CITI’S APPROACH TO CORPORATE CITIZENSHIP
Our approach to corporate citizenship is defined by Citi’s Mission and Value Proposition of Enabling Growth and Progress.
We strive to embed corporate citizenship across the breadth and depth of our businesses and operations. This integrated approach of thinking about Citi’s impact, as a company, on clients, communities and our people, guides our actions and decisions.
Through focused and consistent stakeholder engagements that champion collaborative problem-solving, coupled with Citi’s vast resources and expertise, we hope to create better and more sustainable solutions for the long-term.
CORPORATE CITIZENSHIP IN SINGAPORE
Citi Foundation, through grants and stakeholder collaborations, works to promote economic progress and improve the lives of low-income communities around the world. In Singapore, the Citi Foundation has provided grants to local partners since 2002 to support projects that addresses gaps in the community. Up till 2020, more than S$21 million has been invested to promote financial inclusion and programmes under the ‘Pathways to Progress’ theme to impart skillsets amongst youth to enable their future employability. The Citi Foundation’s “More than Philanthropy” approach also leverages the expertise of Citi and its people through volunteerism to fulfill the firm’s mission and to make a positive impact on the community.
Citi Singapore has six Citi Foundation programmes under the two core pillars that drive our key philanthropy efforts – Financial Inclusion and Pathways to Progress. We believe that targeted initiatives under these pillars in partnership with universities and community organisations to enhance financial literacy, as well as youth empowerment and employability, will strengthen the well-being and upward economic mobility of the local community, and ensure the sustained growth of our society.
Through these programmes, we have imparted financial literacy knowledge to over 340,000 secondary and primary level students, 50,000 tertiary students and 6,000 mature women, as well as coached over 13,000 teachers, 1,400 social workers, and 830 tertiary students as financial literacy trainers and mobilised over 170,000 volunteers for over 150 social service agencies in the process.
- Financial Literacy Programme for Young Adults (2012 – Current) equips youth and young adults (aged 15-30) with essential personal finance knowledge and skills to give them a firm foundation in managing their money. It also trains tertiary students as financial literacy coaches to enable multiplier impact amongst young adults.
Partner: Singapore Management University
Impact to-date (as of 2021): More than 76,000 has been engaged through the program and amongst the number, over 1,200 youths from SMU, Poly, and ITE trained as financial literacy coaches.
Impact assessment: Post-programme findings (2021) revealed that 66% of the participants grew in their basic understanding of personal finance and financial literacy, while 33% more respondents saved at least 10% of their income or allowance over three months after the end of the Programme.
- Financial Capability and Asset Building (FCAB) Initiative for Social Workers in Singapore (2016 – Current) equips both pre-service and in-service social work practitioners with Financial Capability and Asset Building (FCAB) knowledge and skills. With FCAB becoming an integrated part of social work practice, disadvantaged families can be guided on household financial matters and given access to appropriate services that help improve their financial circumstances.
Partner: National University of Singapore (NUS)
Impact to-date (as of 2021): 295 in-practice social workers enrolled in SG FCAB, while another 113 NUS social work undergraduates successfully completed the SG FCAB curriculum as a module in social work education.
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Financial Education Programme for Mature Women (2008-2018) is a financial literacy programme that equipped low-income, mature women with the essential financial knowledge and skills for their silver years.
Partner: Tsao Foundation
Impact assessment: The programme has benefited over 8,500 women. In 2017, it contributed to the study on the effectiveness of a matched savings scheme, which has since become a national policy. It also catalysed the formation of the Singapore Alliance for Women in Ageing (SAWA) in 2018 to advocate for the financial security of women in old age. Most recently, it led to the award of a research grant by US’ largest public health philanthropic organization to be studied as a potential model for replication in the US.
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Financial Literacy Hub for Teachers (2007-2017) is a partnership with National Institute of Education (NIE) that was launched in 2007 equipped teachers with the skills and knowledge to impart basic personal finance principles to their students by infusing these principles into their day-to day classroom curriculum. It managed to reach out to many teachers and students, benefitting these individuals and allowing teachers to impart financial knowledge to students.
Partner: National Institute of Education (NIE)
Impact assessment: A total of 94 schools were being partnered over the span of the partnership. The programme had also trained over 13,000 teachers and having more than 340,000 students benefitting from this programme.
- Pathways to Progress (Youth Economic Opportunities)
- Build Your Tomorrow (BYT) @ South East (2018 – Current) provides Singaporean youth, aged 14-17, with the opportunity to discover their potential career path. BYT consists of 5 career exposure components that include Career Talks, Workplace Visits, Career Exploration Workshops, Career Simulation Exercises, and Skill Development Workshops, designed to provide insight into different industries, as well as to allow under-performing students to learn skills and discover alternative career paths based on their interests and skills. Citi volunteers are also involved to share during career talks and host workplace visits.
Partner: South East Community Development Council
Impact-to-date (as of 2021): Over 2,000 youth have benefitted through its five career exposure components since the Programme's launch.
