NATIONAL VOLUNTEER & PHILANTHROPY CENTRE SURVEY

Charity begins at workplace

By Cheryl Ong

IT SEEMS to go against that age-old saying, but a survey by the National Volunteer & Philanthropy Centre (NVPC) has found that charity begins at the workplace, not at home.

Its biennial survey this year found that employers have a big part to play in getting their staff into volunteer work.

Of the 1,815 people polled, eight in 10 who used to volunteer, and half of those who had never done so, said they would get into it if their bosses organised events for them.

Speaking on Friday night at the National Volunteer & Philanthropy Awards at the Istana, NVPC chairman Stanley Tan thus urged companies to step up to the plate.

Companies need to move away from ad-hoc giving to a more targeted approach, he said, adding: 'They will need to understand community needs and structure their giving to make a difference over the long-run.'

President S. R. Nathan was on hand to give out awards to individuals as well as corporate and public sector organisations that have done this exceptionally well, benefiting needy individuals and charities in the process.

Comment: I feel that doing charity and being a volunteer for such events is whether people have the heart and willingness to do it or not. According to the survey, employees said that they would get into it if their bosses organised events for them. The question is that are they doing it for the job because it is an order from their bosses or they are doing it because they want to but lack of time? I feel that if there is a will to do it, we can definitely find time to do so but its whether we want to or not. Of course some people may have help out the poor and others by just by donating and not doing volunteer work as they are not exposed to such events. As Singapore mostly only advertise about charity shows which encourage us to donate or at most marathons, walks that we can join to show our support. But it is rare that people are aware that there are actually event that we can join as volunteer to help out and bring joy to this people who are less fortunate. Therefore, i think that the government should have more advertisements on tv or the internet on how we can volunteer ourselves in such events, school posting posters or having talks which encourages people to contribute to the society.


Clement Juan