Field trip held to boost donations to green causes in Singapore

Giving to environmental space lags behind other areas like social service and welfare

- Ang Qing

Donations to environmental causes in Singapore have lagged behind areas like social service and welfare, accounting for 4 per cent of giving here in 2023.

Giving to environmental causes accounted for just $510,000, or about 1.78 per cent of grants disbursed between April 2024 and March 2025 by the Community Foundation of Singapore (CFS), which pools and facilitates donations.

Noting the low support, CFS on June 10 held its first trip for donors to learn—occasionally hands-on—about efforts in the environmental and climate space, in a bid to accelerate giving to these areas.

More than 30 people, comprising private and corporate donors, as well as CFS' partners, participated in the visit to ITE College East in Simei, where they attended talks and a tour of the campus' sustainability initiatives.

Addressing current and prospective donors on the visit, NUS Centre for Nature-based Climate Solutions deputy director Adrian Loo said: "I think the environment is like planting a tree.

"You don't plant it for this generation, you plant it for the next generation."

The former National Parks Board director recalled how visitors would take refuge in the coolness of Singapore's forests during the Covid-19 pandemic, instead of parks. It was a demonstration of the key role that nature can play for people.