By Leong Sze Hian

I refer to media reports that the President’s Star charity show raised a record $5.4 million.

According to the Straits Times’ report on Oct 1, 2007:

“This year’s musical extravaganza raised a record $5.46 million for 32 charities, out of which viewers donated $567,700 by calling hotlines. The rest of the money came from corporate donors.”

TODAY newspaper, Oct 2, reported that:

“The biggest individual donor was Lippo Group president Stephen Riady — who gave $1 million — while the largest corporate donor was the Lee Foundation with its pledge of $1.5 million. Six other organisations — Singapore Totalisator Board, Kwan Im Thong Hood Cho Temple, Continental Steel, Singapore Pools, Singapore Sports Council and The Jewish Community of Singapore — contributed a total of $3.25 million.” (link)

The total donated by corporate donors was $5.75 million (Lee Foundation $1.5 million, Lippo Group $1 million, and 6 other organisations $3.25 million).

Adding the above $5.75 million to the public donations of $567,700, gives a total of $6.3 million. So, why is the total donated amount only $5.46 million, which is $840,000 short?

Where has the $840,000 gone to? Shouldn’t there be some disclosure on this?

To my living memory, I believe $567,700 may be the lowest amount ever for donations from the public, excluding corporate donors.

Why is this so?

Since the NKF saga, I understand that practically every television charity show was touted as raising new record amounts. However, I notice that the amount of donations from the public appears to have been declining.

Can the relevant authority please confirm whether this has been the trend?

In the first President’ Star Charity show following the NKF saga, for the first time in the history of Singapore, donation calls were toll-free.

I wrote to the newspaper forum applauding this change, and suggested that it be continued. However, subsequent donation calls have started to charge 21 cents per call again.

Running out of funds

There have been various reports in the media of Voluntary Welfare Organisations (VWOs) running out of funds. I have just received a call from a friend who sits on the board of a 30
year old VWO appealing for donations, because it is about to run out of money.

At almost every meeting of VWOs that I have attended, I hear the general problem of the greater challenge of raising funds, since the NKF issue.

According to he National Volunteer and Philanthrophy Centre’s (NVPC) 2006 Individual Giving Survey Results, “dollars donated have declined” from an estimated $438 million in 2004 to $341 million in 2006. This is a decline of 22 per cent.

The donor incidence rate also fell from 97 per cent to 89 per cent, and the average donation per donor fell from $155 to $125.

Donor fatique was ranked as the highest “main issue” that VWOs faced in their fund-raising efforts.

Poor donating more than rich

According to the SALT magazine (For Volunteers, Donors and Non-profits) of Jul-Aug 2007, “For Richer or For Poorer ?”, the lower income donated the most, compared to the highest income. Donors earning less than $ 1,000 a month, donated 0.65 per cent of annual income, those earning $ 8,000 – $ 8,999 and $ 9,000 – $ 9,999 donated only 0.04 and 0.13 per
cent respectively.

In average absolute dollar terms, the poorest donated $ 6.49 a month, and the rich donated only $ 3.60 ($ 8,000 – $ 8,999 earners).

If we do not acknowledge the problem of declining public donations, and focus on announcing ever record-breaking total donations in charity shows, how will Singaporeans be encouraged to donate more?

President Star Charity – where’s the missing $840,000?

Leong Sze Hian / Columnist

Charity calls ringing?

I refer to the President’s Star Charity Show on 12 October.

When the show was nearing its end, just minutes before 10 p.m., the amount of donations from calls from the public shown on the screen was about $ 478,000.

After adding a few large corporate donations, the total amount donated announced at the end of the show was $ 5,041.833.

This means that the few corporate donations was about $ 4.6 million, or about 90 per cent of the total.

This year’s public calls donations were also less than last year’s.

I understand that for last year’s show the difference between the amount collected and donated was about $ 850,000. Was this amount paid to the television station for staging the show ? How much, if any, will the television station be paid for this year’s show ?

As I believe that the few corporate donors may have donated regardless of whether there was a television show, perhaps we could re-consider the need for all the effort and paying a few hundred thousand dollars more to run the show, than the amount donated by the public.

By the way, it was disclosed in media reports in November 2005, that the National Kidney Foundation (NKF) paid $ 2.5 million to produce the NKF Cancer Show.

In this regard, I wrote a letter published in the Business Times on 22 November, 2005, asking how much was paid in total for the approximately 10 charity shows in a year. To the best of my knowledge, I don’t think there was any reply to my question.

Ringing in my ears and pockets

I refer to the article “SingTel fixed-line rates go up” (ST, Oct 7).

SingTel has said that it would provide $ 1 million worth of $ 10 credit  vouchers to help households that need financial assistance. This means that there will be 100,000 vouchers.

Since media reports have said that all the 130,000 transport vouchers have already been snapped up, and that many other needy families can tap on the CCC and Comcare funds. So, will the 100,000 telephone credit vouchers be enough? Will CCC and Comcare funds be made available again ?

Won’t usage of such funds reduce the assistance that these funds were meant for in the first place ?

Since SingTel is increasing its local fixed line subscription by $ 10 a year, and most customers (a total of 60 per cent of residential customers, and 75 per cent of business owners) will pay up to an additional $ 1.50 a month ($ 18 a year) with the new 14 per cent increase in rates for call charges, wouldn’t the $ 10 credit voucher be enough to offset the subscription increase only ?

Does this also mean that about 40 per cent will pay much more ?

As SingTel’s fixed telephone lines is a monopoly (excluding high-end bundled services) for an essential service, does it have to get approval for the increase, like that for transport and electricity ?

What is the justification for the increase, when SingTel’s Net Profit (underlying) increased by 46 per cent (10 per cent per annum), from $ 2.517 billion in FY 2004 to $ 3.681 billion in FY 2008 ?

This is more than 10 times the profits of the transport operators, and more than 150 per cent that of the power companies.

Citing the Ministry of Manpower statistic that the annual average wage rose 52 per cent between 1997 and last year, may not be very appropriate, as the median wage change for the same period was only about 1.66 per cent per annum.

Calls are a-ringing?