Blog

REAL estate group CapitaLand launched its inaugural Community Resilience Initiative on Tuesday (Feb 25) with a commitment of S$3 million made through its philanthropic arm CapitaLand Hope Foundation (CHF). It aims to provide funding to social resilience projects by non-profit organisations focusing on improving the lives of vulnerable children and youth in Asia.

The three focus impact areas for the projects are education, skills development, and physical and mental health and well-being.

CHF is holding a regional grant call for non-profit organisations in CapitaLand’s key markets of Singapore, China, India and Vietnam. Participants can submit their proposed projects by Apr 25.

In an exclusive interview with The Business Times, Miguel Ko, chairman of CHF and chairman of CapitaLand Investment, said: “Singapore is our homeground, and although it is an affluent society overall, there are still a lot of needs among the youth and children.”

He added that there are also “further needs” among local communities in China, India and Vietnam, where CapitaLand already has a “long-term presence” and “well-established business”.

CapitaLand partnered AVPN – the largest network of social investors in Asia – for this initiative. Its launch was announced at the AVPN Southeast Asia Summit 2025, held in Singapore.

Naina Subberwal Batra, chief executive of AVPN, said that the organisation, with its network and expertise in managing philanthropic funds, is “well-positioned” to support CapitaLand’s mission by identifying impactful organisations and ensuring the fund’s strategic effectiveness, among others.

Noting that this is the first time CapitaLand is collaborating with AVPN, Ko added: “We are making sure that we do this in a way that is professional, effective and making sure that every dollar we spend is being maximised and (providing) the highest return on investment that we put into charities.”

Applications will be assessed based on the project’s social impact and potential outcomes. The projects should be scalable and implemented across any of CapitaLand’s four key markets.

Amplifying impact

Education and skills development helps to improve social mobility, making them key impact areas for the Community Resilience Initiative.

Ko said: “The initiative enables us to source for like-minded partners and stakeholders in the region in supporting social capital, social infrastructure and social inclusion solutions.”

Some examples of social resilience projects are inclusive education to raise awareness of the challenges faced by persons with disabilities, or providing resources for early childhood education.

By investing in projects that target education and upskilling, children and youth can gain access to “more equal opportunities” in society, he added.

As a real estate group, CapitaLand can leverage its expertise in providing the “hardware” of schools – physical infrastructure – and “software” – resources such as technology, educational materials and even volunteers. This creates a better learning environment for children and youth.

Mental health and well-being have also emerged as an impact area in recent years. “Providing children with just the textbook or computer to learn is not enough. They might come from disadvantaged families, so we need to help them (in terms of) mental wellness,” he said.

CHF can support non-profit organisations by providing the resources and funding that they lack. These organisations do more work on the ground, and are more knowledgeable about the local communities where they operate.

Ko said: “We like to partner stakeholders in order to allow every dollar we spend to go further – this is what we call the multiplier effect. Every company has limited resources, and ours is no different. So we’re trying to ensure that we leverage our stakeholders at large to create a more impactful, resilient and long-term sustainable programme for the foundation.”

Two decades of uplifting communities

The launch of the Community Resilience Initiative was held in conjunction with CapitaLand’s 25th anniversary and CHF’s 20th anniversary.

Since 2005, CHF has supported more than 520,000 beneficiaries, including children, youth and seniors. It has donated more than S$64 million and funded more than 150 initiatives as at Dec 31, 2024.

The CapitaLand Hope School programme has been CHF’s signature programme since 2005. The group has supported the refurbishment of 33 schools in China, India and Vietnam, benefiting more than 29,000 children so far.

On a yearly basis, the group’s staff as well as members of the board will travel to these key markets for CapitaLand’s International Volunteer Expedition (IVE) to engage with the local community at the schools supported by the Hope School programme.

Besides refurbishing the school, CapitaLand works with local non-profit organisations to support the students and improve their numeracy and literacy skills, and provides resources.

In the two years Ko has served as CHF chairman, he has gone on two trips to India and Vietnam under IVE where staff are rallied to improve the environment of schools under the CapitaLand Hope School programme, which he called a “very involved” process.

“We have a couple hundred staff trying to help refresh the schools. They took part in helping, leading and guiding the children in their classes,” he told BT.

Volunteerism is also integral to CHF’s efforts. CHF has ongoing programmes for its other group of beneficiaries – seniors in need.

As part of the #LoveOurSeniors initiative, Ko participates in regular food delivery programmes for seniors who are not as mobile.

In October last year, CapitaLand also organised a carnival for nearly 1,000 seniors to foster inclusion and facilitate social interaction.

The IVE and #LoveOurSeniors carnival were part of the group’s broader #GivingAsOne campaign, which rallies its staff, partners and customers to give back to the community.

From September to October 2024, in the fourth edition of the campaign, CapitaLand supported more than 13,000 children, youth and seniors globally, with more than 8,900 staff, tenant and community volunteers involved.