Temasek Trust strives to drive impact by forging new pathways in impact investing and catalytic philanthropy with like-minded partners across our ecosystem.
We advocate for impact investing and its practices across Asia through the Centre for Impact Investing and Practices.
The Philanthropy Asia Alliance is mobilising philanthropic capital from its over 80 members and partners globally to catalyse innovative solutions to tackle global environmental and social challenges.
As an ecosystem builder for good, Temasek Trust is collaborating with many leading partners to build:
Since 2003, Temasek has been setting aside a portion of its excess returns above its cost of capital for community gifts. These are approved by the Temasek Board before being gifted to Temasek Trust or other philanthropic or non-profit entities. These funds are then governed by Temasek Trust and disbursed to Temasek Foundation and other Temasek Trust ecosystem entities to support programmes on a sustainable basis.
Temasek Trust and Temasek Foundation are separate, independent non-profit entities, with their own boards and management teams. Temasek Trust focuses on the financial management of philanthropic assets, ecosystem building in philanthropy and impact, and socio-economic enterprise & development. Temasek Foundation focuses on programme design and delivery. Temasek does not direct their day-to-day operations.
Temasek Trust’s funding is primarily from Temasek, a global investor and a company incorporated under the Singapore Companies Act, and other third-party donors.
Temasek operates commercially, independent of the government, and invests and divests off its own balance sheet.
Since 2003, Temasek has put in place a policy to invest in the community by allocating a portion of its investment returns for gifting towards philanthropic programmes. This occurs every year that Temasek achieves positive investment returns and is one of the ways in which Temasek shares its success with the community.
Temasek Trust’s primary role is to then steward those gifts to ensure their sustainable growth, and to steward the thoughtful disbursements for philanthropic programmes and to build the philanthropic ecosystem.
Temasek Trust typically disburses its funds through endowments to support its 4 Pillars (‘4Ps’) of Planet, People, Peace, and Progress. This is aimed at providing support on a sustainable basis. However, there may be instances when large projects could draw on a substantial portion or even the whole of the relevant gift.
Temasek Trust delivers on its purpose of building better for every generation by advancing our 4Ps of Planet, People, Peace, and Progress. This is underpinned by a 5th P of Partnerships. The challenges confronting us demand collective action. We work with like-minded partners to build ecosystems for good in catalytic philanthropy, impact investing, and social impact.
Temasek Trust has developed an impact measurement framework around its strategic areas of Planet, People, Peace, and Progress, for itself and its ecosystem entities. It has applied this framework and measures impact at different levels - at the portfolio level and articulating areas of thematic focus; investments by our fund managers through ABC Impact, an Asia-focused impact investor, and programming by our ecosystem entities who have their own impact frameworks and collect data down to specific programmes.
A regular review process of funding mandates ensures their relevance and impact.
Temasek Trust is also building capabilities for outcomes-based models like Pay for Success to drive more rigorous measurement and innovative delivery models.
Temasek Trust is building a Systems, Knowledge, and Innovation (SKI) Hub to gain a better understanding on systems thinking, data analytics, and theories of change that will direct our ongoing mandates and future solutioning initiatives. Over time, SKI Hub will be a shared global and regional knowledge hub and network of research institutions to power innovation.
Partnerships underpin all that Temasek Trust does. Over the years, Temasek Trust and our ecosystem members have established many key partnerships with global, regional, and national bodies, across the public, private, and philanthropic sectors.
More recently, as examples, Temasek Trust became a founding partner with The Earthshot Prize, an ambitious global platform dedicated to driving catalytic change to protect and restore our planet.
Temasek Trust is a strategic partner with the World Economic Forum, through the Philanthropy Asia Alliance, to spotlight philanthropy in Asia and crowd in philanthropic capital to catalyse solutions in Asia for global challenges such as climate change. The Alliance has over 80 members and partners since launching in September 2023.
Temasek Trust is also a programme partner with Wellcome Leap since 2022 to launch the US$60 million, three-year Dynamic Resilience programme which aims to extend health spans, enabling more to live healthier lives for longer.
Many Temasek Trust ecosystem entities such as the Centre for Impact Investing and Practices, Mandai Nature, Philanthropy Asia Alliance, and Temasek Foundation also have programming, research, and knowledge partnerships.
Temasek Trust does not give out grants.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Temasek Trust’s oscar@sg fund supported ground-up initiatives serving the needs of vulnerable communities in Singapore affected by the crisis. The fund has enabled more than 300 projects to date and touched over one million lives.
Since June 2022, in the same spirit of uniting the community to support one another through difficult times, the Oscar fund is now managed by Temasek Foundation. Find out more here. For queries, please contact Temasek Foundation at [email protected].
You can email [email protected] for more information.
The Temasek Trust ecosystem can be grouped in three clusters with capabilities in Asset and Investment Management (AIM), Philanthropy and Impact (PI), and Socio-Economic Enterprise & Development (SEED). The ecosystem is united by a shared purpose of building better for every generation through advancing the 4Ps of Planet, People, Peace, and Progress. This is underpinned by the 5th P of Partnerships as we work with like-minded partners to scale our collective positive impact.
The Asset and Investment Management cluster, through Temasek Trust Asset Management, aims to generate sustainable cashflows to enable Temasek Trust to deliver on its purpose of building better for every generation.
The Philanthropy and Impact cluster consists of entities with their respective expertise in areas that collectively contribute towards Temasek Trust’s 4Ps of Planet, People, Peace, and Progress.
