The article reminded us of the somewhat embarrassing findings of a study conducted by the National Volunteer and Philanthropy Centre (NVPC) in 2004 - that individuals as well as corporations in Singapore paled in comparison to our counterparts in the US and the UK.

Singaporeans donated only 0.28 per cent of their income to charity while the British gave 0.73 per cent (2003 data) and the Americans donated 1.64 per cent. Companies here only gave 0.22 per cent of their net profit before taxes to charities while those in the UK and the US gave 0.95 per cent (2002 data) and 1.6 per cent respectively.

Dear fellow Singaporeans, let us give some thought to this. Maybe the NVPC can start a campaign to instil some standard into the mentality of Singaporeans to incorporate a certain amount of charity-giving into their monthly/annual budget (individuals and corporations).

My suggestion is - 5 per cent. Too high? I say, let us aim for the moon; if we miss it, we may still hit a star.

Jennifer Yee Mei Sze (Ms)