The Spirit of Giving

Connecting expats to local charitable causes, the team behind non-profit organisation 100 People Doing Good is driven to give back. We chatted to some of its members about this bighearted and inspirational initiative.

- Susannah Jaffer

Embark ing on an expat adventure and all that comes with it – settling into a new job or setting up a new career, finding the right school for the kids, creating a comfortable home and navigating a new environment and culture – can be both thrilling and challenging.

With our hectic schedules and long to-do lists, some could argue that it can also become quite a self-consuming one. Stop and ask yourself this: when was the last time you thought about giving back to your adopted home, instead of continuously trying to build up and improve your own? I asked myself this question recently, and, to be honest, realised I’d given it little thought. Instances of poverty, discrimination, abuse and injustice are better documented and more visible in other Southeast Asian countries – Singapore’s social issues, in comparison, fly slightly under the radar (perhaps because they tend to be less publicised).

That’s why the driving mission behind organisation 100 People Doing Good is exactly that: to raise awareness of charities within Singapore and the causes they fight for. In addition to their day jobs as financial advisors at Globaleye Singapore, each of the team is passionately dedicated towards engaging the expat community with charitable causes through fun, informative and empowering events.

In a nutshell, 100 People Doing Good is providing a space where business and charity meet, work magic and make a difference. Chairman BRIAN GILLIES, board member ISA SCHALLER and events director LISA MONTFORD tell us more.

Give us some background to 100 People Doing Good. Where did the idea spring from?