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Temasek is a global investment company headquartered in Singapore. Since 2003, it has been setting aside a portion of its excess returns above its cost of capital for community gifts. After being approved by its Board, these gifts are donated to Temasek Trust (TT) and other non-profits to support Temasek’s community objectives of Connecting People, Uplifting Communities, Protecting the Planet, and Advancing Capabilities (“CUPA”).

In 2007, Temasek established two independent entities – TT and Temasek Foundation (TF) – recognising that the management of funds and delivery of community initiatives require different expertise. TT focuses on the financial stewardship of these gifts, while TF delivers community programmes.

Since then, additional non-profit entities and endowments have been established as part of the Temasek Trust Collective (TTC), Temasek’s primary community stewardship arm. By harnessing the Collective’s diverse capabilities, TT builds capacity, convenes partnerships, mobilises capital, and catalyses solutions to drive lasting positive impact.

Temasek Trust and Temasek Foundation are independent and separate from Temasek, with their own boards and management teams. Temasek does not direct their day-to-day operations.

We work closely with Temasek to ensure sound corporate governance, including an independent and experienced Board to guide and complement management. . As a member, Temasek approves Board appointments and receives annual audited financial statements, as well as annual updates on the allocation and application of its gifts.

As a Company Limited by Guarantee, we provide governance and financial oversight of non-profit endowments and gifts from Temasek and other donors. This model separates the financial management of philanthropic assets from programme design and delivery by the Temasek Trust Collective, enabling each entity to develop clear focus and capabilities. Members of the Collective are separate, independent entities from Temasek, each with its own board and management team. Temasek does not direct their day-to-day operations.

We deploy funding directly and through the TTC and TT IPC Ltd. Our philanthropic assets are managed by Temasek Trust Asset Management (TTAM), a professional investment house regulated by the Monetary Authority of Singapore as a Capital Markets Services licence holder. TT IPC Ltd. is a registered charity and Institution of a Public Character regulated by the Commissioner of Charities in Singapore.

Our funding is primarily from Temasek and other third-party donors. We do not solicit donations from the general public.

We typically disburse funds through endowments to ensure sustainable support. Large projects may occasionally draw on a substantial portion, or all, of the relevant gift.

Our four strategic priorities – Planet, People, Peace, and Progress (4Ps) – mirror Temasek’s CUPA community objectives.

We apply systems thinking and develop theories of change for each of our 4Ps, and monitor six megatrends – each interwoven with climate change and pertinent to Asia:

  • Nature and ecological degradation are significant challenges that are disproportionately affecting Asia.
  • Increased likelihood of the next pandemic with emerging risks from increasing AMR, zoonotic diseases, mosquito and other vector-borne threats.
  • Super-ageing societies will increase strain on health systems, social fabric, and economic growth.
  • Erosion of trust, deepening inequality, and growing strain on institutions are affecting many societies
  • Technology and AI-driven transformation can potentially disrupt lives and livelihoods even as they offer opportunities for productivity and growth.
  • Evolution of Asian philanthropy and generational wealth transfer can drive greater focus on sustainability, impact, and innovative financing models.

Addressing complex and interconnected challenges requires a systems perspective, multidisciplinary solutions, and coordinated action. This has informed our approach.

We deliver impact by harnessing the collective capabilities across the Temasek Trust Collective. Illustrative examples include:

Many organisations contribute across multiple pathways. For example, Temasek Foundation advances all four through its programmes and partnerships.

Our impact measurement approach is guided by three principles:

  • Intentionality – being clear about the outcomes we seek;
  • Additionality – focusing on where we uniquely add value; and
  • Materiality – prioritising what is most material to outcomes.

We measure impact at multiple levels: across our thematic focus areas, through investments managed via ABC Impact, and through programmes delivered by Temasek Trust Collective members, which have their own impact frameworks and collect programme-level data.

We regularly review our funding mandates to ensure their continued relevance and impact. We are also building capabilities in areas such as impact data analytics and blended finance to support more rigorous measurement and innovative delivery models.

We publish Impact Highlights annually to share updates on impact across the Temasek Trust Collective. Each edition is themed around one of our impact pathways, with the first in the series focused on catalysing impact.

