Objectives

As the battle against Covid-19 continues, various groups of people are facing enormous hardships. In May 2020, DBS Bank committed SGD 10.5 million to set up the DBS Stronger Together Fund to help communities affected by Covid-19 across its six key markets in Asia, including Taiwan

While the pandemic is comparatively well controlled in Taiwan, older people who live alone in poorer rural areas are going hungry, as they are unable to go to community centres to have group meals provided by NPOs/NGOs as per their normal practice, due to social distancing restrictions. Food delivery systems normally leveraged to deliver food to these older people have also been affected by the pandemic.

To maximize the social impact of DBS Group’s Stronger Together Fund, DBS Taiwan encouraged staff and clients to join its Stronger Together donation drive, which generated a total of USD 865,00 in additional funds. The funds were used to provide more than 50,000 food packs to the Alliance of Taiwan Foodbanks (ATF), which in turn delivered them to the elderly and low-income families. Besides participating in the donation drive, DBS Taiwan staff also volunteered to take part in the packing of these 50,000 food packs.

Strategy and Execution

In response to Covid-19, DBS Group set up DBS Stronger Together Fund to help communities affected by the pandemic. In line with guidance from the wider DBS Group, DBS Taiwan executed its own strategies specific to local conditions and concerns to drive greater positive social impact. We believe that by standing together with our community, we can overcome this crisis and emerge stronger.

Strategy:

1. In order to ensure that donation funds were properly channelled to the best causes, DBS Taiwan surveyed many non-profit organisations (NPOs) to identify people in need and the kind of resources they needed the most.
2. Engage government agencies to collaborate and amplify engagement and outreach
3. Encourage employees and clients to contribute their time and efforts to give back to the community
4. Support social enterprises (SEs) championed by the DBS Foundation 

Implementation:

1. DBS Taiwan decided to provide targeted support for the elderly and low-income families who are facing food shortages due to the pandemic.
2. DBS Taiwan purchased food products from 5 social enterprises (SEs) supported by the DBS  Foundation, and donated those food packs to the Alliance of Taiwan Foodbanks (ATF), which then delivered them to the elderly and low-income families directly.
3. DBS Taiwan kicked off its Stronger Together Fund campaign through an online press conference to raise awareness of the cause. More than 50 participants attended the online press conference, including journalists, the 5 SEs, ATF, Taiwan's Digital Minister Audrey Tang, mayors, magistrates, and representatives from social affairs departments.
4. In addition to amping up public awareness, DBS Taiwan also pushed out internal/external mailers to encourage employees and clients to join in the donation drive.
5. DBS Taiwan organised 11 volunteer events for employees to encourage them to do more for the community by helping ATF to pack the 50,000 food packs, so the food could reach those who needed it faster.

Results

1. Through the Stronger Together Fund, DBS Taiwan encouraged around 1,300 staff and clients to join the donation drive, raising a total of USD 856,000 within one month. The funds were used to provide more than 50,850 food packs to ATF, which in turn delivered them to the elderly and low-income families.
2. DBS Taiwan also leveraged the opportunity to support 5 SEs nurtured by the DBS Foundation, namely Asher, Earth Friend Organic, 1-for-One, Buy Directly from Farmers and ChaTzuTang. These SEs were facing a drastic fall in profit and sales revenue due to the pandemic, so support from DBS in the form of purchasing food for the food packs helped to alleviate some of their economic budens.
3. DBS Taiwan staff also volunteered to help in the packing of the food packs. DBS Taiwan hosted 11 volunteer sessions, with total 133 staff contributing a total of 532 volunteer hours.
4. Through the campaign, DBS Taiwan further built up a ecosystem-for-good by bringing together government agencies, social enterprises, non-profit organisations, and other corporations for a good cause.
5. The campaign gained significant public traction thanks to over 65 news reports published in print, online and broascast media.

Media