By the Business & Philanthropy Forum · Published 10 September 2026

What the national study found

79%Of companies agree they have a moral duty to support societal goals
94%Are active in the People impact area, covering their own employees
30%Are active in the Society impact area, covering the community

Nearly 8 in 10 Singapore companies say they have a moral duty to support society. Three in 10 run anything aimed at the community. The gap is not money.

Corporate philanthropy is a company giving away money, staff time or expertise to a cause, separately from how it runs its own business. In Singapore, nearly 8 in 10 companies agree they have a moral duty to support broader societal goals. Only 30% run anything aimed at the community.

That gap is the whole story, and the reason for it is not money. The national study that produced those numbers found senior management interest, not budget, to be the single biggest thing separating companies that give from companies that do not.

In short: Corporate philanthropy in Singapore is a company giving money, staff time or expertise to a cause, judged on what the recipient achieves rather than on how the company itself operates. It is regulated through the Commissioner of Charities, and two tax schemes carry it: a 250% deduction on qualifying donations to an approved Institution of a Public Character, and the Corporate Volunteer Scheme, which gives the same 250% rate on the cost of sending employees to volunteer. Both run to 31 December 2029. Take-up is low, and the national data points at leadership attention rather than cost as the reason.

How many Singapore companies give

The National Corporate Purpose and Impact Study 2025, published by the National Volunteer and Philanthropy Centre on 6 February 2026, surveyed 1,100 companies here, split between 699 SMEs and 401 large enterprises. It is the clearest picture the sector has.

What the study found Figure What it means
Companies agreeing they have a moral duty to support societal goals 79% The belief is close to universal
Companies engaged in the “People” impact area, covering their own employees 94% Almost every company does something inward-facing
Companies engaged in the “Society” impact area, covering the community 30% Outward-facing giving is where the drop happens
Companies active across all five impact areas 21% A fifth treat this as a whole programme rather than one initiative
Median donation among companies that give S$10,000 in 2025, up from S$1,000 in 2021 The companies already giving have raised their commitment tenfold
Median employee volunteer participation rate 70% in 2025, up from 50% in 2021 Where a programme exists, more of the workforce now joins it

Read those last two rows next to the 30%. The pool of companies giving has not widened much. The ones already in it are giving considerably more. Construction, financial and insurance, information and communication, and manufacturing showed the strongest engagement.

What separates it from CSR and from ESG

These three get used interchangeably in the same meeting and they describe different work.

Corporate philanthropy

  • What the company gives away: cash, staff time, expertise, product
  • Sits outside the commercial operation
  • Judged on what the recipient achieves

Corporate social responsibility

  • How the business itself operates: supply chain, emissions, labour practices, governance
  • Sits inside the commercial operation
  • Judged on the company’s own conduct

ESG

  • The reporting layer over CSR
  • A framework investors use
  • Carries disclosure requirements

A company can run an excellent giving programme and still have a problem in its supply chain. The confusion matters because a giving programme is often used to answer a question that is about operations, and it will not hold.

The two frameworks you will be pointed at

If you start a programme here, you will be sent to one of two places, and it is worth knowing what each gives you.

The Sustainable Philanthropy Framework, from the National Council of Social Service, is the more structured. It sets out building blocks for aligning giving with business goals, and its Social Impact Metrics are designed so that what you do can be measured and reported under the social half of ESG. NCSS has since added guidance on applying those metrics in corporate sustainability reporting, including under the Global Reporting Initiative. If your board wants your giving to show up in the sustainability report rather than the newsletter, this is the one.

Company of Good, run by the National Volunteer and Philanthropy Centre, is the community and recognition side. It marked its tenth anniversary in 2026, and 1,046 companies have been conferred under its refreshed recognition system over three years. Between them, those companies contributed nearly S$384 million in donations, over S$85 million in donations in kind, and more than 1.1 million volunteer hours.

The two 250% schemes most companies never claim

Both are sitting there, both are extended to the end of 2029, and both go unclaimed for the same reason: the giving is organised by the communications team and the tax treatment sits with finance.

The first is the ordinary donation deduction. Qualifying cash donations to an approved IPC attract a deduction of 2.5 times the amount given. Budget 2026 extended it to 31 December 2029.

The second is the one companies miss. The Corporate Volunteer Scheme treats the cost of employee volunteering the way the donation scheme treats cash.

  • 250% deduction on qualifying expenditure when employees volunteer, provide services or are seconded to an approved IPC, under section 14Z of the Income Tax Act.
  • Qualifying expenditure covers basic wages plus other related costs the business had to incur to provide the services. It is your staff cost, not a donation.
  • S$250,000 cap per business per year of assessment, and S$100,000 per IPC per calendar year since 1 January 2024.
  • Since 1 January 2024 it also covers volunteering done virtually or away from the IPC’s premises, so online mentoring and tuition count.
  • It runs from 1 July 2016 and Budget 2026 extended qualifying expenditure to 31 December 2029.

Settle these before the volunteering day, not after

Two conditions decide whether you get it. The recipient has to hold IPC status, which is narrower than being a charity, and the deduction is subject to the receiving IPC’s agreement.

The charity versus IPC distinction is covered in philanthropy in Singapore.

How Singapore sits in the region

The Milken Institute’s report Leading Through Transition looked at corporate philanthropy across the five largest ASEAN economies, including Singapore, using a dataset of 250 publicly listed companies and 91 corporate foundations plus interviews with 12 corporate philanthropy executives.

Its headline finding is a useful corrective to foundation envy: only a third of the region’s largest companies have set up a separate foundation, yet most do philanthropic work anyway. You do not need a vehicle to start. The report describes companies moving from charity-driven giving toward strategic, evidence-based approaches, with the shifts running in four directions: aligning giving with sustainability goals, choosing deeper community impact over reach, using data to pick and judge programmes, and reconciling what different stakeholders want out of it.