- STEM First programme (2021- Current) is designed as a one-year journey for young women between 16-24 years old with a focus on those from lower income households to take part in a holistic, free of charge STEM Programme with a strong FinTech focus, preparing them for a future career in FinTech and related fields. Citi aims to facilitate young women to venture into the STEM pathway as skilled, empowered, and entrepreneurial thinkers. The months of program conceptualization came to fruition when Citi Foundation approved UWS’ grant application for the STEM First program in October 2021. The program will be officially launched in 2022.
Partner: United Woman’s Singapore (UWS)
Targeted Impact: The programme aims to train 400 young women in its first five years, starting with 40 beneficiaries in its 2022 pilot run.
- ASPIRE Programme (2016 – Current) is hosted at the A.p.t.i.t.u.d.e Centre at the Institute of Education (ITE) College East, and it reaches out to students aged 17 to 19 to improve their employability prospects by engaging them in structured interest-based skills training and hands-on work experiences through the approaches of mentoring, structured programmes, and community. Upon completion of skills-based training, the youth will also obtain industry-recognised certification.
Partner: Touch Community Services Limited
Impact to-date (as of 2021): Over the past year, over 2,100 students have been enriched by the programme, and more than 7,600+ under-served youths was reached. The programme has also saw over 60 youths being offered employment.
- Youth Co:Lab Singapore (2020 – Current) is implemented in Singapore through the Youth Action Challenge (YAC) initiative in partnership with the National Youth Council. It empowers youth with the opportunity to partner the government, business and community organizations in championing ground-up initiatives and to transform their ideas into reality via curated workshops and guidance from experienced industry professionals.
Partner: National Youth Council
Impact to-date (as of 2021): The programme has empowered over 600 Youth through the YAC and the Youth Co:Lab Movers programme, having supported them with over S$ 1 million worth of grants with over 100 youth-led initiatives being brought to life.
- Youth for Causes (2003 – 2021) was launched by Citi and the YMCA of Singapore to be a catalyst in promoting social entrepreneurship and developing community leadership amongst youth in Singapore. It provides youths aged 15 to 25 years of age with seed funding under the guidance of mentors to execute creative ideas that they believe will benefit and support Social Service Organisations (SSOs). For 18 consecutive years (2003-2021), YFC also received the endorsement of the President of the Republic of Singapore to be an event under the President’s Challenge.
Partner: YMCA of Singapore
Impact Assessment: 5,560 youth mobilised some 150,000 volunteers to raise over S$10 million for more than 150 local Social Service Agencies (SSAs) under the guidance of 800 Citi mentors through YFC. The Programme has been part of the President’s Challenge, a movement under the President’s patronage, to help those who are less fortunate since 2005. In 2019 alone, it engaged more than 10,000 volunteers to raise over $640,000 for 45 charities.
- Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship (2019 – 2021) was launched by Citi and Halogen Foundation to equip youth with an entrepreneurial mindset while learning real-world concepts and applying problem- solving, leadership and communication skills to the context of confidence and perseverance, allowing students a leg up in spurring initiative and cultivating grit and enhancing their employability as they navigate the competitive job market and advance their personal aspirations.
Partner: Halogen Foundation
Impact Assessment: 1,332 youths have been equipped with employability skills and entrepreneurial mindset through a 60-hour experiential learning curriculum. A 2019 post-programme survey found that over 84% of the participants were able to comprehend and retain the knowledge learnt, and more than 70% gained a more positive outlook of their future. 98.8% of participants have also demonstrated improvement in academic outcomes (calculated by Academic progression report).
- Citi Singapore seeks to enable growth and progress of the underprivileged in Singapore. Since 2002, Citi has raised S$7.1 million (as of 2021) in support of The Straits Times School Pocket Money Fund (STSPMF) and The Business Times Budding Artists Fund (BTBAF) to help build brighter futures for underprivileged children. In 2021, Citi helped to raise over S$430,000 in support of ChildAid, which supports these two funds. Funds are raised mainly through various fundraising campaigns organised or contributed by employees. Additionally, Citi has also made charitable contributions to National Council of Social Service’s Community Chest, and the Children’s Wishing Well.
- We have various ongoing initiatives in support of the two charities:
- Donate-as-you-drink (ongoing) is a campaign where a portion of the proceeds from F&B dispensers located across Citi’s offices is set aside for charitable purpose. This simple yet powerful fund-raising model enables staff to join Citi Singapore in supporting charitable causes and make a positive difference in the community.
- Citi & Partners Charity Golf (2002 – current) has been a highly successful annual fundraising event. Over S$7.51 million was raised for various adopted charities, including some S$5.21 million raised for STSPMF and BTBAF when the two Funds were adopted as beneficiaries of the charity golf proceeds for ten consecutive years from 2011 to 2021. The proceeds consist of generous donations from Citi’s partners by their participation in the Citi & Partners Support ChildAid initiative.
