Singapore charities to receive digital and social networking training

Philip Raskin, managing consultant at Text 100 Singapore, says the PR agency has recently been awarded a new initiative grant by the NVPC to run its ‘Digitalising volunteerism and philanthropy’ programme. He tells Campaign that the programme will provide counselling, hands-on expertise and coaching to help over 200 registered charities, guiding them to be self-sustaining through online channels that drive volunteerism and donations.

The charities can then reach out to new audiences on their own.

“This initiative seeks to assist charities in utilising social media in their fundraising and operations efforts, and to cultivate social media skills in order to help them become self-sufficient in this area,” he said. The NVPC hopes to have 25 percent of registered charities

The aim of this initiative is to have 25 per cent of NVPC charities at least familiar with social media, and with fairly consistent usage.The NVPC called the tender of this two-year initiative grant, which is the centre’s first, in December last year. It was presented at the end of March.

The programme will also involve an event, which will be launched by the end of 3Q, to create awareness of the programme to the public and charities, as well as a networking session for charities and bloggers.

Text 100 will work with all charities for their specific situations, Raskin said. The final phase includes the agency providing social media consultation and developing a social media programme to 20 charities.

“Interested charities can write in for support and we will access their needs based on submitted entries,” Raskin said.