Themes: Corporate Philanthropy

Making It Real: From Ideas to Impact

Wed 17 Sep 2025, 1:45 pm (GMT+8:00)
Impact Lab 4 (Level 4 Suntec Convention Centre)

In an age of ecological collapse and social fragmentation, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed. But while no one can do everything, everyone can do something. Change doesn’t begin with certainty—it starts with the courage to collaborate across differences.

In this interactive workshop, policy entrepreneur and Global Citizen co-founder Michael Sheldrick will draw on case studies from grassroots period poverty activists in South Africa, Prime Minister Mia Mottley, the Caribbean, to coal towns in Western Australia reinventing themselves as clean energy hubs, we will explore how lasting policy change is created—not by purity, but by pragmatic idealism.

With over 15 years of experience mobilising $40 billion for frontline solutions, Michael introduces the tools of policy entrepreneurship: identifying levers of influence, building coalitions with unlikely allies, and turning bold ideas into real outcomes.

Designed for those working in climate, education, philanthropy, and community development, the session includes practical exercises to map alliances, tackle system blockers, and practise effective strategy. Participants will receive a copy of “From Ideas to Impact”—a toolkit to navigate uncertainty and sustain momentum in high-friction environments.

Unlocking the Silver Economy: Asian Families Leading the Way

Wed 17 Sep 2025, 2:30 pm (GMT+8:00)
Impact Lab 2 (Level 4 Suntec Convention Centre)

Asia’s rapidly ageing population presents both urgent challenges and unprecedented opportunities. This panel explores how visionary Asian family leaders are reshaping the “silver economy” by blending tradition, innovation, and cross-sector collaboration. From reimagining eldercare services to investing in health-tech and community well-being, these families are mobilising capital, influence, and partnerships to create sustainable, inclusive ageing ecosystems.

Featuring perspectives from leaders of the sector, the discussion will highlight philanthropic approaches, impact investing models, and next-gen leadership strategies that redefine ageing from a social burden into a platform for transformation. As the silver economy expands, these families are proving that addressing ageing needs can simultaneously generate social impact, economic value, and enduring legacies—offering a blueprint for others across the region to follow.

From Intention to Allocation: Designing Family Impact Investment Architectures

Tue 16 Sep 2025, 4:30 pm (GMT+8:00)
Impact Lab 2 (Level 4 Suntec Convention Centre)

Family offices are uniquely positioned to lead the next wave of impact investing—blending legacy, values, and capital to create lasting change. Yet many families still treat impact as a side initiative, rather than an integrated architecture of their investment strategy.

In this training and workshop session, led by the Global Impact Investing Network (GIIN) the team brings together family principals, next-gen leaders, and advisors to explore how to embed impact into the very core of governance, capital allocation, and measurement practices. Through collaborative design challenges, participants will co-create strategies for aligning family values with investment theses, activating diverse capital tools, and defining metrics that reflect both purpose and performance. By moving from intention to allocation, families can ensure their legacy is not only preserved but actively shaping a well-being economy for generations to come.

Family Capital = Institutional Capital: How can we leverage power of Family Capital for Catalytic Philanthropy towards Impact and Transformation

Wed 17 Sep 2025, 1:00 pm (GMT+8:00)
Impact Lab 2 (Level 4 Suntec Convention Centre)

As the boundaries between philanthropic intent and institutional strategy blur, family capital is increasingly stepping into roles once held by large foundations and multilateral agencies. More than just financial contributors, family offices bring long-term vision, intergenerational values, and the agility to take risks that institutional players often avoid. This session will explore how family capital can match, complement, and even redefine the role of institutional capital in advancing catalytic philanthropy.

Featuring insights from pioneering foundations, family offices, and institutional investors, including a keynote contribution, the discussion will highlight models where family capital has driven systemic transformation—from education to climate resilience and social equity. It will examine how family offices can evolve beyond funders to become field builders, mobilising blended finance, co-creating with communities, and influencing policy change.

Philanthropy vs. Capital Markets: Who Really Moves the Needle?

