Fundraising and Constituency

Fundraising and Constituency

Fundraising

2020 was a record year for AWARE’s fundraising. Thanks to a strong base of regular and new supporters, AWARE raised $2.9 million to continue our growth as the leading women’s rights organisation in Singapore.

We raised 3.8% more in 2020 than in 2019, thanks to significant contributions from corporate and individual donors, as well as the one-time Bicentennial Community Fund. This means that we are able to fill the major $700,000 funding gap left when the government’s Care & Share grant comes to an end in 2021.

Individual gifts

We saw a 165% increase in the sum of individual donations across all platforms, and a 239% increase in the number of individual donations from 2019 to 2020. This was largely due to the overwhelming support we received for our Vulnerable Women’s Fund, and a greater number of peer-to-peer fundraisers.

i) Vulnerable Women’s Fund

During the COVID-19 pandemic, AWARE received the highest number of Helpline calls in our history, especially those pertaining to family violence. In response, we launched the Vulnerable Women’s Fund (VWF) to ensure that we could continue to provide and expand our services throughout the circuit-breaker period, to aid these women in need.

VWF turned out to be AWARE’s most successful donation campaign ever, raising $531,432.59 (through 2,126 donations) for the Women’s Helpline, Sexual Assault Care Centre, S.H.E. Project and our research and advocacy work.

ii) Peer-to-peer fundraising

In 2020, we saw an increase in the number of peer-to-peer (P2P) fundraisers. Putting their various skills and interests to use, our supporters raised funds and awareness by encouraging their peers to donate, typically through Giving.sg and Give.Asia.

These were some of our more successful P2P fundraisers.

OutRAGEous AWAREHouse Party

On 28 November, we held our first ever virtual annual fundraiser, the AWAREHouse Party. More than 300 attendees from all over the island (and around the world!) dressed up in “outRAGEous” party wear and tuned in over Zoom. The AWAREHouse Party raised over $500,000 in support of AWARE’s NextGen campaign, dedicated to nurturing a new cohort of change-makers and ensuring that women and girls continue to receive essential assistance and support.

Partners for the AWAREHouse Party included Bar @ Lorong 13, Grand Hyatt Singapore, Martell, Playground Studio, PPURPOSE, Shooting Gallery Asia, World Scientific, Kah Motor, KOP Limited, MUFG Investor Services and Tan Ean Kiam Foundation.

AWARE members and supporters

AWARE membership increased by 9.5% in 2020 to 646, with the number of renewed members increasing by a full 107%.

i) Annual General Meeting

AWARE held our first-ever virtual Annual General Meeting on 30 May 2020. We were thrilled to be joined by 101 AWARE members, a larger turnout than usual due to the convenience of Zoom.

As 2020 was an election year for the AWARE Board, we also held a virtual “Meet the Candidates” session on 13 May, where 10 candidates introduced themselves to the wider membership and took questions.

Founding member, former journalist and incumbent Margaret Thomas was unopposed running for her second term as President of AWARE. The eight other positions on the Board were successfully contested by Asiyah Arif, Aarathi Arumugam, Wynthia Goh, Elisa Kang, Jean Low, Jasmine Ng, Penelope Shone and Zheng Huifen.

We look to our Board for vision, progressive ideas and empathetic leadership. This new line-up, including three first-timers, has thus far brought energy, talent and diverse life experience to the table. AWARE has already benefited from their committed volunteering for years—but we are especially excited to see what the Board achieves together as a team.

ii) Our amazing allies

2020 was a year that brought out the resilience and extreme dedication of our volunteers and interns. The urgent need for our care services shot up, as the pressures of lockdown took its toll on Singapore society. But our volunteer helpliners, befrienders and legal counsellors rose to the challenge, pouring in extra time and effort. Our advocacy and research volunteers and interns helped us to create deeper awareness and concrete change for women. We are also supported by our strategic volunteers, who advised us and nurtured our strengths. We give our deepest thanks and gratitude to them all.

iii) Our donors

We give a special thank you to the donors who supported us in a very crucial year, with additional gratitude to our corporate partners and donors.

$50,000 and above

Bicentennial Community Fund
Caesar Sengupta
MUFG Fund Services (Singapore) Pte. Ltd.
Tote Board
Uses Private Limited

$10,000-$49,999

BinjaiTree
BHP Billiton Marketing Asia Pte Ltd
Chew How Teck Foundation
David and Catharine Zemans
Hong Leong Foundation
Jian Hao Loh
Madeleine Lee
Nicholas Hanley
Quilt.AI Pte Ltd
Sajni Gill
Sriram Narayanan
Tan Ean Kiam Foundation
The Community Foundation of Singapore
Tolaram Group
Lian Tsui Yee
U.S. Embassy Singapore

$5,000-$9,999

Alexander Bossong
Chan Boon Kheng
Credit Suisse AG
Dymon Asia Capital
Elisa Kang
Holywell Foundation Limited
Tan Hui Yee
Kah Motor Co Sdn Bhd
Marquard & Bahls AG
Sunita Sue Leng
Ng Kok Hoe
Pik Wan Chong
Shyn Yee Ho-Strangas
Tan Chin Tuan Foundation
Twitter Asia Pacific Pte. Ltd.
Wood Mackenzie Asia Pacific Pte. Ltd.
Li Yirong