How companies can do good better - all year round

WITH the arrival of the year-end festivities, many companies ramp up their corporate-giving efforts. On the global-giving stage, Singapore is ranked seventh in the 2018 Charities Aid Foundation World Giving Index (WGI), which takes into account factors such as whether a person has helped a stranger, donated money to a good cause, or volunteered with a charitable organisation.

It is no surprise that festive seasons draw more donations from individuals and corporations, encouraged by helpful campaigns like the Giving Week initiated by the National Volunteer & Philanthropy Centre. In 2018, it was reported that half a million dollars was donated on Christmas Day in Singapore via online giving websites. However, this intensity of giving over the festive period also brings about an overabundance of giving from corporations and requests to volunteer at charitable organisations over a short period of time.

This positive intention to do good can bring about some unintended consequences: Charities, social service agencies (SSAs) and beneficiaries often struggle to cope with this spike in generosity and goodwill. The concentrated giving of monies, resources or time over the festive season begs the question whether this can be better spaced-out over the course of the year, such that the act of doing good does not vacillate between "feasting" over the festive period followed by times of "famine" in the non-festive periods, when giving falls precipitously from a festive high.