“The greatest use of life is to spend it for something that will outlast it.” — William James
THE BIRTH OF SMA CHARITY FUND AND ITS MILESTONES
In 2007, with the support of the National University of Singapore (NUS) Development Office, Singapore Medical Association (SMA) collaborated with the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine (YLLSoM) and started the SMA Medical Students’ Assistance Fund to support the living expenses of needy medical students during the course of their medical education at YLLSoM.
Since its inception, the fund has received more than $1.5 million worth of donations from SMA members and their friends from both medical and non-medical sectors. To date, more than $1mil has been disbursed to 231 YLLSoM students. However, with the establishment of the second and third medical schools (Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School and the Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine, Nanyang Technological University), SMA saw a need to extend the SMA Medical Students’ Assistance Fund to benefit needy students from these two new medical schools as well.
To this end and also in order to address other areas of needs previously not covered by the SMA Medical Students’ Assistance Fund, the SMA Charity Fund (SMACF) (UEN: 201305017N) was set up on 25 February 2013 as an entity separate from SMA. The founding and development of SMACF marks a new milestone in SMA’s history – bringing together SMA’s current charitable initiatives and its goals of meeting the needs of society at large, SMACF will be managed by an independent, diverse
board of directors.
SMACF is registered in Singapore as a ‘company limited by guarantee’ under the Companies Act, and the Charities Act. The principal activities of the SMACF consist of financial assistance bursaries, health and public health-related education, and promotion of volunteerism.
The registered office and principal place of operation of SMACF is at 2985 Jalan Bukit Merah #02-2C, SMF Building, Singapore 159457.