Helping Others Help Others

By matching donors’ interests with actual causes, the Community Foundation Singapore (CFS) facilitates giving for a greater impact

- Victor Chen

These six years at CFS have definitely been a fulfilling learning journey for me,” says Ms. Catherine Loh. She smiles for the first time since we sat down to discuss how she traded her successful banking career to one in charity – as CEO of CFS. “I developed greater empathy and learned to see things from another person’s perspective. I’m also humbled by the selflessness displayed by so many in the social sector as they strive daily to help their beneficiaries overcome life’s challenges.”

Set up in 2008, CFS currently manages 110 donor funds, including the SR Nathan Education Upliftment Fund, and has raised over S$100 million in total donations. It also works closely with over 400 charities to identify gaps in the community that need support. 

Ms. Loh sees her work as stimulating attempts at innovation and problem solving. “The needs of donors and beneficiaries are always changing, and there are constantly new ways that we can work with donors and charity partners to solve complex social issues.”

A Different Start

The moment she stepped out of the university, Ms. Loh, like most of her peers, began an earnest pursuit of the 5Cs: cash, car, condominium and country club – popular benchmarks of success in the rapidly developing economic powerhouse that Singapore was in the 1980s and ‘90s.

She started her career at the Government of Singapore Investment Corporation, followed by leadership positions in the Singapore offices of Nomura, Lehman Brothers and Goldman Sachs. “I’m very fortunate to have spent many years of my career in banking, which has seen tremendous growth over the past 20 years,” Ms. Loh says. Work in a dealing room was intense – a virtual roller-coaster ride that followed the constant fluctuations in the financial markets. It was also very competitive and profit-driven.