Creating more impact with your donation
Chelsea Ong
IF you are out shopping for Christmas gifts at Uniqlo, you can do some good as you pay for your items at the cashier. The fast-fashion retailer now offers customers the option to donate to charity by scanning a QR code.
In 2015, the National Volunteer & Philanthropy Centre (NVPC) set up its online platform Giving.sg where individuals and organisations can donate or raise funds for registered charities.
NVPC further digitalised Giving.sg by integrating it with financial services company Stripe’s payment solutions in 2017. With the addition of GrabPay in 2021, it resulted in more than S$2.8 million in additional donations for more than 400 charities in Singapore. That same year, NVPC received a record S$95.5 million in donations.
As part of the government’s efforts to encourage more Singaporeans to give back to the community, all donors can claim tax relief of 250 per cent of the amount contributed to approved institutions by Dec 31 this year. Tax deductions on Giving.sg will be automated for donors.
There is, however, a caveat from Stripe, the platform that processes the online payments.
“While businesses, charities and platforms like Giving.sg are able to achieve economies of scale in lowering operating costs through digitalisation, many have also expressed challenges with fraud,” Stripe said.
To prevent fraud, organisations can leverage machine learning fraud detection at the checkout process, or apply two-factor authentication as an added layer of protection, the company added.
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