We strive to invest in the communities that we operate in by empowering people through supporting educational and healthcare initiatives, enriching living environments with the arts and functional design, and building environmentally sustainable real estate developments. The full list of awards recognising our sustainable development efforts can be found here.

Supporting Communities & Education

Investing in our communities and building partnerships

Singapore

Providing access to tertiary education

Education is a key pillar of Mapletree’s CSR and the Group has contributed S$3.3 million* to the endowment funds of all six universities in Singapore – National University of Singapore (NUS), Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore Management University (SMU), Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD), Singapore Institute of Technology (SIT) and Singapore University of Social Sciences (SUSS), offering financial support to over 90 university students annually through bursaries and study grants.

*as at 31 March 2021

Under the Mapletree Academic Achievement Programme (MAAP), the Group expanded its support for the Diploma in Integrated Management at Temasek Polytechnic and the Diploma in Real Estate Business at Ngee Ann Polytechnic for five years in FY20/21. This is in addition to the five-year renewal of MAAP for select diploma graduation book prizes to all local polytechnics. 

Launched in September 2015, MAAP recognises academic excellence in fields relevant to Mapletree’s business. The MAAP has also committed to sponsoring graduation prizes for the diploma programmes of Singapore Institute of Management Global Education, which will fund 30 prizes annually for a period of five years from AY16/17.

To groom a new generation of practitioners who will meet the demands of the growing real estate sector in Singapore and globally, Mapletree launched the multi-faceted Mapletree Real Estate Programme at the SMU in January 2018. A S$3 million gift from Mapletree to SMU was coupled with a 1:1 government matching and the total sum of S$6 million will go towards the establishment of a specialised Real Estate Track, the Mapletree Professorship in Real Estate, Mapletree Awards, Mapletree Real Estate Business Study Trip Grant, as well as Mapletree Speaker Events. Further to its maiden donation in 2018, Mapletree committed another S$2.5 million to expand the Mapletree Real Estate Programme at SMU through fund scholarships and research fellowships.

To support fresh graduates who face difficulty in securing employment in Singapore amid the pandemic, the Group launched Mapletree Traineeship (M-TRAIN), a 12-month full-time work-study programme for up to 30 trainees. Fully funded by Mapletree, trainees would be able to gain relevant real estate knowledge and skills, as well as practical and hands-on work experience while attending classroom trainings conducted by SMU’s faculty members and Mapletree’s senior leaders.

Mapletree extended its support for hackathons with the inaugural Mapletree x NP Hack 2021, further to the third Mapletree-SCCCI River Hongbao Hackathon (RHBHacks) (since 2019) and second edition of The Mapletree Challenge (since 2020). RHBHacks provides tertiary students with an entrepreneurial platform to pitch their business proposals and the opportunity for winning teams to sell their products at Singapore’s largest annual Chinese New Year event – River Hongbao. Themed “Forging a Brighter Future”, RHBHacks 2021 received a record 45 submissions from 11 tertiary institutions. 

The Mapletree Challenge, a seven-month challenge for SIT students, comprises masterclasses, mentorships and an innovation and entrepreneurship forum with industry professionals. 750 students took part in the second edition of challenge from October 2019 to April 2020, guided by the theme of “Reimagining Sustainability for Improving Our World”.  

Continued support for youths-at-risk

Mapletree has been a strong supporter for at-risk youths since 2012. To date, Mapletree has contributed more than S$880,000 to support the education, sports and arts programmes of social service agencies, focusing on assisting youths from challenging financial backgrounds.

The Group piloted the Mapletree Youth Resilience Programme (MYRP) in 2016, which aims to provide long-term financial aid to youths with the potential and drive to pursue an education despite their disadvantaged backgrounds. Under the pilot, five youths from Boys’ Town and YouthReach were identified to receive a one-year sponsorship that goes towards education needs including school fees, transport allowance and the purchase of textbooks. With the youths showing academic commitment and better self-discipline, support has been extended annually for the youths.

As of 31 March 2021, Mapletree has committed over S$230,000 of financial support for the youths through MYRP and continued its support for youths across three local social service agencies and two educational institutions.

For three years since 2017, Mapletree organised an annual Youth Futsal Camp for youths from Mapletree’s youth beneficiaries, as well as children of staff and employees working in the Alexandra Precinct. The youths participate in a series of drills to improve their physical, technical and mental speed, as well as to improve their ball control skills. They also have the chance to put their skills and techniques, as well as sportsmanship to a test with friendly matches.

Supporting our local communities

In FY20/21, Mapletree donated 15 upcycled and refurbished laptops with new hard disks and Microsoft Office Suite to support children from low-income families. The initiative provided more than 25 beneficiaries from Singapore’s Bukit Batok Community Club with greater access to online tuition platforms and resources.

As a tribute to essential and healthcare workers battling the Covid-19 pandemic, Mapletree displayed banners which featured representatives from its Facility Management vendors as well as various Singapore government hospitals. The billboard advertisement and wall banners (located at Tanjong Pagar Distripark, 37 Keppel Road and the linkway bridges between Alexandra Retail Centre and Mapletree Business City, as well as HarbourFront Centre) provided cheer to frontliners.

Mapletree responded swiftly to further support the community amid the Covid-19 pandemic through the Mapletree Community Sharing Fund (MCSF) as well as a Covid-19 Support Fund for Institutes of Higher Learning (IHLs). 

Over S$85,000 in voluntary contributions was pooled from Mapletree staff’s Solidarity Payment to establish MCSF, which provided cash grants to tenants and service providers at Mapletree’s Singapore retail properties who had to take no-pay leave during the pandemic. The first and second round of payouts benefitted more than 180 and 140 recipients respectively.

In addition, the Group also committed S$50,000 to support students from IHLs who required financial assistance due to the pandemic. 

Overseas

Engaging communities in our overseas markets

In China, Mapletree’s CSR support has been focused on providing education and healthcare assistance to the underprivileged.

Since 2012, Mapletree has been providing assistance to low-income residents in the districts of Minhang (Shanghai) and Nanhai. This is under a RMB10 million programme committed in 2012 through which funds are being disbursed over five years to both the Nanhai Charity Society (NCS) and the Minhang District Branch of the Shanghai Charity Foundation. Mapletree has since assisted over 3,200 residents in both districts.

Mapletree also donated RMB2,250,000 (~S$450,000) for another three-year partnership (2019 – 2021) with NCS to provide school bags and hearing aids, as well as financial assistance to needy students in Foshan, China. For its contributions and continued support, Mapletree has received several awards including the “Nanhai Charity Outstanding Contribution Award 2019” awarded by the Foshan Nanhai Charity Society in 2020.

Mapletree also expanded our support for tertiary education to Hong Kong SAR with the Group’s first endowed donation to an overseas university. The Group donated HK$2 million (~S$350,000) to launch the Mapletree Scholarship and Mapletree Exchange Scholarships at the City University of Hong Kong. A maximum of eight awards will be awarded annually starting from Academic Year 2020.

In response to the Covid-19 pandemic, Mapletree committed more than S$1.9 million to the global distribution of masks to beneficiaries across markets in which the Group operates in, to help alleviate the mask shortage situation.