Epigram Books becomes non-profit Epigram Literary Foundation, sets up expert advisory panel

Home-grown publisher Epigram Books has restructured to become Epigram Literary Foundation, a non-profit entity that it hopes could help it convince more donors to loosen their purse strings.

- Clement Yong

The public company limited by guarantee, or CLG, was incorporated with the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (Acra) on May 1. This is the latest bid by Epigram to keep operations sustainable, after it collaborated with seven other Singapore indie booksellers to launch online bookstore Bookshop.sg.

A CLG differs from a private limited company, where maximising profit for shareholders is the goal of the company. For a CLG, any surplus is meant to be reinvested into the organisation, and they are generally seen to be more credible, requiring approval from Acra that it is serving some public or national interest — in this case, the promotion of the arts.

Founder Edmund Wee, 72, said he had been pondering the move for over a year, but had always been told by lawyers that the restructuring would be difficult until he received the right advice.

Profits have always been meagre, and he has not paid himself a dividend in the 14 years he has run Epigram — so not much would change in that respect, he told The Straits Times.