Tag: self_promotion

I’ve got a new story in the global edition of The Chronicle of Higher Education. It’s called “Starting From Scratch: Fund-Raising Lessons Learned in Singapore.”

The first few graphs:

Mention fund raising in Singapore, and one person’s name inevitably comes up: Kheng Chuan Chew. He has become practically synonymous with big donations to the country’s finest universities and is widely considered to have pioneered a practice that was virtually nonexistent a decade ago in much of Southeast Asia.

In 2003 Mr. Chew, known as K.C., opened the first fund-raising office for the National University of Singapore. In just five years, the university raked in more than $1-billion from philanthropists and a government program that matched donations to universities. This was four times the amount raised in the 12 previous years.

Mr. Chew joined Nanyang Technological University in 2009 to bolster its efforts to raise private funds. The institution this month received roughly $117-million from the Lee Foundation, which was established by a Singaporean businessman. The private donation is reportedly the largest ever to a Singapore university.

Compared with university fund raising in the West, “we’re relative novices,” says the soft-spoken Mr. Chew. “But 10 years ago, and especially in the last five years, we have suddenly made remarkable advances in programs from a very low base.”

Historically, Singapore’s alumni and wealthy donors have tended not to support higher education because it was largely viewed as the responsibility of the government. But thanks to Mr. Chew and others, that attitude is changing.