Frequent Asked Questions (FAQ)
Q1. Can I direct the funds that I have raised to specific beneficiaries on the President’s Challenge Beneficiary List?
A1. Yes. Do inform us beforehand, as we may be able to advise you on the amounts you wish to designate based on the needs of the beneficiaries. However, as the President’s Office will usually decide on the sum to be allocated to the beneficiaries based on the amount they need, there may be instances whereby the funds raised by your organisation for a specific beneficiary exceeds the amount allocated for it. For such cases, we seek your understanding that any amount over and above that allocated be redirected to other PC beneficiaries.
Q2. Can I channel some of my proceeds to other charitable causes besides President’s Challenge?
A2. You may direct not more than a third of the funds raised to non-PC beneficiaries. Please seek prior approval from PC Secretariat before the event. However reimbursement limit for expenses will only take into account the portion of funds going towards PC, as it is difficult to justify the reimbursement of a large portion of your expenses in this case.
Q3. Does my organisation qualify for tax deduction or can we get a tax deductible receipt for the funds donated?
A3. If the money had come from your organisation, then you may receive a tax deductible receipt. If it had come from fundraising from individual donors, then these donors are the ones that qualify for tax deduction. Your organisation will still receive a receipt (non-tax exempt) to acknowledge the funds transfer.
Q4. I am not sure who to turn to for help with my queries – is it NCSS or MCYS?
A4. NCSS handles all matters relating to donations and the submission of proceeds. MCYS handles all other matters relating to PC.
Q5. How do I apply to be a PC beneficiary?
A5. In order to be considered as an eligible PC beneficiary, organizations must make have IPC status that is valid at least for a year from request date. There are 2 relevant nomination forms to be filled up - Recurrent or Capital expenditure form. This depends on what your need for funds are. For more details on above forms, please refer to Downloadable Forms link on PC website www.pc.org.sg.
Q6. What are the guidelines on fundraising?
A6. (a) Funding of fund-raising costs for PC events
- Funding for an event/project is subject to a limit of the total expenditure for the event/project or 5% of the proceeds from the event, whichever is lower.
- For funding exceeding such limit, the fund-raisers have to seek prior approval from President’s Office c/o PC Secretariat at least one month before the event. Approval will be on a case-by-case basis.
- Fund-raisers should not net off expenses from the funds raised, as PC had all along operated on the publicly-declared basis of every dollar raised going to the beneficiaries. Where special situations make it impractical for the gross proceeds to be given to PC (for eg, where a fund-raiser allocates only part of amount raised to PC), fund-raisers should obtain the PC Secretariat’s prior agreement before proceeding to organise events and raise funds under the PC banner. Fund-raisers are not allowed to claim any funding for expenses if they have deducted expenses from their collections, i.e. they remit only collections (net of expenses) to PC.
- When claiming funding for expenses, fund-raisers should submit the final consolidated Income and Expenditure statement of their event to the Secretariat and, where practicable, supporting documents to substantiate the figures. For more details, please refer to Info Kit folder, Annex B, in Useful Links.
(b) Donations Collected
Organisers are strongly encouraged to donate all proceeds of your fundraising event towards PC. Costs incurred during fundraising may be covered either by sponsors, the organiser or reimbursement from MCYS (refer to a).
(c) Beneficiaries Designated by Fund-raisers
Fund-raisers may designate not more than one-third of the funds raised by their proposed PC event to non-PC beneficiaries. Fund-raisers are to seek prior approval from PC Secretariat before the event.
Also, where an organiser wishes to donate funds to a specific PC beneficiary, the total amount donated to that beneficiary should not exceed the final amount that the President’s Office will allocate to the said beneficiary (which takes into account its budgetary deficit). Funds raised over and above the allocated amount may be directed to other PC beneficiaries.
Q7. Any procedure to adhere when doing fundraising activities which involves the public?
A7. If you wish to solicit donations from the public, you need to obtain a public fundraising permit from the Singapore Police Force (SPF). This can only be applied for online at http://www.spf.gov.sg/licence/frameset_HH.html.
For any further enquiries, please contact the Licensing Division,
Tel : 6835 0000 Fax : 6226 1089 or
email: SPF_OPS_Licensing@spf.gov.sg.
FAQs and contact information for SPF are available at the top right hand corner of the website.