The Socio-Economic Enterprise & Development cluster aims to catalyse selected ecosystem entities to create shared value, delivering positive community impact and economic benefits to achieve long-term financial sustainability.
Temasek Trust Asset Management Pte Ltd (“TTAM”) is a Singapore-based global private equity asset management company dedicated to investing in positive outcomes for economies, societies, and the environment. TTAM holds a Capital Markets Services Licence from the Monetary Authority of Singapore and was established by Temasek Trust in 2019. TTAM consists of ABC Impact and Temasek Trust Capital. ABC Impact focuses on impact investing and aims to deliver measurable social and environmental returns alongside compelling risk-adjusted financial returns to its stakeholders. TTC is a returns-focused philanthropic multi-asset class manager that contributes to the vision of TTAM.
The philanthropy and impact cluster, the largest in the Temasek Trust ecosystem, comprises:
The Socio-Economic Enterprise & Development (SEED) cluster comprises:
Temasek Trust generally acts as a funder to its ecosystem entities. It sets the mandates and derives the desired impact outcomes with partners. More than just funding, Temasek Trust is also an ecosystem builder for good. We are building capacity and competency through the establishment of a new Asia Centre for Changemakers; building systems and knowledge for innovation through our Systems, Knowledge, and Innovation (SKI) Hub; building momentum in our solutioning through our Amplifier mentoring programme which will incubate and support promising impact startups, and building the infrastructure for an impact marketplace through Co-Axis, a digital marketplace to connect projects with funders who share the commitment to making impact. It will unlock and blend liquidity across the entire spectrum of capital.
The design of specific programmes and grants is left to its ecosystem entities which are nearer to the ground and better placed to carry out the work.
Temasek Trust brings its ecosystem entities together to align workplans towards achieving its long-term ecosystem strategy, capability-building, and for resource-sharing.
Temasek and Temasek Trust have different mandates.
Temasek is a commercial investor.
Temasek Trust invests and grows its funds as part of its role as a responsible steward. If not, its funds would be eroded by inflation.
Temasek Trust invests its funds through Temasek Trust Asset Management (TTAM) which consists of Temasek Trust Capital (TTC) and ABC Impact. TTC generates sustainable returns to power philanthropic outcomes. ABC Impact is an Asia-focused growth fund dedicated to impact investing. TTAM manages funds from Temasek and other donors. It aims to attract external philanthropic capital and build a resilient and diversified multi-asset portfolio that is impact differentiated.
Impact investing can effectively create solutions for environmental, social, and climate issues in the long term.
Temasek Trust launched the Centre for Impact Investing and Practices (CIIP) in June 2022 to foster impact investing and its practices in Asia. CIIP aims to encourage and enable effective deployment of private capital by investors, companies, and philanthropists towards positive impact outcomes for the environment and well-being of communities.
To this end, CIIP builds knowledge assets to enhance capabilities and champion credible and practical industry standards. It convenes stakeholders by expanding the impact investing ecosystem in Asia and beyond. It also catalyses action by driving private capital allocation towards impact outcomes.
Less than 25% of the US$1 trillion global impact investing market is in Asia, presenting a compelling need and opportunity.
Co-Axis is a digital marketplace to connect projects with funders who share the commitment to making impact. It will unlock and blend liquidity across the entire spectrum of capital to help startups on their way to scalable impact and financial sustainability.
Today’s complex challenges demand bold collective action.
Temasek Trust initiated the Philanthropy Asia Alliance (PAA) to catalyse collaborative philanthropy in Asia through dynamic multi-sector partnerships.
PAA is an action-oriented global Alliance of members, programme partners, and domain experts. As of September 2023, its global community comprises over 80 members and partners, with collective pledges crossing US$777M (~S$1 billion) to catalyse solutions for our most pressing environmental and social challenges. By harnessing collective strengths, PAA amplifies positive impact and accelerates action to address the pressing environmental and social challenges of our time.
The evolving philanthropic landscape has given rise to new philanthropic models and a need for enhanced capabilities, requiring specialised and systematic upskilling of the philanthropic sector in Asia.
ACC will build capabilities and communities in Asia’s philanthropic ecosystem to support more collaborative and innovative ways of giving and driving impact.
While growing fast, Asia’s slice of the over US$1 trillion global impact market is still small. In 2023, less than 25% of global AUM was estimated to be allocated to Asia (GIIN, 2023).
Many early-stage impact ventures in the region do not survive the “valley of death”, a funding gap between the seed round and early stages of a startup. Startups need continued support and access to different resources at all growth stages.
The one-year Amplifier mentorship programme by CIIP and PAA aims to address Asia’s sustainable development challenges by enabling promising impact startups to bridge the ‘valley of death’ through building an ecosystem of industry players to catalyse philanthropic capital, mobilise collective action, and forge new pathways to create positive impact.
It brings together a range of ecosystem actors including corporates, investors, and professional services providers that will equip impact startups with the tools and skillsets needed to achieve commercial viability and sustainability.
MoneyOwl’s work in driving financial well-being is in line with Temasek Trust’s aims to uplift communities through holistic and inclusive education and advancing progress through capacity building. Together with like-minded partners across the public, private, and philanthropic sectors, Temasek Trust aims to further leverage and repurpose the capabilities, intellectual properties, and technology platforms of MoneyOwl to bolster the financial well-being of community groups.
You can visit the Temasek Trust LinkedIn page here for openings.