Giving.sg now tells donors what's required
New feature can draw help from those who don't have cash to give, says former APSN president
Diapers.
Detergent.
Dishwashing liquid.
These are just some of the items listed on Fei Yue Community Services' page on fund-raising portal Giving.sg, under its new wish list section.
Users and groups who have these items can contact the charities directly to donate them.
The wish list section is among a slew of new features introduced on Tuesday by the National Volunteer & Philanthropy Centre (NVPC), which runs the portal.
Launched two years ago as a one-stop portal for "simple and safe" giving, Giving.sg now houses 470 charities and has over 120,000 registered users.
Allowing donations-in-kind captures a different group of donors - willing contributors who may not have the finances to give cash, said Mr Victor Tay, the chief development officer at Nanyang Technological University and immediate past president of the Association for Persons with Special Needs (APSN).
This could be textbooks from students who no longer need them or kitchen equipment from former cafe owners, he said.
VERTICAL FARM
Citing the example of an SME which helped to set up a vertical farm at APSN, he said: "Rather than contributing cash for us to set up our own vertical farm, this form of contribution may, in some way, capture more opportunities in terms of competence, assets and infrastructure."
Aside from enabling donations-in-kind, Giving.sg now allows donors to track how much they have donated and fund-raised, and the number of hours volunteered, and benchmark it against their peers.
Charities can use the statistics to analyse giving patterns across time and demographics to better tailor their strategies for volunteer recruitment and outreach specific to their causes.
This data-tracking feature is something NVPC is "extremely proud" to introduce, said its director of digital innovation Andy Sim.
"Today's world is increasingly data-driven and it is important for the social sector to move in a similar direction...
"Giving.sg is an example of how we can leverage on technology to promote informed giving and build a caring, compassionate and inclusive society."
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