COMMUNITY
INCLUSION AND WELL-BEING
DMAOur community programmes aim to leverage our ICT core competence and our people through general and skilled volunteering.
INCLUSION OF VULNERABLE GROUPS
In FY2015, we conducted a broad range of community programmes that supported these vulnerable groups. Singtel Group’s total community investment* in FY2015 was S$19.87 million (Singtel S$10.1 million, Optus A$8.7 million), which included direct financial support, in-kind charitable sponsorships and staff time.EC1
In support of the Care and Share movement held in conjunction with Singapore’s 50th birthday celebrations in 2015, Singtel contributed S$4.1 million towards Comchest. Of this amount, S$1.1 million was donated to SG Enable to set up and operate the Singtel Enabling Innovation Centre. This is the single largest contribution by a corporate donor to date. The other S$3 million is raised through Singtel Touching Lives Fund (STLF), our flagship philanthropy programme in Singapore.
Since 2002, STLF has been raising money for programmes that help children and youth with special needs. The current six beneficiaries are: APSN Chaoyang School, APSN Tanglin School, Cerebral Palsy Alliance Singapore School, Eden School, MINDS Lee Kong Chian Gardens School and the Singapore Cancer Society (SCS)’s Help the Children and Youth Programme. STLF has since raised over S$30 million for more than 20 beneficiaries.
In FY2015, Singtel also donated over S$1 million to non-STLF charitable organisations and about S$366,000 in-kind sponsorship of telecommunications and media services to charities and social enterprises in Singapore.
The ‘yes’ Optus Community Grants programme is our major initiative supporting inclusion and well-being of young Australians since 2008. We have given out 237 grants to organisations that work with these youths, amounting to over A$1.5 million. Each year, programmes supporting indigenous groups are well represented in the grants distributed.
* We adopted the London Benchmarking Group (LBG) Guidelines to assess and calculate our community investment.
During the year, we awarded 34 Optus Community Grants of up to A$10,000 each to not-for-profit organisations to help them with their good work. An example is the Cobram and District Special School with their Bluearth Active Kids programme that delivers structured fitness plans tailored for children with special needs, teaching them how to incorporate exercise into their daily routines and lead an active lifestyle.
