SINGAPORE - A Sustainable Philanthropy Framework to guide corporates in measuring and monitoring the social impact of their donations, volunteering and inclusive hiring practices will be launched in the first quarter of 2024.

It will be accompanied by a playbook to help companies strengthen partnerships with social service agencies (SSAs).

This was announced by Minister for Social and Family Development Masagos Zulkifli on Tuesday at the annual Social Service Summit, organised by the National Council of Social Service (NCSS).

The framework aims to help businesses better shape and track the “social” aspect of their environmental, social and governance (ESG) efforts. It was co-developed by NCSS and the National Volunteer and Philanthropy Centre (NVPC), together with other partners.

NCSS also plans to roll out a series of guides for SSAs, including a fund-raising playbook to help them identify areas of improvement and how they can better partner corporates to support their services.

“We need to continue increasing the avenues for cross-sector partnerships where both corporates and SSAs leverage each other’s strengths to amplify the impact on those we serve,” said Mr Masagos at the event held at Raffles City Convention Centre.

Mr Masagos, who is also Second Minister for Health, observed that many companies based here want to contribute meaningfully to Singapore, and that more are committing to regular donations and volunteerism and weaving social impact into their corporate purpose and DNA.

“We, as a sector, need to harness this interest by providing more enabling platforms,” he said.

He invited corporates to share their views and feedback as they continue to engage stakeholders to foster “sustainable philanthropy”, and to adopt the framework when it is launched.

Themed “Strengthening Connections, Partnering for Impact”, the two-day Social Service Summit attracted about 700 representatives from SSAs, corporates and public agencies.

To enable more partnerships, NCSS collaborated with NVPC to bring more than 80 corporates to the inaugural “State of Play”, a specially curated programme on the second day of the summit on Wednesday to give them a deeper understanding of the sector’s work. It will also allow SSAs to better understand the goals of corporates and how they can best work together.

Speaking at the summit, NCSS president Anita Fam affirmed the council’s commitment to help SSAs and support social service professionals, and to attract, develop and retain talent. The initiatives include an online Wellness Resource Hub, launched at the summit, to provide sector professionals with resources and practical tips on self-care and managing employees’ mental well-being.

NCSS will also hold its first Social Service Tribe Festival later in 2023 to raise awareness on careers in social service and capability development initiatives. The event will also celebrate the achievements of sector professionals and volunteers, and allow them to connect with like-minded peers.

Mr Ho Kwon Ping, founder and executive chairman of Banyan Tree Holdings, who was a guest speaker at the summit, said SSAs and corporates both belong to the same enabling ecosystem to make the world a better place.

“The social service sector and corporate sector really need to interact a lot more with each other in a structured, collaborative manner, and not in a purely transactional way,” he said, adding that both sectors can gain by having discussions on actionable metrics such as ESG and sustainability.

The summit also featured the inaugural Transformation Marketplace showcasing technology solutions in social services, as well as technology transformations within the residential home and community service settings.

One such piece of technology is a virtual human conversation platform provided by start-up InteractAI, designed to simulate real-life scenarios to train teachers at Epworth Community Services, which helps disadvantaged children and young people.

Ms Anthea Foong, co-founder and chief executive officer of InteractAI, which has been partnering Epworth since 2021, said: “We want to align with stakeholders like our clients, the community and the Singapore Government to ensure that we are creating impact with our efforts. The framework sets measurable goals and a baseline for us to monitor these efforts.”