Why the tape?
-
This is a story of how a person seeking to do some good here can feel like a lab mouse in a maze.
It’s a simple story, really. A group of friends and me wanted to raise some funds from friends to donate to an organization working to prevent blindness. Simple? Not quite. Apparently the organization is a “foreign charitable cause”, legally speaking, and we need a permit.
Ok, no problems – after all, we have honorable intentions so it shouldn’t be a problem getting a permit right. Jeez, it appears like we need some kind of proof of the foreign entity being a bona-fide organization, an acknowledgment letter, its constitution, and detailed information on the estimated expenses from the raised funds. Wow, I wonder how spontaneous this international organization raising hundreds of millions will be to our little group hoping to raise a few thousand bucks. Well, we can still try.
Oops, but it seems as though permits are not given to individuals. If we want to avoid the legal implications associated with setting up a company or a trust, we could set up a society. Oh wait, the Registrar of Societies requires at least ten persons to set up a society. And we need a “place of business”. Plus it can’t be a HDB flat, so we’ll have to find some commercial location maybe. Wait a minute, what business?
Sanity check – to go through our with intention of raising say a small sum of $3000, we’ll need (i) ten people to form a society (ii) a private house / rented commercial location to conduct our “business” (iii) about $300-$400 in all to register the society and get a permit (which incidentally accounts for 10% of the amount we hope to raise), and (iv) about 1 month for all applications, or 3 months if we don’t qualify under the “Automatic Registration” process.
Great stuff. Our little group of friends was faced with the dilemma of proceeding illegally (here in Singapore? No way), searching for another cause to support or let our “baby” be stillborn.
Pardon all the seeming sarcasm, but I must admit to being frustrated by the red tape. I mean, IÂ’m a rational educated working class adult so I can understand the need for regulations and controls, especially in the wake of the NKF saga. In fact, I applaud it. Having donations from the public being misused is one big turn-off for people willing to support a good cause. It also taught people to be more conscious about where their donated funds are going, reducing the opportunities for charlatans.
But we’re just asking friends to help. And we don’t draw 600k a year. In fact, we don’t intend to take a single cent from the funds raised. 3 main questions for the relevant authorities – (i) shouldn’t the intensity of regulations be driven by the scale of operations? Say, relax the requirements for having a place of business, or better yet doing away with the need for permits for fund raisings below a certain amount? (ii) Do we really need months and a few hundred bucks to do something this small? (iii) It should be possible to maintain a list of credible foreign charities that wouldn’t misuse our donations. Isn’t it? Imagine the trouble they have providing all such documentation to thousands of helpful teams all over the world if all countries follows such legislation.
I wonder how many other groups of friends have faced such issues before, and how much more they would have contributed if not bound hands-and-legs by red tape. Just as importantly, in a time when the Government is re-invigorating the nation to be increasingly engaged and socially responsible, one can’t help but question – does it have to be all so complex?
[The above has been sent to ST Forum] -
After the nkf let-down by the ministers many charity people will eventually drop out of charity works due to a deep sense of betrayal leaving dear government wondering what they have to do with the suffering going on due to its own persistent sucking of monies from the poor and middle class citizens.
Government may be in a cross-road of sorts where their only resource is being checked by public scandals while it has not come up with correct policies to address the large social problems caused by its taxing and recovering all possible costs and all the sucking of monies in the guise of setting up of glcs to avoid our becoming a welfare state which is far from being the case.
So the problem of whether to support charity works or to put up a facade to check on them by pure pretentiousness despite their own self-reward scheming going to the higher pitch is at a most tricky balance. -
if you are collecting money from frens you apply permit for wat ? unless you are going to raise from public. otherwise just collect the $$ and send to the org loh.Originally posted by Allee:This is a story of how a person seeking to do some good here can feel like a lab mouse in a maze.
It’s a simple story, really. A group of friends and me wanted to raise some funds from friends to donate to an organization working to prevent blindness. Simple? Not quite. Apparently the organization is a “foreign charitable cause”, legally speaking, and we need a permit.
Ok, no problems – after all, we have honorable intentions so it shouldn’t be a problem getting a permit right. Jeez, it appears like we need some kind of proof of the foreign entity being a bona-fide organization, an acknowledgment letter, its constitution, and detailed information on the estimated expenses from the raised funds. Wow, I wonder how spontaneous this international organization raising hundreds of millions will be to our little group hoping to raise a few thousand bucks. Well, we can still try.