What it looks like when giving is built into the business

Maria Ahlström-Bondestam, a fifth-generation owner of one of Finland’s oldest family businesses and a long-standing advocate for children’s rights, is a useful example. A. Ahlström Oy’s portfolio companies carry roughly 6 billion euros of combined revenue across 30 countries and 20,000 employees.

Her argument for investing in children is deliberately unsentimental: protect and nurture them and they become adults who contribute, stable societies let businesses thrive, and thriving businesses fund stable societies. She treats it as a defensible allocation rather than a soft one. What makes it corporate philanthropy rather than a foundation running alongside a company is that children’s rights and education are built into the workplace itself. The giving runs through the Eva Ahlström Foundation and Ahlström Collective Impact, with partners including UNICEF.

Measuring it without fooling yourself

Rawan Taha, a monitoring and evaluation specialist working on food assistance with the UN World Food Programme, sees the other side of this. The demanding half of her job is not delivery. It is verification: whether the aid worked, who benefited, and who was missed. That is the standard a corporate programme is eventually judged against, and most never get there.

That is the discipline most corporate giving programmes lack. Volunteer hours logged and dollars donated are inputs. They are easy to count, they look good in a report, and they say nothing about whether anything changed at the other end.

The practical version for a company: before the money moves, write down what you expect to be different in two years, and name the person at the recipient organisation who would tell you if it were not. If you are using the NCSS metrics, that is also the point at which they become useful rather than decorative.

Three areas where programmes can be strengthened

The barrier is usually not money. Niclette Mundabi, an international fundraising strategist who has raised money on the non-profit side and worked inside a global payments company, names the obstacle plainly: the pervasive bureaucracy in both the non-profit and corporate sectors, and the red tape that stalls work before it starts. Her answer is not more budget but fewer steps, and relationships with the people who can remove them. She argues businesses can act as investors and philanthropists at once, which is the whole premise of a corporate programme that lasts.

  1. Spreading it across too many charitiesTwenty small cheques generate twenty relationships to manage and no measurable effect anywhere. Fewer recipients and larger commitments are harder to photograph and considerably more useful.
  2. One-day volunteering that costs the charity more than it givesHosting thirty untrained volunteers for an afternoon takes staff time the organisation does not have. Ask what they need before offering what is convenient to supply. The Corporate Volunteer Scheme rewards secondments and skilled services, which is a hint about what recipients value.
  3. Never claiming the deductionBoth schemes exist, both go unclaimed, usually because nobody confirmed IPC status or got the IPC’s agreement before the activity happened.

Questions companies ask

What is the definition of corporate philanthropy?

A company giving away resources, whether cash, employee time, expertise or product, to a cause outside its own commercial operation, and being judged on what the recipient achieves with them. It is distinct from how the company runs its own business, which is corporate social responsibility.

What is an example of corporate philanthropy?

Funding a multi-year education programme, seconding staff with professional skills to a charity that needs them, or covering an organisation’s core costs rather than a named project. In Singapore, sending employees to volunteer at an approved IPC also counts and qualifies for a 250% deduction under the Corporate Volunteer Scheme.

What are the key differences between corporate philanthropy and corporate responsibility?

Corporate philanthropy is what a company gives away, judged on the recipient’s outcomes. Corporate responsibility is how the company operates, covering supply chain, emissions, labour and governance, judged on the company’s own conduct. A strong giving programme does not offset a weak operating record, and the two are usually owned by different people internally.

Are corporate donations tax deductible in Singapore?

Qualifying cash donations to an approved Institution of a Public Character attract a 250% deduction. Employee volunteering costs attract the same rate under the Corporate Volunteer Scheme, capped at S$250,000 per business per year of assessment and S$100,000 per IPC per calendar year, and subject to the receiving IPC agreeing. Both run to 31 December 2029.

What has replaced CSR?

Nothing has replaced it. Reporting has moved toward ESG, which covers the same operating questions with a framework investors use and disclosure attached. Philanthropy sits outside ESG reporting, which is part of why the two keep getting confused. NCSS’s Social Impact Metrics are an attempt to let giving be reported under the social half of ESG.

How do companies check a charity before giving?

Search the Charity Portal at charities.gov.sg. It shows registration, IPC status, governance evaluation and filed annual reports. Confirm IPC status before the activity rather than after, because both tax schemes depend on it.

If you are starting a programme

Pick one cause and one organisation rather than a shortlist. Confirm IPC status and get the recipient’s agreement in writing before anything happens, so the deduction is available on both cash and volunteering. Decide how long you are committing for, because a smaller amount promised over three years is worth more to a recipient than a larger one renewed annually. Ask the organisation what it needs before designing the programme around what is easy for you to give. And if you want the work counted in your sustainability reporting, start from the NCSS metrics rather than retrofitting them later.

For who regulates all of this and where donor money sits, see philanthropy in Singapore. For how families approach it across the region, see family philanthropy in Asia.

Before you move on

  • Is your programme in the 94% doing something for your own people, or the 30% reaching the community?
  • How many charities are you funding, and could you name what each one achieved last year?
  • Did anyone confirm IPC status and get the IPC’s written agreement before your last volunteering day?
  • Did finance ever see the volunteering cost, or did it stay with communications?

One thing to do this week. Take last year’s giving and send it to whoever files your tax return. Ask one question: how much of this was claimed under either 250% scheme?

Sources

All external sources accessed 10 September 2026.

The Business & Philanthropy Forum 2026 runs 6 to 7 November at Shangri-La Singapore.

Two days with the companies, family offices and foundations doing this work, and the people on the receiving end of it. Reserve a place, or read the interviews first.