THE Community Chest (ComChest) committed S$2 million into a new fund that fosters collaboration among social service agencies, called the 4ST (Social Service Sector Strategic Thrusts) Partnership Fund.

The fund was launched on Thursday (Apr 27) at the Seeds of Sustainable Philanthropy event by the National Council of Social Service (NCSS), which oversees ComChest, and philanthropic organisation Majurity Trust. The event also commemorated ComChest’s 40th anniversary.

Unlike traditional funds that support individual programmes, the 4ST Partnership Fund will consolidate resources from different like-minded funders, allowing them to contribute to larger projects with greater impact.

Senior Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam, who was the guest of honour at the event, said: “The basic idea is a simple but powerful one – about partnerships.”

Phua Chun Yat, the chief operating officer of Samaritans of Singapore (SOS), echoed this sentiment. 

He said the fund would benefit SOS by helping the organisation “partner other like-minded (social service agencies) to meet the growing complexities of Singapore’s social issues”, as well as “combine resources” to create “a tight value-chain of services” to address the needs of the communities such agencies serve. 

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Corporate and community partners rallied at the event – which was hosted by Masagos Zulkifli, Minister for Social and Family Development and Second Minister for Health – to raise an additional S$1 million.

Forty trees were also planted during the event to commemorate the 40th anniversary of ComChest, which supports more than 100 social agencies.

Members of the public who wish to contribute can visit http://www.comchest.gov.sg/sosp