In February 2020, the Community Foundation of Singapore (CFS) launched Sayang Sayang Fund, an emergency community response fund, to address social challenges faced in the early stages of the COVID-19 crisis.
As one of CFS’ Community Impact Funds, Sayang Sayang Fund was initially set up to support frontline healthcare workers. As the pandemic worsened, it became apparent that there was a necessity to complement the work of local public health, non-profit and government entities with emergency support and resources. Sayang Sayang Fund quickly expanded in scope as CFS responded to escalating needs amongst vulnerable groups during Singapore’s Circuit Breaker and beyond.
With continued efforts, Sayang Sayang Fund has launched 9 programmes over 9 months since February 2020. Backed by our deep understanding of community needs and strong relationships with charities and government agencies, CFS quickly formed strategic partnerships to deliver funds to the community in the fastest and most effective way. We worked with 891 grantee organisations and touched the lives of 359,302 beneficiaries. Sayang Sayang Fund raised a total of $9.6 million from multiple platforms to date, far exceeding our initial $3 million target in 2020. Our campaign on Giving.sg alone raised $1 million in donations from the public. In total, 5,185 donors responded generously to our call for help.
Sayang Sayang Fund continues to introduce new initiatives in 2021 for residents within the Bukit Merah community, ground-up groups and community health sector in Singapore.
We will continue to Sayang those in need as Singapore moves towards embracing COVID-19 as an endemic.
