Our Approach

As a global investor, our social licence to operate depends on our ability to create value for all stakeholders, including our communities. We believe in seeding social capital to foster a more inclusive and resilient world, so every generation prospers. 

Our journey in building social capital started over 20 years ago, when we adopted a deliberate and structured approach, anchored on the twin pillars of governance and sustainability, to give back to communities.

Since 2003, we have been setting aside a portion of our net positive returns above our risk-adjusted cost of capital for community gifts. These are approved by the Temasek Board and then donated to partners to achieve our community objectives. 

Temasek Trust (TT) has been the primary beneficiary of our gifts. TT disburses grants for programmes to be developed and delivered by our non-profit ecosystem, including Temasek Foundation (TF), Temasek Life Sciences Laboratory, Stewardship Asia Centre, and Mandai Nature. Our non-profit ecosystem has evolved over the years to better handle multi-faceted and complex social challenges.

To date, Temasek’s gifts to TT have impacted about 3.7 million lives across Singapore and beyond. 

TT has made good strides towards its vision to become a responsible steward of philanthropic assets, a trusted advocate of sustainability, and a proactive catalyst of positive impact.

Underscoring its catalytic role, the TT-backed Philanthropy Asia Alliance (PAA), with over 80 members and partners, crossed S$1 billion of collective pledges last year. These pledges will help address key issues in the region surrounding climate and nature, holistic and inclusive education, and global and public health. 

On the climate action front, TT became a Founding Partner of The Earthshot Prize, which aims to showcase and scale innovative climate solutions for a more sustainable future. As a Founding Partner, TT hopes to spotlight Asia in the fight against climate change.

More cross-border collaborations will be forged through TT’s Asia Centre for Changemakers (ACC). Hosted by the Wealth Management Institute, the ACC aims to develop a regional community of active and informed changemakers ready to deploy their resources, skills, and passion for a better tomorrow. 

Beyond our non-profit ecosystem, Temasek works with partners from the Public, Private, and People sectors to advance our community objectives, where our philanthropic capital, network, and industry insights can make the most impact.

Advancing Capabilities

In June 2024, we announced T-Spring, a S$150 million gift to the community to advance capabilities and contribute to preparing Singapore’s workforce and organisations to embrace a different world. The gift — which supports skills development, scholarships, and fellowships — is Temasek’s tribute to Singapore’s past, present, and future generations on our 50th anniversary. It reflects our intergenerational focus, underscores our roots, and acknowledges human capital as the driver of our journey and its role in Singapore’s success. 

Driving Impact 

This year, we launched a pilot funding scheme to support impact enterprises that seek to achieve social objectives while operating in a financially sustainable manner. This highlights our belief that social and financial outcomes need not be mutually exclusive. Impact enterprises that aspire towards achieving a double bottom line represent a more sustainable way of delivering long-term impact. Under this scheme, we will provide recoverable grants to help impact enterprises scale their impact and operations. Our staff will also provide mentorship with the aim of empowering these impact enterprises to achieve self-sufficiency. 

As our programme reach and partnerships widen, we must ensure that our gifts are truly making a difference to the communities. We have developed an Impact Measurement and Management framework that links the desired outcomes with programme activities across all our gifts. We see impact measurement as an essential part of good governance on our philanthropic journey and are working with our partners to co-create the measurement metrics. This will pave the way for more clarity and accountability, and ultimately better outcomes for our communities. 

Doing Good in Our Communities 

As a responsible corporate citizen, we support local charities with donations and staff volunteerism across all our offices. When staff decide to launch a fundraising effort for a charity or cause, Temasek will provide matching grants. 

Financial Oversight and Governance

Established by Temasek Holdings in 2007, Temasek Trust (TT) is a steward of philanthropic assets, advocate of sustainability, and catalyst of positive impact. As a Company Limited by Guarantee, TT provides governance and financial oversight of non-profit endowments and gifts from Temasek and other donors. It provides steady and sustainable multi-year funding to support capacity building and capability development for an ecosystem of entities, with the shared purpose of building better for every generation — by connecting people, uplifting communities, protecting the planet, and advancing capabilities. TT aims to also forge new pathways for philanthropy and impact investing through collaborations with like-minded partners, as a force for good. 

The skills required for the financial management of endowment funds are very different from those for developing and delivering community and social programmes. This governance model separates the financial management of philanthropic assets by TT, from the programme design and delivery by Temasek’s non-profit ecosystem, and enables the respective entities to develop clear focus and capabilities. TT, TF, and other non-profit entities are separate, independent entities from Temasek, each with their respective boards and management teams. Temasek does not direct their day-to-day operations.

Temasek Foundation (TF)

TF, a Company Limited by Guarantee, supports a diverse range of programmes that uplift lives and communities in Singapore and beyond. TF’s programmes are made possible through philanthropic endowments gifted by Temasek, as well as gifts and other contributions from other donors. These programmes strive towards achieving positive outcomes for individuals and communities now, and for generations to come. Collectively, TF’s programmes strengthen social resilience, foster international exchange and regional capabilities, advance science, and protect the planet.

Temasek Life Sciences Laboratory (TLL) 

In 2002, TLL, an Institution of a Public Character, was established as a research institute to harness the power of life sciences to improve lives. With close to 200 researchers, TLL undertakes biomolecular science research and applications to benefit people in Asia and beyond.

Stewardship Asia Centre (SAC)

SAC is a non-profit organisation dedicated to helping business and government leaders, investors, and individuals accelerate leadership action on environmental and social challenges through catalytic knowledge and advisory. Through initiatives such as its annual Steward Leadership 25 listing, SAC showcases projects across Asia Pacific which create sustainable economic value by integrating the needs of stakeholders, society, future generations, and the environment. 

Mandai Nature 

Mandai Nature was jointly established by Temasek and Mandai Wildlife Group. It is dedicated to advancing efforts on biodiversity conservation in Asia, with a focus on averting species extinction especially in Southeast Asia, by delivering conservation programmes at scale with partners, as well as convening partnerships and collaborative alliances to address critical conservation outcomes. As the conservation arm of Mandai Wildlife Group, it also works closely with the Group to apply holistic and integrated conservation action.

Centre for Impact Investing and Practices (CIIP)

CIIP fosters the growth of impact investing and practices in Asia and beyond by building and sharing knowledge, bringing together stakeholders in the community, and bringing about positive action that accelerates the adoption of impact investing. Based in Singapore, CIIP was established by TT in 2022 as a non-profit centre, with Temasek and ABC Impact as strategic partners. 

Philanthropy Asia Alliance (PAA)

PAA is a TT initiative dedicated to catalysing collaborative philanthropy in Asia through dynamic multi-sector partnerships. By harnessing collective strengths, PAA amplifies positive impact and accelerates action to address the pressing environmental and social challenges of our time. PAA’s flagship programme is the annual Philanthropy Asia Summit, a platform for global partners across the public, private, and philanthropic sectors to connect and catalyse collective action.

Temasek Shophouse

Temasek Shophouse is a social impact hub located in the heart of Singapore and works closely with partners from the Public, Private, and People sectors to convene changemakers, foster collaborations, and catalyse solutions for positive impact. It is also home to the TT ecosystem and like-minded co-working partners.

Since its launch in 2019, Temasek Shophouse has enabled more than 300 programmes including community engagement events, educational exhibitions, and workshops on a range of social and environmental issues.