Wed 17 Sep 2025, 10:30 am (GMT+8:00)
Impact Lab 2 (Level 4 Suntec Convention Centre)

In an era of overlapping crises—climate instability, AI-driven upheaval, and persistent inequality—the pressure to create impact is no longer optional. Every sector is now being asked: What good are you actually doing? Businesses are building sustainability into their models. Investors are embedding ESG (however imperfectly) into their portfolios. But what about philanthropy?

In this bold debate, we ask whether philanthropy has lost its nerve—or whether it’s the only form of capital free enough to lead systemic change. As calls grow louder for strategic giving, risk-taking, and justice-oriented funding, the role of philanthropy is at a crossroads. Should it behave more like business, with defined metrics and scalable models? Or is that very mindset what philanthropy must resist?

From Isolation to Integration: Funding the Infrastructure of Systems Change

Wed 17 Sep 2025, 2:30 pm (GMT+8:00)
Impact Lab 4 (Level 4 Suntec Convention Centre)

In a world facing deepening social, ecological, and economic disruption, transformation is no longer a choice—it is a necessity. Yet while impact capital continues to grow, the kind of capital needed to drive systems-level change remains scarce. Too often, brilliant ideas fail to scale because the infrastructure that enables lasting collaboration and integration—the “connective tissue” of change—is underfunded and overlooked.

This session, co-hosted with Catalyst Now and anchored by the 99 for Humanity initiative, explores how we can reimagine capital as a force for coherence rather than fragmentation. It invites participants to consider how funding can move beyond isolated innovation to support systems integrators, enable cross-sector ecosystem building, and embed shared value frameworks rooted in community wisdom, aligned policy, and long-term trust.

Through storytelling, immersive dialogue, and bold future-framing, the session offers a chance to experience what it means to fund the deeper infrastructure of transformation—where impact is not only sparked, but sustained, scaled, and stewarded over time.

From Plans to Partnerships: Building Resilient Cities for Climate, Inclusion and Well-being

Wed 17 Sep 2025, 9:00 am (GMT+8:00)
Impact Lab 4 (Level 4 Suntec Convention Centre)

Cities are not just where crises converge—they are where solutions must be born. Are we bold enough to redesign urban systems for the well-being of both people and planet?

Cities stand on the frontline of our era’s most urgent challenges—from escalating climate shocks to deepening health inequities and social fragmentation. Yet cities are also uniquely positioned to lead transformation. This panel hosted by Resilient Cities Network (R-Cities) explores how urban resilience is being redefined across Asia-Pacific.

Anchored in the Penang Resilience Strategy, a city-wide roadmap that integrates infrastructure, policy, and community voice, the session reveals how urban resilience can be both systemic and human-centered. Case studies such as Resilience for Communities (R4C) in Melaka and the OASIS Schoolyards initiative in Quezon City and Semarang illustrate how cross-sector collaboration—rooted in the 4Ps model of Public, Private, Philanthropic Partnerships—can activate city-wide change while keeping people at the heart of every intervention.

From Bottom Line to Lifeline: Reimagining Business, Capital, and Philanthropy for a Well-being Economy

Thu 18 Sep 2025, 2:15 pm (GMT+8:00)
Impact Forum (Level 4 Suntec Convention Centre)

This closing session of IMPACT WEEK is not a reflection on the past, but a declaration of what lies ahead. Over three days, we explored six pillars of transformation—education, capital, climate, nature, food, energy, and the human construct. We encountered bold ideas, personal shifts, and leadership grounded in purpose, impact, and care. Yet, vision without action is theatre, and ideas without courage do not change history.

This final conversation calls on us to act—not as observers, but as architects of a well-being economy already in motion. Transformative leaders are redefining capital as a force for healing, reshaping governance around care, and showing that business can thrive by serving life. Philanthropy is reframed—not as charity, but as a core expression of love and strategy in business.

When purpose and generosity move to the heart of commerce, we unlock a new economic logic—rooted in trust, stewardship, and regeneration. The world needs coherence, not perfection—urgent, courageous action from imperfect people. The future will not be inherited; it must be co-created. What will we commit to now, knowing everything depends on our next move?