“As people in Singapore worry about bills and try to save more, many may deprioritise charitable donations. Fewer people are giving and charitable giving is a ‘normal good’ – people tend to give less when disposable incomes decrease.

There are signs that this may be happening now. Donations on national giving platform, Giving.sg, are down about 15 per cent in the second quarter of 2022, compared to the same period last year. In October, food charities that spoke to CNA said in-kind donations had fallen by about 15 per cent and cash donations by about 30 to 40 per cent compared to about a year ago.”

Source: Kwee, M. (2022, October 20). Commentary: In hard times, everyone in Singapore still has something to give. CNA. https://www.channelnewsasia.com/commentary/inflation-charity-donations-
nonprofit-giving-3014431

In these tough economic times where soaring interest rates and record-high inflation are affecting all of us, non-profit organisations (NPOs) and the services they provide are more crucial than ever but the help that they are getting from the public is dwindling. The shrinking donations would mean that there would be challenges with providing aged care to seniors, providing food for disadvantaged families, etc.

Assuming the role of a research assistant working with a NPO, you are tasked to prepare a research proposal that aims to investigate what the antecedents to charitable donations are, within the context of Singapore. This would then allow the NPO to know more about what influences the amount of charitable donations in Singapore and therefore help them strategise what they could possibly do to increase the amount.

Your research proposal should include the following sections:

• Introduction
• Literature Review
• Purpose and Hypotheses/Research Questions/Research Objectives
• Methodology and Methods
• References
• Appendices

Research Proposal on Above Case Scenario

Charitable donation is an important way of helping those who are in need. However the economic conditions around the world indicate that they are not very good with rising inflation level, and higher unemployment levels. The situation with respect to Singapore is also not very good, and with rising bills, it becomes very difficult for Singaporeans to do charitable donations. It is therefore a major problem for non profit organisations to survive, and it becomes essential for them to identify the antecedents to which Singaporeans can be influenced to donate. This proposal is aimed at identifying those antecedents which could help non profit organisations in strategising appropriately so that Singaporeans can contribute positively towards charitable activities.