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Citi’s philanthropy efforts are further supported by our talented employees, who contribute their time and skills in benefiting the communities in Singapore. Our active pool of volunteers helps ensure that Citi’s citizenship efforts continue to positively impact the people around us.
- Despite Covid-19 restrictions, Citi’s saw more than 1,200 volunteers engaged with serving the community. – A strong testament to our culture as an inclusive organization. Citi encourages year-round employee volunteerism through our employee networks, paid volunteer leave, and Global Community Day, amongst many other platforms. These volunteers participated in various volunteering programs such as mentoring students and being a judge in Halogen Foundation’s Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship Program, and volunteering activities at Singapore Children’s Society and HCSA Dayspring organized by CitiClub Singapore.
- Global Community Day (GCD) - Global Community Day serves as an annual opportunity for Citi employees, alumni, family and friends around the world to gather as one to demonstrate a shared commitment to its communities – a commitment that is carried out year-round by many employees who regularly volunteer their time. Despite COVID-19 restrictions, Citi continued to drive GCD by shifting to digital and involving its volunteers remotely.
- In June 2020, Citi announced three key initiatives in support of Covid-19-related community relief efforts in Singapore. These initiatives also mark Citi’s 15th Global Community Day (GCD), further demonstrating its ongoing commitment to giving back to the communities where we live and work :
- 1. Food for marginalized communities - Partnered YMCA of Singapore with a US$ 150,000 Citi Foundation grant to provide over 54,000 complimentary meals and grocery packs through the Food For Good programme in support of more than 1,700 individuals from vulnerable groups. The three-month programme also saw Citi colleagues volunteering in the meal distribution to support these groups that included low-income families, students, elderly, persons with special needs, hawkers, and taxi/PVH drivers, and migrant workers.
- 2. Supporting students from disadvantaged background - Committed S$ 150,000 to support students from disadvantaged background with daily allowance through the Straits Times School Pocket Money Fund (STSPMF), and access to education through Business Times Budding Artists Fund (BTBAF);
- 3. Support for migrant workers - Over S$176,000 was raised through a one-month organisation-wide fundraising campaign for Humanitarian Organization for Migration Economics (HOME) in support of migrant workers in areas such as immediate basic needs, medical and counselling assistance to shelter residents, and supplementing hygiene supplies like masks and hand sanitisers;
As part of Citi’s efforts to protect the environment, Citi announced in 2021 our Net Zero Commitment Plan in reducing greenhouse gas emissions from our atmosphere by 2050, and published our initial plan in our 2021 TCFD Report, including 2030 emissions targets for our Energy and Power loan portfolios. We also align with the ambitious agenda of the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and build on the work outlined in Citi’s 2025 Sustainable Progress Strategy by committing $1 trillion to sustainable finance by 2030. This includes extending the current environmental finance target from $250 billion by 2025 to $500 billion by 2030. Citi will finance and facilitate a wide array of climate solutions -- from renewable energy and clean technology, to water conservation and sustainable transportation.
Citi Realty Services (CRS), the team that oversees and manages Citi Singapore's office buildings, data centers and retail branches, will be a key contributor to these efforts to ensure our operations and all new buildings at Citi will use either renewable energy directly or an energy supply that will be fully decarbonized by 2030.
As part of Citi’s continued support of our efforts to promote greater awareness and engagement relating to environmental issues, Citi Singapore’s Green & Sustainability Committee, LiveGreener, held the #CodeGREEN Series, to educate colleagues on the importance of sustainability. It also partnered with other employee affinity group such as Asia Pacific Generations Network to engage Citibankers on key sustainability topics.
- As a founding member of the National Volunteer & Philanthropy Centre (NVPC)’s Company of Good Programme in 2016, Citi Singapore has been a trailblazer in championing and driving corporate giving. Since then, Citi was conferred by NVPC as a Champion of Good in 2018 and 2020, which recognizes organisations that are exemplary in their corporate giving. Citi Singapore was also recognised with the People’s Association Community Spirit (PACS) – Partnership Excellence Award 2020 and the AmChampCARES 2021 Award (Distinction). The PACS Award honors organisations that have reached out to the community and for bringing people together to build greater social capital while the AmChampCARES honors organisations that bring a positive commitment in contributing towards society.
- Citi Singapore was the sole recipient of the prestigious 2018 President’s Volunteerism and Philanthropy Awards (PVPA) in the Corporate, Large Enterprise category. The award presents the highest honour for the organisation that has set benchmarks of excellence in the spirit of giving in Singapore, and aims to encourage and inspire others to bring about a higher level of volunteerism and philanthropy. Citi Singapore was also conferred the YMCA-Lim Kim San Corporate Volunteer Excellence Award 2019 for its contribution towards the YMCA of Singapore. In 2021, Citi Singapore was recognised for its active contribution to the community and received the “Empowering Group Award” by HCSA Community Services.
- In the sustainability space, Citi Singapore received the OpenGov Recognition of Excellence Award 2019 for implementing green initiatives that combat climate change and contributing to Singapore's Sustainable Future goals.