Singapore, which positions itself as Asia’s philanthropic hub, has seen some of the world’s richest people set up charitable foundations in the last few years. But the city-state’s billionaire philanthropy boom might not bode well for overall giving, says the region’s largest network of social investors.
To continue reading, subscribe to Eco‑Business.
There's something for everyone. We offer a range of subscription plans.
- Access our stories and receive our Insights Weekly newsletter with the free EB Member plan.
- Unlock unlimited access to our content and archive with EB Circle.
- Publish your content with EB Premium.
In fact, the increasing incidence of tycoons embracing Singapore as a philanthropic base – thanks to its favourable tax incentives and flourishing wealth management sector – is commonly cited as a deterrent among high net worth individuals looking to give for the first time, said Kevin Teo, chief technology officer of AVPN.
In May, the Gates Foundation – established by Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates in 2000 – became the latest billionaire-established philanthropic organisation to announce that it will set up an office in Singapore. Other billionaires who have done the same in recent years include American hedge fund manager Ray Dalio, Indonesian coal king Low Tuck Kwong, Brazil-born Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin.
Within Southeast Asia, however, Thailand is rapidly emerging as a rival safe haven for the ultra-rich, as the attractiveness of traditional millionaire destinations, like Singapore, Australia, Canada and New Zealand, appear to wane, with their lowest projected net inflows expected in 2025.
“There are sentiments that the realm of philanthropy is inaccessible and constrained to a select group of the wealthiest,” said Teo, citing anecdotes that many high net worth individuals – defined as those with at least US$1 million worth of assets – avoid charitable giving as they question the impact they can make compared to higher profile givers.
As a result, much of this private wealth in the city-state – which totalled US$1.2 trillion in 2023 – has remained untapped for giving, said Teo. The perception that philanthropy is highly technical and reserved for more experienced players also means that the burden to step up to fill the gap left by a fall in foreign aid has fallen on the same group of billionaires.
To close the gap in philanthropic expertise between the billionaire donors and untapped private wealth community, AVPN has launched a new platform aimed at mobilising US$100 million in funding from first-time givers by 2030.
Backed by Singapore’s central bank and the Gates Foundation, which is an AVPN member, ImpactCollab will provide private bankers and wealth managers with a curated pool of verified impact organisations that can serve their clients’ philanthropic interests.
At the moment, the entire private banking industry in Singapore relies on less than 10 full-time philanthropy advisors, who are only brought into conversations when clients specifically request for support in making charitable donations, said Teo, who also heads up Impact Collab. This is why the platform is looking to target the bigger group of 5,000 relationship managers, who tend to have more regular contact with high net worth individuals, he said.
To date, Citi Private Bank and LGT Private Banking have already been onboarded onto the platform, which currently features over 400 impact organisations from across Asia, starting with Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Philippines, India and China.
Tackling impact-washing
Prior to their inclusion on the platform, due diligence will be conducted on the organisations, which have to disclose the impact of their work against standardised metrics and governance indicators, stated AVPN in a press release.
The platform also features a governance maturity framework, co-developed with the Singapore Management University’s Lien Centre for Social Innovation, which scores impact organisations against a range of criteria including strength of leadership, codes of conduct, transparency and accountability. An additional layer of checks on the organisations and their boards will be provided by LSEG World-Check, a global database to identify potential financial criminal activity.
Teo added that AVPN will be sharing more about its efforts to curb impact-washing, where organisations falsely overstate the positive impacts of their work, in the coming months.
Referencing the ongoing work of International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in developing the world’s first international guidelines to help organisations embed sustainable development principles into their core business operations, he said that AVPN will be using the finalised ISO standard to validate the impact management processes of organisations it works with.
