Ray of Hope champions community cohesion in Singapore through innovative BCC program

Singapore’s first and only crowdfunding charity that helps individuals in financial distress, Ray of Hope is tackling a critical need in the city-state through its Building Community Champions (BCC) program. The BCC is fostering cohesion between the migrant and local community by creating a platform to promote social connectedness, says Ray of Hope, a registered charity and institution of a public character (IPC) founded in 2012 by hedge fund manager Danny Yong.

Speaking to Connected to India, Alicia Altorfer-Ong, Deputy General Manager, Ray of Hope, says BCC spun off from the charity’s annual Beyond Boundaries event in 2022 and 2023.

“The series creates regular opportunities for us to be the best versions of ourselves – because we’re having fun! Migrant volunteers and local volunteers spend a Sunday morning together to befriend and connect. The programme, designed and run by volunteers, typically has an anchor activity, such as football, bowling, frisbee, art jamming, as well as ice breakers,” Alicia says.

Each BCC session has between 80 to 100 volunteers. Around 30 to 40 of these are migrants from four dormitories across Singapore. The session also attracts youth volunteers from various institutions, including St Patrick’s School, St Joseph’s Institution, Singapore University of Social Sciences, and Tampines Meridian Junior College, etc.

Alicia, who joined Ray of Hope as a partnership director in 2020, says she found the charity’s mandate, to serve those who have fallen through the cracks, very compelling and urgent. As per Ray of Hope, the charity has served over 1,200 families and raised more than SGD 21 million for its clients and community causes.

The concept of charity and volunteerism plays a large part in Singapore with people getting into the act early in their lives. Earlier in October, a total of 65 beneficiaries in the country received support from the SGD 9,699,979 in donations raised by the annual flagship fundraiser, President’s Challenge Night, and the inaugural President’s Challenge Walkathon.

Since joining the charity, Alicia has played an active role in growing Ray of Hope by improving several functions.

“Joining a lean organisation also meant that I could tap on the breadth of my professional experience, volunteer and personal experience to make a real contribution to the team,” she says. With expertise in sectors such as banking, development/non-profit, research, project management and corporate training, Alicia ensured that the charity’s front liners were psychologically supported by connecting Ray of Hope with a professional team that offered regular support sessions.

She also designed a mentorship programme and matched the team members with corporate leaders/mentors, so that they had perspectives from beyond the charity sector and more insights on professional development.

Alicia also structured a more formal internship programme, which enhanced Ray of Hope’s capacity to host more interns more meaningfully, as well as to build the team’s ability to tap on the additional human resource.

All these have proved to be fruitful, as Ray of Hope’s impact has extended beyond crowdfunding in the last three years. The charity has worked with over 1,500 volunteers, including corporate volunteers, former clients, migrant and youth volunteers.

“Strategically, the management team recognised that Ray of Hope’s strengths and impact goes far beyond crowdfunding, and can be more accurately described as community building. In addition to mobilising financial capital through crowdfunding, we strengthen social and community capital through volunteerism and partnerships,” Alicia says.

“We consciously design and offer inclusive volunteer opportunities to re-engage with our former clients, who are now Ray of Hope community members. Hence, our volunteer pool is diverse and our events bring together volunteers from different backgrounds.

“Our corporate partnerships are growing steadily. We work with companies which prioritise community engagement and impact, and develop collaborative initiatives to encourage inclusiveness, social connectedness and a deeper understanding of the challenges in the community,” she adds.

The charity is also keeping things fun for its volunteers. In November 2023, Ray of Hope introduced BCC Football as a quarterly series. With that gaining momentum, cricket has been added to the roster. BCC cricket will take place on 27th October with students from St Joseph’s Institution partnering for the event.

Educator and community volunteer Sarabjeet Singh Masson, former President of the Young Sikh Association (YSA) and currently a Subject Head at St. Joseph’s Institution, told CtoI earlier that it is important “not to react but to respond”. “If you’re reacting, you’re letting your emotions take over and direct or dictate your next steps. But if you take a step back and respond, I think that’s where you’re able to think about how we can do this in a human way, in a kind way,” he says.

With plenty more to come in 2025, Ray of Hope is looking forward to building many more community champions in the future and has launched a crowdfunding campaign to cover the meal and transport costs for the series.

“In many ways, Ray of Hope is a bellweather of unmet and emerging needs in Singapore,” Alicia says.