accounts and all documents necessary for us to assess the accuracy and completeness of your claims.

For matters relating to Fund-raising Programmes, please email the Grant Management Division at grants@toteboard.gov.sg

Our Fund-Raising Contribution

In FY2013, Tote Board increased the funding cap from $20,000 to $50,000 for each fund-raising event. This increased contribution motivated organisations to raise more funds and in turn, better meet the needs of the community.

On Tote Board’s 30th Anniversary, we curated a special, one-off Commemorative Fund-Raising Initiative, doubling Tote Board’s contribution up to a cap of $100,000 per application.

Fund-Raising Events

Here are some of the recent fund-raising projects we've supported.

Blossom Home Refresh

"Blossom World Society (BWS) is very grateful for Tote Board's generous support via Enhanced Fund-Raising, especially in the current COVID-19 pandemic. With Tote Board's support, BWS is able to develop youth equipped with gratitude and kindness through character building programmes, and empower youth to take care of the elderly and vulnerable in our community in projects, for example Blossom Home Refresh.”

Yen Sheng Xiang, General Manager, Blossom World Society

Climb for Mental Wellness (C4MW)

“During a global pandemic like COVID-19, such a programme from Tote Board is definitely sending the right signal to the social service agencies that they are not forgotten, and that even when the competition for funds has heated up, innovative and hardworking agencies will receive additional support from Tote Board to continue delivering its programmes and services.”

Tim Lee, Executive Director, Caregivers Alliance Limited

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Submit Your Application

Applications must be received by Tote Board at least 30 days before the actual event date of our fund-raising project.

Kindly see Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) for further information.

Please ensure that you have read, understood and are prepared to accept Tote Board's EFR Terms and Conditions before applying.

Tote Board will be accepting all new Enhanced Fund-Raising Programme applications and its related claims submission on the OurSG Grants (OSG) portal. CorpPass login will be required for all grant applications. However, please note that all existing applications (and its related claims submissions) submitted via Form.SG before 31 August 2020 will not be processed on OSG Portal. Please use the Excel Claim Form to submit claims for applications submitted before 31 August 2020.

The OSG portal will be updated to reflect the latest list of approved digital crowdfunding platforms. Please refer to the Charity Portal for the latest list.

Please note that each application is subject to Tote Board's approval and we reserve the right to reject any application in our sole discretion without providing any reasons.

Tote Board takes a serious view of, and will take action against, any abuses of its EFR Programme.

Apply via OurSG Grants portal

Have more questions?

Check out some of the questions that have been raised before on our FAQ page.

For matters relating to Fund-Raising Programmes, please email the Grant Management Division at:grants@toteboard.gov.sg.

View FAQs