Enhanced Fund-Raising Programme

Support of dollar-for-dollar matching up to $250,000 per charity for fund-raising projects to help the underserved in our community. Charities that have fully utilised their $250,000 dollar-for-dollar matching cap may continue to apply 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 eligible for a maximum of five applications per 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 calendar days before the actual event date of your fund-raising project

About Enhanced Fund-Raising Programme (EFR)

Key Updates to EFR (for FY2023 projects)

[New updates]

Digital fund-raising campaigns on charities’ corporate websites are eligible for EFR.
Funds collected via direct e-payments from donors to charities (e.g. PayNow, electronic funds transfer) for approved fund-raising campaigns are eligible for EFR.
During claims submission for FY2023 projects, charities are required to submit an Agreed-Upon Procedures (AUP) report completed by an external Certified Public Accountant, unless:

your charity is an ‘Institution of a Public Character’ (IPC); or
your charity is collecting funds solely through fundraising campaigns on approved digital crowdfunding platforms.

[As per FY2020-FY2022 guidelines]

The following will continue to be supported under EFR:

Digital fund-raising campaigns on approved digital crowdfunding platforms; and
Physical fund-raising events.

Funds collected in the form of cash, cheque, or e-payments through approved digital crowdfunding platforms will continue to be eligible for matching.

For more details on FY2023 projects, please refer to FAQ (2023).

For FY2022 projects and earlier, please refer to FAQ (2022).

MATCHING FORMULA OF EFR

Tote Board and the Government provide dollar-for-dollar matching support for charities’ eligible* fund-raising projects under EFR from FY2022 to FY2024 (01 April 2022 to 31 March 2025, both dates inclusive).

The joint matching support for funds raised (excluding Tote Board’s and Government’s contributions) for each Financial Year (FY) is as follows:

*This matching is applicable to eligible fund-raising projects with Expenditure/Income (E/I) Ratio ≤ 35%; and with start date within the respective Financial Year (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, for 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 period from 01 April 2022 to 31 March 2023.
FY2023 is defined as the period from 01 April 2023 to 31 March 2024.
FY2024 is defined as the period from 01 April 2024 to 31 March 2025.

[New] For large charities¹ with ‘Institutions of a Public Character (IPC)’ status:

If your charity is intending to apply for EFR matching once for the entire FY and the fund-raising target of this project is above $250,000, please write to grants@toteboard.gov.sg to find out more about how Tote Board can better support your charity.

----------------------------

¹ As per Commissioner of Charities (COC) guidelines, a large charity refers to one with gross annual receipts of not less than $10 million in each of the last two financial years immediately preceding the current financial year.

Impact of Enhanced Fund-Raising Programme

Since 2006, the Tote Board Fund-raising Programme has provided matching support to local charities. Our aim is 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.

grants2

Tote Board EFR contributes towards charities’ capabilities and capacity-building efforts, enabling organisational excellence. Here are the top 3 domains where EFR has made a direct positive impact in:

Evolution of Enhanced Fund-Raising Programme

Here is a brief chronology of how our programme has evolved over the years.

Prior to April 2020	Matching support was provided at 20% of the actual total sum raised (excluding Tote Board’s contribution), capped at $50,000 per application, on the condition it fulfils Expenditure/Income ratio (E/I) of not more than 35%. Only physical fund-raising projects were supported.
In FY2020	To help charities galvanise community giving during COVID-19 period, Tote Board and the Government provided joint support through EFR at a dollar-for-dollar matching. To build a resilient and future-ready non-profit ecosystem, Tote Board also seized the opportunity to catalyse and accelerate the charity sector’s digitalisation during this COVID-19 period. It was a time when many safe-distancing measures were implemented, and charities found it challenging to conduct physical fund-raising events. Hence, EFR expanded its matching contributions beyond physical fund-raising projects to include digital fund-raising projects on the approved platforms that had signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Commissioner of Charities to adhere with the Code of Practice for Charitable Online Fund-raising Appeals.
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 and Tote Board would maintain and extend its support for charities through EFR for an additional year.
From FY2022 to FY2024	The Minister for Finance, Mr Lawrence Wong, announced in his Budget Speech on 18 February 2022 that the Government and Tote Board would further extend dollar-for-dollar matching for EFR for three additional years to continue catalysing charities’ fundraising efforts so that they can better support their beneficiaries. Charities can apply for EFR until FY2024 (31 March 2025, inclusive).

Application Guidelines

All applications are to be submitted via the OurSG Grants (OSG) portal. CorpPass login will be required.

Applications must be made by the charity, not the third-party fund-raiser. Funds collected via non-approved crowdfunding platforms will not be eligible for EFR matching.

Applications must be received by Tote Board at least 30 calendar days before the actual event date of your fund-raising project to provide sufficient lead time for reviewing the application.

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

Application Acknowledgement
You will receive a system-generated reply once the application has been successfully submitted.
Application Assessment
Please allow processing time of up to 45 working days as we receive a high volume of applications.
Application Outcome
An email notification will be sent out to inform applicants of the outcome of your application.

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

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

Claims Submission

Claims for all approved projects have to be submitted within nine (9) months of the “project end date”. 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 and receiving donations, and ceases incurring and paying out 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 donation cheques have been encashed, and all pledges have been received).

For full details on the documents required during claims submission, please refer to the FAQ and our Approval Letter and Terms and Conditions. Other relevant resources can be found below:

Agreed-Upon Procedures (AUP) template report completed by an external Certified Public Accountant (for relevant FY2023 projects only).
Breakdown of Income and Expenditure Details

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 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 to: grants@toteboard.gov.sg

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

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

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