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| Citi Foundation grants form a significant part of Citi's community investment in Asia Pacifiic. |
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| View Citi Foundation grants |
| Citi Singapore's citizenship priorities are financial and economic education, youth education, and employee volunteerism |
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| Business Presence |
| Citi established a presence in Singapore in 1902, and is now the country's largest banking employer with some 9,000 employees. Its operations encompass consumer banking, corporate and investment banking, and private banking. Citibank Singapore has 19 branches, more than 135 ATM locations, 500 Citibank-AXS co-branded terminals, and 106 ATMs via the atm5 network. |
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| Citizenship History |
Since 2002, Citi Singapore has given S$5.7 million (US$4.2 million) in Citi Foundation grants involving long-term community partners such as:
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The Learning Society www.learningsociety.org.sg for youth financial education and entrepreneurship programmes - the Stock Challenge, Making $ense of Money, the Adventures of Agent Penny, and Ideas in Action - which have benefited more than 200,000 students at over 50% of schools in Singapore.
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National Institute of Education www.nie.edu.sg for the Citi-NIE Financial Literacy Hub for Teachers that is helping 500 teachers increase their own financial literacy, and incorporate financial education into their classroom lessons.
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| Since 2005, Citi staff and businesses have given S$2 million (US$1.4 million) to the Mainly I Love Kids (MILK) Fund www.milk.org.sg and The Straits Times School Pocket Money Fund both of which help disadvantaged children and youth. |
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| Inspiring Young Community Leaders |
| Singapore has nearly 400 registered Voluntary Welfare Organisations (VWOs) that serve the community, with a special focus on disadvantaged groups. One of the main challenges faced by VWOs is the need to access regular and diverse sources of funding to expand their services. At the same time, many young Singaporeans are interested in getting involved in community projects, but do not know how. |
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In 2007, Citi Singapore and the YMCA of Singapore celebrated the fifth year of Citibank-YMCA Youth for Causes (YFC) www.youthforcauses.com, a highly successful programme that gives young Singaporeans the chance to support VWOs and develop community leadership skills for the long term. In the last three years, YFC has received national endorsement by being included in the President's Challenge, an annual community campaign initiated by the President of Singapore.
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To participate in YFC, youths aged 15-35 years form teams of four, choose a VWO to support, and submit a project proposal. Selected teams then receive seed funding of S$1,600 (US$1,100) each to implement their project over 16 weeks with the guidance of a counsellor from the VWO, as well as a mentor from Citi or YMCA.
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The 2007 YFC programme was the biggest so far. The organisers received 228 proposals of which 105 were selected and given seed funding of S$151,400 (US$109,800). The teams collectively mobilised 15,000 volunteers, reached 1 million people through their campaigns, and raised a total of S$630,500 (US$457,100) for 52 VWOs.
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| One of the 2007 teams was "Simply A Nice Expression" (SANE), formed by four National University of Singapore students. SANE chose to support the Simei Care Centre, a rehabilitation centre for people with psychiatric disabilities. SANE mobilised 100 volunteers to create and sell customised greeting cards, which raised S$8,700 (US$6,300) for the Centre. SANE also worked with the Centre to teach residents how to produce and sell cards themselves. |
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Sebastian Seet, a rehabilitation counsellor at the Centre, said, "The SANE project raised valuable funding for the Centre, but even more importantly, it has trained our patients to make cards and do outdoor sales. This helped to build their confidence and increase their financial independence."
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| Following the YFC project, the SANE team set up |
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Team SANE was one of 105 teams that took part in Citibank-YMCA's Youth for Causes programme in 2007, and their greeting cards project is now providing a more sustainable source of funding for the Simei Care Centre.
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kHEARTS, a social enterprise to produce and sell cards, in partnership with the Centre's residents. kHEARTS has now been handed over to the Centre and provides a more sustainable source of funding for the Centre and its residents.
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Since the programme's inception, more than 200 Citi Singapore employees have volunteered as mentors for the youth teams, and as judges to select the winning teams. In 2008, Citi staff also plan to take part in YFC Skills Enhancement Workshops to provide the youth teams with more structured training on project management and financial management.
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| For more information about Citi Singapore and its citizenship activities, please go to: www.citibank.com.sg |
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