Mr. Hairmann Hayak, the Managing Director of Giving Fridays, attended the second Crypto Philanthropy session held on July 29, 2022. The event was co-organised by Asia Blockchain Association and National Volunteer And Philanthropy Centre.

 

The National Volunteer and Philanthropy Centre, also known as NVPC, is a foundation where individuals, organisations, and leaders come together to give their best for others. It is known to be the steward of the City of Good vision for Singapore.

The foundation thrives on the concept that Singaporeans need to strive towards benefiting others in the society rather than being focused on themselves alone. It believes that coming out of a mindset of being too self-centered is possible for our nation and is the path towards the success of the community as a whole. The more considerate we are towards others, the more we can make everyone in the society feel secure and cared for, including those who are less privileged.

In other words, NVPC aims to convert Singapore into a City of Good where being mindful, considerate, and generous becomes a regular norm of people’s character and lifestyle.

Individuals who care for each other and make a move to improve the society for all have the potential to inspire others to do the same, resulting in a community where individuals are more focused on giving to others instead of selfishly piling up material things for themselves.

Evidence of this theory lies in the happenings of the recent pandemic. When our nation was struck with the global coronavirus pandemic, it became too difficult for many of the small and medium businesses to survive. But the larger organisations, instead of providing support to these SMEs, preferred making donations to women and children. They failed to realize the urgency to shift their priorities according to the situation and donate to the small businesses first to enable them to stay in the market.

One of the reasons for this lack of realization is that donors are often not aware of where exactly their funds go and what they are used for. If these donors, whether individuals or organisations are kept more informed about how their donations are used, they will feel more acknowledged and motivated to donate through the right platforms to fulfil the most suited needs of the recipients.

The most generous donors in Singapore fall in the following sequence: Taoists, Buddhists, Christians, and Muslims. Since Muslims are at the lowest end, they need to be given more incentives to donate and give to the less privileged ones in the society.

One way of doing this could be to keep them more updated about the activities going on at the mosque within their community. They need to be particularly informed what the mosque is able to do or achieve as a result of receiving donations from them. Moreover, activity trends of various mosques should be tracked in a more efficient manner and shared with any existing and potential donors.

Giving Fridays, as a donations-scheduling platform, seeks to be an active part of the movement to achieve the above initiatives. In the event attended by Mr. Hairmann Hayak on Friday, the various leaders joined together to discuss how they can be the pioneers looking into the future. One of the effective ways of achieving the objectives of NVPC, as highlighted during the event, is to create a mechanism or platform for digital asset donations. This means donors should have a means of making their contributions in the form of cryptocurrencies and other digital assets.

The event ended on a good note that Singapore needs to be transformed into a blockchain-based giving society.