Leap Philanthropy

No Singaporean family should get stuck in a poverty cycle.

As we enter the new year, top of mind amongst many Singaporeans is the rising costs of living and a slowing economy. This affects lower-income households more, with recent data showing a decline in real income for those at the bottom 20th percentile.

Workfare currently helps individuals cushion the higher costs of living and save up for longer-term retirement, by topping up their wages through cash and CPF payments. In the years ahead, Leap Philanthropy hopes that their family dependents will also benefit from this scheme.

We believe there needs to be a regular review of the Workfare supplement quantum that takes into account the rising cost of living, and that the cash proportion for workers can be increased. This will help lower-income households to cope with rising living costs and empower them to invest in their own upskilling and their children’s future.

That’s why we have been advocating for boosting the quantum of Workfare since 2020.

As we approach Budget 2024, we are happy to share The Straits Times coverage of our latest Op-Ed on how we can rethink Workfare for lower-income families amid higher living costs - https://www.straitstimes.com/opinion/budget-2024-let-s-rethink-workfare-for-lower-income-families-amid-higher-living-costs (published earlier today, 5 February 2024).

With persistent high inflation and an impending global recession, now is the time to better support lower-income Singaporeans and their family dependents that are most in need. Paving the way to a fairer and stronger society for all.

Executive Summary of Op-Ed – https://leap201.org/new_media/budget-2024-lets-rethink-workfare-for-lower-income-families-and-higher-living-costs/

Budget 2024: Let’s rethink Workfare for lower-income families amid higher living costs Increasing the cash portion and accounting for inflation and the household size can provide more financial stability. Read more at straitstimes.com.

We are proud to present our 2023 Annual Report ‘Advancing Impact, Transforming Lives’.

A major milestone for us has been surpassing our goal of 1 million lives impacted, an aspirational goal since our inception in 2012. This is two years earlier than our initial timeline!

Read more about our latest work here: https://leap201.org/annualreport2023/. This year’s Annual Report is also available in digital format for easy reading and sharing.

Join hands with us, as we double down on our efforts to empower vulnerable communities in Singapore and in Southeast Asia.

As our Founder and Board Chairman Michael Lien shares in the report, LEAP201’s success would simply not have been possible without the tireless efforts of our Board, staff, consultants, senior volunteers and programme partners!

If you are interested to find out more about what we do or who we help, please reach out to us at [email protected]. We are always looking to collaborate to further enhance the work for the community.

The story of how Boost Capital validated their idea in a weekend 👇:
✅ An Idea (to offer banking services digitally in Cambodia)
✅ Built and launched a chatbot (in 1 weekend)
✅ Bought $10 bucks of Facebook Ads

This led to over 500 people quickly applying for loans.

1 month later… Boost Capital issued it’s first loan 🚀 🚀

Listen to this interesting interview, as the founders of Boost Capital (Lucinda Revell , Gordon Peters ) discuss their founding story and the excitement behind getting into Iterative’s 2023 Winter Batch 🎉

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In April 2022, LEAP201 was thrilled to announce that we provided Boost Capital with a round of financing.

Iterative on LinkedIn: Welcome to Iterative, Boost Capital! Welcome to Iterative, Boost Capital! Stoked to be working with Lucinda Revell and Gordon Peters 🎉 Fun fact: They ran an ad on Facebook for the business idea…

It was worth the wait! Everyone was buzzing.

It’s been 4 long years since the Leap Family has been able to come together.

Donors, directors, partners and volunteers packed out the ART Restaurant, at the National ART Gallery, filling the venue with laughter and warmth.

New connections were made and old friends celebrated, making Leap201’s Social Innovation Dinner an undeniable success.

This is the first of several posts as we celebrate the evening and everyone who helped make it an event that we are all very proud of.