Is Love I Corinthians 13:13

Caritas Singapore Community Council ANNUAL REPORT 2009 So faith, hope, love remain, these three but the greatest of these is love I Corinthians 13:13 3 Our Mission CONTENTS To provide leadership to the Catholic Message from the Archbishop 01 community in Singapore in fulfilling the FY 2009 Highlights 02 Church’s social mission for the benefit of the broader community. Programmes Our Vision FAITH: DRIVING OUR SOCIAL MISSION 05 Community Strategy 06 To be the hub of a vibrant Church’s social Formation 08 outreach to the broader community and a model of social innovation and HOPE: MOBILISING THE COMMUNITY 11 Christian leadership. Volunteering 12 Fundraising 14 Communications 17 LOVE: ENABLING THOSE WHO SERVE 19 Membership and Capacity Building 20 Shared Services and Support 21 Grant Making 22 Stakeholders 25 Overview 26 The Broader Community 27 The Catholic Community 28 Member Organisations 29 Board of Directors 32 Agape Fund Trustees 34 Committees 35 Executive Team 38 Corporate Information 39 Caritas Singapore was established and registered on 13 September 2006 as the “Catholic Social and Community Council 4 Limited”. On 26 August 2008, it formally changed its legal name to “Caritas Singapore Community Council Limited”. Alive with our social mission With 22 member Now in its third year, Caritas Singapore has come far in achieving the organisations, Caritas aims for which it was established. Singapore can more Caritas Singapore was set up to provide coordination for Catholic effectively be the charity and community organisations. I am pleased that the major umbrella body and Catholic organisations in the community, including Assisi Hospice and Boys’ Town Singapore which recently joined Caritas Singapore, definitive voice for are on board. With 22 member organisations, Caritas Singapore can our Archdiocesan more effectively be the umbrella body and definitive voice for our social outreach and Archdiocesan social outreach and charitable work. charitable work. Pope Benedict XVI in his encyclical, Caritas in Veritate stated: “Testimony to Christ’s charity, through works of justice, peace and development, is part and parcel of evangelisation, because Jesus Christ, who loves us, is concerned with the whole person.” Caritas Singapore has been instrumental in bringing together our charitable organisations to work collectively for the betterment of lives. In the last year, Caritas Singapore has developed a community strategy on how the Catholic community can better serve the broader community. This will call for enhancements to services by existing members as well as the creation of new organisations to fulfil new needs. Apart from its work with its member organisations, Caritas Singapore was also set up to help mobilise the Catholic community in our social mission. The formation programmes of Caritas Singapore on Catholic Social Teachings seek to enlighten the community of their vocation as Catholics. When I attended the Social Mission Alive in August 2009 together with over 900 participants, I could feel our Catholic community growing in understanding and commitment of our work for the poor and marginalised in society. “Faith, hope and love” is the theme of this annual report. It is very apt as it is the basis of Caritas Singapore’s formation and work. God bless you all. Archbishop Nicholas Chia, DD Patron, Caritas Singapore 1 FY 2009 Highlights 22 Aug 2009 Social Mission Alive 2009 18 Aug 2009 CBN Golf for Charity 2009 16 Aug 2009 Lay Apostolate Sunday: Launch of Salt & Pepper – Readings on the Catholic Launch of Giving Hope booklet in conjunction with Social Teachings Charities Week 2009, pages 13, 14 31 Jul 2009 Members’ Talk: Code of Governance for Charities 09 Jul 2009 Launch of Salt of the Earth: A Group Study Guide on the Basic Principles of Catholic Social Teachings, Chinese Edition 03 Jul 2009 Caritas Singapore Parish Ambassadors’ Briefing 26 Jun 2009 Members’ Session: Welcoming Our Members’ Session: Welcoming Our New New Member Organisations Member Organisations, page 20 28 May 2009 Members’ Talk: How to Engage the Media with Effectiveness 15 May 2009 Launch of In Tune with Mission Song Writing Competition 25 Apr 2009 3rd Members’ Forum 27 Mar 2009 Members’ Talk: Economic Crisis? – Help is Available! 