Oops, but it seems as though permits are not given to individuals. If we want to avoid the legal implications associated with setting up a company or a trust, we could set up a society. Oh wait, the Registrar of Societies requires at least ten persons to set up a society. And we need a “place of business”. Plus it can’t be a HDB flat, so we’ll have to find some commercial location maybe. Wait a minute, what business?
Sanity check – to go through our with intention of raising say a small sum of $3000, we’ll need (i) ten people to form a society (ii) a private house / rented commercial location to conduct our “business” (iii) about $300-$400 in all to register the society and get a permit (which incidentally accounts for 10% of the amount we hope to raise), and (iv) about 1 month for all applications, or 3 months if we don’t qualify under the “Automatic Registration” process.
Great stuff. Our little group of friends was faced with the dilemma of proceeding illegally (here in Singapore? No way), searching for another cause to support or let our “baby” be stillborn.
Pardon all the seeming sarcasm, but I must admit to being frustrated by the red tape. I mean, IÂ’m a rational educated working class adult so I can understand the need for regulations and controls, especially in the wake of the NKF saga. In fact, I applaud it. Having donations from the public being misused is one big turn-off for people willing to support a good cause. It also taught people to be more conscious about where their donated funds are going, reducing the opportunities for charlatans.
But we’re just asking friends to help. And we don’t draw 600k a year. In fact, we don’t intend to take a single cent from the funds raised. 3 main questions for the relevant authorities – (i) shouldn’t the intensity of regulations be driven by the scale of operations? Say, relax the requirements for having a place of business, or better yet doing away with the need for permits for fund raisings below a certain amount? (ii) Do we really need months and a few hundred bucks to do something this small? (iii) It should be possible to maintain a list of credible foreign charities that wouldn’t misuse our donations. Isn’t it? Imagine the trouble they have providing all such documentation to thousands of helpful teams all over the world if all countries follows such legislation.
I wonder how many other groups of friends have faced such issues before, and how much more they would have contributed if not bound hands-and-legs by red tape. Just as importantly, in a time when the Government is re-invigorating the nation to be increasingly engaged and socially responsible, one can’t help but question – does it have to be all so complex?
[The above has been sent to ST Forum] -
Nay not so easy. There are 2 (sorry many) different kinds of permits for fund-raising. One has to do with public collection of funds. Which we don't need since it's within friends.
The other is required so long as you're giving to a charity out of Singapore, ie: "foreign charitable causes". That's THE problem. Ok, I can understand the need for a permit; "charities" are the best front for money laundering, terrorist funding, etc but the requirements for the permit are just ridiculous.
Check out this url.
https://www.charities.gov.sg/charity/index.do -
welcome to singapore!!!
-
wat org are you donating to any website of it ?Originally posted by Allee:Nay not so easy. There are 2 (sorry many) different kinds of permits for fund-raising. One has to do with public collection of funds. Which we don't need since it's within friends.
The other is required so long as you're giving to a charity out of Singapore, ie: "foreign charitable causes". That's THE problem. Ok, I can understand the need for a permit; "charities" are the best front for money laundering, terrorist funding, etc but the requirements for the permit are just ridiculous.
Check out this url.
https://www.charities.gov.sg/charity/index.do -
Welcome to the land run by a xenophobic megalomaniac who is eternally on his guards against his foes - be they real, imagined or potential...
Truth be told, the whole sham about the way the registration of society functions and the due processes which are required for the soliciting of funds stem from the xenophobic fascist's fears of his regime being threatened - it's not exclusively directed at charitable causes. If you're interested, Francis Seow's "To Catch a Tartar" offers a concise lowdown on the despotic measures adopted by this regime to cripple any threats to it - inevitably, some of these measures in place would impact on other facets of life without the slightest political implication.
-
Well anyhows we did an event anyway and gave the moola to a local home for kids.
Check it out www.seeingisbelieving.org.uk/bethediff. -
The page cannot be foundOriginally posted by Allee:Well anyhows we did an event anyway and gave the moola to a local home for kids.
Check it out www.seeingisbelieving.org.uk/bethediff.