Empower leaders and employees through knowledge-sharing opportunities and active involvement

Foster engagement, shift mindsets, and establish structured programmes for sustainable impact.

Last updated 22 April 2025

Two professionals sharing a light-hearted moment at work. NCSS about empowering leaders and employees for philanthropy.

Overview

Provide information on the benefits of sustainable philanthropy and how leaders and employees can be involved.

Steps and levels

Basic	Intermediate	Advanced
1. Seek and share knowledge for stakeholder buy-in Utilise and share research, success stories, and sector trends to keep leaders and employees engaged and informed that philanthropic efforts are linked to value creation and value protection.	1. Shifting mindset to see philanthropy from the lens of value protection and creation Create or tap onto in-house learning opportunities, such as lunch-and-learn sessions, webinars or discussion forums about philanthropy. Encourage bottom-up initiatives to fully integrate philanthropic culture within all levels of the business.	1. Set up structured volunteer programmes Offer well-structured volunteer programmes, with a variety of engagement options for all staff to cater to their availabilities, thereby easing contribution.
2. Facilitate internal discussions and engagement opportunities Encourage employees to contribute ideas for philanthropic efforts. Cater to their diverse interests and availability to contribute (e.g., long-term commitments in giving, volunteering and socially responsible business practices, ad-hoc volunteering opportunities)	2. Encourage leaders to participate in external events Leaders should attend and actively participate in selected philanthropy-focused events and conferences for learning and exploring strategic partnerships.	2. Nurture a socially responsible mindset Incorporate philanthropy into everyday decisions such that employees are able to identify areas of opportunity within the business operating model to engage in more giving, volunteering and socially-responsible business practices.
3. Spearhead philanthropic efforts Leaders actively involve themselves in championing philanthropic efforts by the business, through strategizing, participating and ensuring sufficient resource allocation.

Basic

Intermediate

Advanced

1. Seek and share knowledge for stakeholder buy-in

Utilise and share research, success stories, and sector trends to keep leaders and employees engaged and informed that philanthropic efforts are linked to value creation and value protection.

1. Shifting mindset to see philanthropy from the lens of value protection and creation

Create or tap onto in-house learning opportunities, such as lunch-and-learn sessions, webinars or discussion forums about philanthropy. Encourage bottom-up initiatives to fully integrate philanthropic culture within all levels of the business.

1. Set up structured volunteer programmes

Offer well-structured volunteer programmes, with a variety of engagement options for all staff to cater to their availabilities, thereby easing contribution.

2. Facilitate internal discussions and engagement opportunities

Encourage employees to contribute ideas for philanthropic efforts. Cater to their diverse interests and availability to contribute (e.g., long-term commitments in giving, volunteering and socially responsible business practices, ad-hoc volunteering opportunities)

2. Encourage leaders to participate in external events

Leaders should attend and actively participate in selected philanthropy-focused events and conferences for learning and exploring strategic partnerships.

2. Nurture a socially responsible mindset

Incorporate philanthropy into everyday decisions such that employees are able to identify areas of opportunity within the business operating model to engage in more giving, volunteering and socially-responsible business practices.

3. Spearhead philanthropic efforts

Leaders actively involve themselves in championing philanthropic efforts by the business, through strategizing, participating and ensuring sufficient resource allocation.

Illustrative examples

Standard Chartered Bank: Set up structured volunteer programmes

Standard Chartered fosters a culture of social responsibility by offering three days of volunteering leave to each employee every year, and nurturing employees as community champions to lead in various community initiatives.

In 2023, close to 5,000 employees based in Singapore volunteered their time and expertise, translating to almost 50,000 hours of serving the community. This year, the Bank has strengthened its skills-based volunteering efforts to leverage on the diverse talents of its workforce to help address societal gaps.

A notable example is Standard Charter’s 3P (public, private and people) partnerships with the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) and various Social Service Agencies (SSAs) in support of the national Digital for Life (DfL) movement, where 1,200 employee volunteers are trained and engaged to promote digital literacy to over 1,200 seniors.

The Bank will also participate in Project V, a national corporate volunteering programme conducted in collaboration with the National Volunteer And Philanthropy Centre (NVPC) and the National Council of Social Service (NCSS). More than 250 employee volunteers will be involved to conduct monthly digital literacy workshops to benefit about 450 seniors over six months.

Such volunteering initiatives provide employees with meaningful opportunities to serve the community, while it also reflects the Bank’s ethos to actively contribute to national social agendas including the Forward Singapore engagement and the Smart Nation initiative to build a caring and inclusive society in Singapore.