Citi raises nearly S$400,000 for ChildAid

Singapore

CITI Singapore, a longtime supporter of Singapore Press Holdings' charities, has raised close to S$400,000 for ChildAid 2020 amid the pandemic.

On Tuesday, the bank handed ChildAid's representatives a cheque of S$240,000. The sum consists of S$100,000 raised by the bank and S$140,000 raised by its business partners.

Earlier this year, Citi had already donated S$150,000 to ChildAid, bringing the total sum of its 2020 donations to S$390,000. Since 2002, Citi has donated close to S$6.6 million (inclusive of 2020) in support of ChildAid.

As part of its fundraising efforts, Citi typically organises the Citi & Partners Charity Golf in the second half of the year. But the event had to be cancelled this year because of the public health crisis. Nonetheless, Citi approached its partners, such as Dell, NICE, WWT and many others, to continue lending a hand.

Stacey N Lacy, APAC chief information officer and head of operations & technology, said: "With the cancellation of the Citi & Partners Charity Golf this year, we thought hard on how to maintain our support to ChildAid. Our long-term commitment to ChildAid meant we had to find a solution as we deeply believe that no child should be deprived of the opportunity to gain knowledge through education, and to pursue their passion in the arts.

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"With our deepest gratitude to our partners, we were able to continue making a difference."

All of Citi's technology groups, including Citi Technology Infrastructure, Institutional Clients Group Technology and Global Consumer Group Technology, rallied to bring in the donations. Based in Singapore, these groups manage and provide support to Citi's operations around the world.

Amol Gupte, Asean head and Citi country officer for Singapore, said: "We are pleased that Citi is able to continue supporting ChildAid, especially in a challenging year. What makes our efforts even more meaningful is that we were able to bring our partners together to support a worthy cause. This initiative signals Citi's continued commitment to help those in need in Singapore."

ChildAid is an annual fundraising concert which benefits The Business Times Budding Artists Fund and The Straits Times School Pocket Money Fund. The former helps socially-disadvantaged children who are artistically talented pursue their passions, while the latter helps children from financially-strapped families pay for their lunch and transport fares.

This year, the concert was streamed online and featured stars such as Nathan Hartono, Jasmine Sokko and Benjamin Kheng.