We use philanthropic capital to support products, services, and solutions that are important to community well-being or planetary health, even where commercial viability is not yet proven. We may support pilots to generate evidence on impact and viability, helping reduce risk for governments, companies, and other partners to participate. For example, through Catalytic Capital for Climate and Health (C3H) , we are back innovative, early-stage companies in Climate, Health, and their intersection. Co-Axis, Philanthropy Asia Alliance, and TT Foundation Advisors also crowd in funding to scale projects for greater collective impact.

Climate change is one of the defining challenges of our time, with Asia disproportionately affected. We have therefore made climate action and planetary health a key priority, embedding climate considerations across our impact pillars.

We established the Planet Collaborative within Temasek Trust because planetary health cannot be advanced through fragmented effort. It requires platforms that bring funding, coordination and partnerships together so solutions can scale. The Collaborative draws on capabilities from across the Collective to design, incubate and deliver planet-related initiatives within our mandate. It coordinates initiatives, aligns stakeholders, and generates insights that can strengthen future ecosystem efforts towards measurable, scalable, systems-level impact.

Partnerships underpin all that we do. Many of today's challenges, from climate adaptation and healthy ageing to food resilience and energy security, are interconnected and too complex for any one organisation to address alone.

Across the Temasek Trust Collective, we have established strong partnerships with like-minded organisations across the public, private, philanthropic, and multilateral sectors in Singapore and beyond to drive lasting positive impact.

We welcome partnership opportunities with organisations and individuals across sectors, including co-funding programmes and initiatives, organising multi-stakeholder convenings, knowledge-sharing, and research collaborations.

You may Contact Us, and we will connect you with the relevant organisation within the Collective to follow up on your enquiry.

Access the latest reports and studies from across the Collective on our Insights page.

To stay updated on developments across the Collective, subscribe to our Impact Brief and follow us on LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube.

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The Collective is an ecosystem of organisations with the shared purpose of building better for every generation by advancing our four strategic priorities of Planet, People, Peace, and Progress (4Ps), underpinned by Partnerships. Planet, People, Peace, and Progress (4Ps) The 4Ps mirror Temasek’s CUPA community objectives.

The Collective comprises three clusters with capabilities in:

  • Asset and Investment Management - to generate sustainable cashflows and manage capital for impact.
  • Philanthropy and Impact - where entities bring expertise across our range of impact areas.
  • Socio-Economic Enterprise and Development - where we grow entities that can deliver community impact with long-term sustainability.

    • Collectively, we see our roles as steward, advocate, catalyst, convenor and capacity-builder.

    Learn more about the members of the Collective here

The organisations within the Collective were either established or acquired to advance our impact objectives. For example, Asia Centre for Changemakers was set up to build capacity in the philanthropic sector. The Philanthropy Asia Alliance was launched to foster collaborative philanthropy across sectors and to convene partnerships. TT Foundation Advisors was established to provide philanthropy advisory services, enabling more strategic and effective giving while mobilising capital for impact through vehicles such as donor advised funds. Temasek Foundation catalyses and supports innovative solutions through initiatives such as The Liveability Challenge.

We work with members of the Collective to align efforts around shared priorities, strengthen capabilities, and foster collaboration towards common goals. We generally provide funding and strategic support, while Collective members lead the design and delivery of programmes, drawing on their expertise and deeper understanding of their community and sector needs.

Spectrum of Capital

 

The Collective is active across the capital spectrum – from grants at one end through venture funding to impact investing and sustainable investments that aim to generate market returns at the other end. We see philanthropic capital as risk-tolerant capital that can help de-risk promising solutions and absorb early uncertainty to enable innovations that markets and governments may later scale.

Our mandate is different from Temasek’s. While Temasek is a commercial investor, we invest and grow our funds as a responsible steward of philanthropic assets. We invest through Temasek Trust Asset Management, which aims to attract external philanthropic capital and build a resilient, diversified, impact-differentiated multi-asset portfolio that balances growth and income objectives.

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Please visit our Careers page for more information. Opportunities across the Collective may also be listed on the respective organisations' websites.

Impact Highlights 2025