BY SARAH TAM After this year’s COP26, where does this leave philanthropists working to address climate change? Sarah Tam, APC’s new Programme Lead for its recently-launched Climate Collective, shares her thoughts. Recently, world leaders gathered in Glasgow for the 26th Conference of the Parties (COP) with one mission in mind: to keep the goal of limiting temperature rise to 1.5oC. Two weeks of intense negotiations delivered a new global agreement – the Glasgow Climate Pact – that aims to reduce the worst impacts of climate change. Beyond this, bold commitments were made to curb methane emissions, halt and reverse forest loss,…
Onwards to a Flourishing Future: Eight Lessons from venn2021
BY THERESA CUA At long last: after two years, APC members were finally able to meet once again at venn last November. In a first-ever hybrid meeting, venn saw its largest gathering yet—with over 60 APC members, family, and guests coming together both in-person in Sentosa, and calling in from across the world for three days of learning, reflection, and discussion. With the pandemic creating tremendous, rippling changes across society—upending systems, reversing progress on SDGs, pushing many back into poverty—the time is ripe for reflection. What has changed? What have we learned? How do we adapt? How do we build…
Hope for the Future
BY LAURENCE LIENCHAIRMAN AND ACTING CEO I just returned from my first trip overseas in 21 months, a family vacation as far away from Singapore as I possibly could go—to enjoy city life in the East Coast of the US, and then the great outdoors in Arizona. It was a thrill to just get out. But for us, the biggest highlight of the trip was something quiet—hiking—in Sedona, with its stunning and unique rock formations. There is something innate in us, even for my sons who are total urbanites, that simply connects with nature. The best architecture in the world…
A Note from our CEO: Moving into the Post-COVID Norm
Dear Members, It has been more than a year of COVID-19. A year ago, we were busy pivoting our work and programming online, and fighting the proximate effects of COVID-19. Today, the preoccupation is on vaccination and on the world that we transit to. What is the new normal? What are we doing at APC during this transition? I will pick up on three themes: existential, flourishing and hybrid. One, existential. The pandemic has brought attention to the crucial need for us to address existential threats. COVID-19 is not even the most serious pandemic human kind has experienced. If one…
Reconnecting to Build Back Better
BY PRIYAKA NAGPALDHINGRA With aspirations to do more in the coming years and fuelled with heightened sensitivities during the pandemic year, the two-hour Building Back Better for the Future was a great opportunity for our members to gather and reconnect with one another. Everyone not only got to share their projects and plans with passion, but also bonded with peers who had walked similar paths in times packed with uncertainty and unforeseen challenges. It was also the first time we were all able to convene after venn2019 in such a large number, with the spirit of connecting with camaraderie evident…
An Indonesian reunion in Singapore
BY STACEY CHOE It was exactly a year ago that the APC Indonesia chapter met in Jakarta to celebrate Victor’s birthday. Back then, the COVID-19 threat had not even taken hold in Indonesia, whose government declared that they had no cases. A year on, many of our Indonesian members are in Singapore to take shelter during this period, and the group met up again in this neighbouring land to catch up in person. We did not forget the ones who were still in Jakarta, and the gathering thus became a hybrid—with Angelica and Tjahjadi zooming in together with other foundation…
Supporting Innovation to Address Environmental Sustainability
BY MIRA NADARAJAH As the COVID-19 pandemic took over the public consciousness in 2020, it was easy to lose sight of persisting and pertinent global issues such as climate change and environmental degradation. As such, we thought it fit to bring sustainability back into focus with APC’s first call for collaboration event of the year. In this third installment of the series, which allows APC members to share organisations and projects they are passionate about, Kathlyn Tan and Pierre Lorinet shared their own work in environment and sustainability initiatives and invited the Good Food Institute (GFI) and Nexus for Development…
Exploring Eastern and Western Philosophies of Giving
BY CHAI NING “Is there such a thing as ‘Asian Philanthropy’?” Christy Davis, Executive Director of the Lien Centre for Social Innovation (LCSI) threw this question to the panel assembled for a fireside chat examining differences and similarities between eastern and western giving. Looking at our APC members, the answer is more or less a resounding yes—but what is ‘Asian Philanthropy’? What makes it different from philanthropy in the West? What are some of the opportunities to be found and unique challenges faced by philanthropists in the region? Panellists Laurence Lien, APC Co-Chair and Co-Founder, Pierre Lorinet, Chairman of the…
Mental Health Matters, Too: Strengthening Mental Health Care in Singapore
BY JING NING LEE The severity of mental health issues in Singapore has been sobering. In 2018, 607 children between the ages 7 and 18 were admitted into public hospitals for mental health conditions in Singapore. This has led APC members to consider how philanthropy can contribute to strengthening mental health care, particularly for children and youths. APC invited Dr Robyn Mildon, Founding Executive Director of the Centre for Evidence and Implementation (CEI), Maryanna Abdo, Managing Director of CEI, and their team to offer their perspectives on the mental health landscape in Singapore, and how philanthropic work in this space…
Are the Arts Truly ‘Non-essential’?
by THERESA CUA At the height of Singapore’s COVID-19 lockdown in 2020, The Sunday Times published a survey that shook the arts sector in the country. In a list of jobs deemed essential to keep Singapore going in times of crisis, respondents ranked artists #1…in the list of least essential jobs. Yet—are they really? In this age of Netflix marathons, listening to music on Spotify, and browsing media content adorned with slick graphics on a mobile device meticulously crafted by product designers, can we really say that the very creative industries that have fuelled our survival-by-entertainment during the pandemic are…