07–15 Mar 2009 Launch of Giving Hope booklet in Social Mission Alive, page 8 conjunction with Charities Week 2009 13 Feb 2009 Members’ Talk: Servant Leadership 06 Feb 2009 Caritas Singapore Parish Ambassadors’ Briefing 27 Dec 2008 Caritas Singapore Retreat: Living Simply, Solidarity with the Poor 24 Oct–14 Nov 2008 Social Teachings Talks: What Would Jesus Do? Members’ Talk: Code of Governance for Charities, page 20 2 Organisation Board Members 15 Committee Members (excluding Board Members) 50 Staff 7 Member Organisations 22 Beneficiaries >50,000 Financials1 FY2009 FY2008 Donations and Fees $ 5,738,607 $ 5,780,448 Sponsorships $ 280,302 $ 818,126 Others $ 30,557 $ 34,018 Total Incoming Resources $ 6,049,466 $ 6,632,592 Costs of Charitable Activities $ 3,568,137 $ 2,889,697 Fundraising and Sponsorship Costs $ 273,965 $ 235,782 Governance Costs $ 194,998 $ 178,645 Total Resources Expended $ 4,037,100 $ 3,304,124 Net Incoming Resources $ 2,012,366 $ 3,328,468 Ratios FY2009 FY2008 Funds Raised $ 6,018,559 $ 6,254,981 Fundraising Expenses $ 273,965 $ 235,782 Fundraising Ratio2 4.6% 3.8% Grants Given $ 3,129,326 $ 2,423,525 Other Charitable Expenses $ 438,811 $ 466,172 Programme Ratio3 88% 87% 1 The income and expenditure items have been described in simpler terms than those used in the financial statements found in the Governance and Financial Report 2009. The equivalent terminology used in the report is shown in the brackets: - Donations and Fees (Voluntary Income) - Sponsorships (Activities for Generating Funds) - Fundraising and Sponsorship Costs (Costs of Generating Voluntary Income and Costs of Activities for Generating Funds) 2 Measures fundraising efficiency. Computed based on the formula: FundraisingE xpenses ÷ Funds Raised. 3 Measures funds deployed on charity programmes vs fundraising and overheads. Computed based on the formula: Expenses Spent on Charity Programmes (including Grants) ÷ Total Expenses. 3 “Life as a single mother is not easy as I have to balance work, my children and my aged parents. I attended the programme and met people who are in a similar situation. Their strength, love and their faith in God have helped me tremendously to garner the strength within myself to be the person that I can be.” Jan, 40s A participant of Beginning Experience, an affiliate programme of Family Life Society “I was very depressed when I learnt that I had Stage 4 cancer. I then looked at everything differently. Whenever I feel miserable, the nurse talks to me. It may seem like just words of encouragement, but it makes a very big difference for patients like me who have lost hope.” C Long, 53 A resident of Assisi Hospice “We are surprised that we could learn so much good from People Living with HIV/AIDS. We thought they taught only BAD things. We feared, we learnt (HIV/AIDS education), we grew (case studies), we conquered ourselves – prejudice, fears, complacency and we learnt to help the downtrodden.” Sebastian, Michael and Brian, all 15 Students from St Joseph’s Institution on a Community Involvement Programme at CARE 4 Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. Hebrews 11:1 DRIVING OUR SOCIAL MISSION • Community Strategy • Formation 5 Participants at the Social Mission Alive event held at the University Cultural Centre. 6 CommunityCommunity Strategy Strategy Following up on work done in the last year on a study of six areas of needs in the Singapore society today, namely an ageing population, the disabled and mentally ill, migrants, families at risk and the adverse impact of globalisation, Caritas Singapore has developed an overall Community Strategy. The Community Strategy identifies the gaps in our social outreach and sets out recommendations on how the Archdiocese can better fulfil the Church’s social mission. The recommendations were reviewed with member organisations and a plan setting out key areas of focus and new programmes for the next three years was approved by the Board of Caritas Singapore (see box below for summary). Strategies n Strengthen existing member organisations and help them to extend their work to cover gaps within their scope n Create new groups and organisations to cover new areas of focus n Extend parishes as a front to increase the Church’s social outreach n Increase level of preventive programmes New and enhanced programmes (next three years) n Public education for Catholics, starting with “Dignity of the Elderly” n New parenting education n Coordination of social response n Pilot for community-based services for the elderly n Best practices for parishes n New group for disabled n New group for mental health n Caregiver services n Employment opportunities for the marginalised n Study on shelters for the marginalised n Reviews of member organisations n Follow through on “Study of the Poor” project n Coordination of overseas humanitarian work 7 FormationFormation Caritas Singapore’s formation programmes seek to educate and engage Catholics on the Church’s social teachings through a multi-pronged and multi-faceted approach. Over the last three years, Caritas Singapore, in partnership with the Singapore Pastoral Institute (SPI) and other organisations, have developed several resource materials on Catholic Social Teachings (see opposite page). In the last year, two of these were rolled out. Salt of the Earth (Chinese Edition) was introduced to Chinese-speaking Catholics with the support of the Chinese Apostolate Ministry. Salt and Pepper was released on Lay Apostolate Sunday. Briefing sessions for the group study guides are held regularly throughout the year. To-date, 283 facilitators have attended the briefing sessions and about 2,400 Catholics have signed up to undertake the programme.

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