PUBLIC CONSULTATION ON PROPOSED INDICATORS ON THE CHARITY PORTAL

Public Consultation on Proposed Indicators on the Charity Portal

SUMMARY

1. The Office of the Commissioner of Charities is seeking public feedback on the proposed compliance and governance indicators which will be displayed for each charity on the Charity Portal so as to help donors make informed giving decisions. This public consultation will run from 14 December 2021 to 4 January 2022.

BACKGROUND

2. Currently, each charity maintains an organisation profile on the Charity Portal which is accessible to the public. The organisation profile provides an overview of the charity (for example objectives, activities and particulars of board members) and the charity’s annual submissions filed in the last 3 financial years.

3. Under the different tabs, members of the public can view the details of the charity’s activities, financial information and regulatory compliance. Please refer to Annex A for an example of how an organisation profile on the Charity Portal currently looks like.

4. While the information published on the Charity Portal will enable donors to make informed giving decisions, some donors may prefer more concise data to ensure that the charities which they are donating to are well-governed. 

5. Hence, the Office of the Commissioner of Charities intends to extract key information submitted by charities and present them in a simple format for donors to see, at a glance, where a charity stands in terms of regulatory compliance and adoption of best practices. 

PROPOSED INDICATORS

6. For a start, this initiative will involve only Institutions of a Public Character (IPCs). 

7. The proposed indicators are:

(a) Compliance status of the IPC’s regulatory submissions for the latest financial year;

(b) Whether the audit opinion in the Independent Auditor’s Report on the IPC’s latest financial statements has been qualified; 

(c) Level of compliance with the Code of Governance for Charities and IPCs; and

(d) Charity Transparency and/or Charity Governance Awards received by the IPC.

[Note: No additional data will need to be submitted by IPCs in relation to the above indicators. The information will be extracted from IPCs’ existing submissions to the Commissioner of Charities, where relevant.]

8. In addition to the above indicators, we intend to provide an “Other Information” free-text field. This will be an optional field with a 500-character limit, maintained by the IPCs so that they can enter other relevant information such as explanations for outstanding regulatory submissions or modified auditor opinion. 

9. Please refer to Annex B for an example of how the indicators will look like. 

10. IPCs will be given sufficient notice period before the indicators go ‘live’ on the Charity Portal.

FEEDBACK SOUGHT

11. From 14 December 2021 – 4 January 2022, all charities and interested members of the public are invited to provide your comments and feedback on:

(a) How the indicators (as provided in paragraphs 7 and 8) should be presented; and 

- Suggestions on how and where the indicator should be presented on the charity’s profile page.

(b) What information should be presented 

- Feedback on the proposed indicators, and/or suggestions on what other information should be included (either in place of or in addition to the current proposed indicators).

- Please note that the indicators are intended to be concise and help donors see, at a glance, where a charity stands in terms of regulatory compliance and adoption of best practices.

12. The comments and feedback can be submitted via email to: MCCY_Charities@mccy.gov.sg with the subject: “Consultation on Proposed Indicators on Charity Portal”.

13. All written comments and feedback should include your name, and the organisation you represent (if applicable) as well as contact details (email address and/or telephone number) to enable us to follow up and seek clarification, if necessary. 

14. We seek your understanding that the Office of the Commissioner of Charities will not be able to individually acknowledge or address every comment received and that we can only consider comments and feedback that are received by 4 January 2022. Thank you.

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