When Mr Narasimman Tivasiha Mani founded Impart, an advocacy group for youths in 2019, he operated it from his home.
“My team and I would huddle together, answering calls and following up with youths who needed guidance,” he said.
Only after receiving seed funding from The Majurity Trust – a philanthropic organisation that works with donors and charities – were they able to grow and secure a designated space of their own.
Impart is among 14 social impact organisations newly housed under The Foundry, a hub established by The Majurity Trust.
The hub, located at the former Elections Department (ELD) building in Prinsep Street, will provide these organisations with resources to incubate ideas, co-create and pilot solutions and build communities.
A new Foundry Forward Fund will be set up to boost collaboration among social impact organisations. The fund has set aside $500,000 for The Foundry’s occupants to access over the next two years.
The three-storey building, which served as the ELD office building for nearly 27 years until 2021, was rejuvenated in less than eight months and repurposed as a collective impact hub.
Occupying more than 17,000 sq ft, it includes office spaces for organisations of varying sizes, hot-desking areas for small start-up non-profits, discussion pods and meeting spaces to foster collaboration and facilitate impactful conversations.
It features a 100-seat event hall for hosting town halls and events with key stakeholders, and a 40-seat training room that will host masterclasses and learning sessions for occupants.
At the launch of The Foundry on Nov 28, President Tharman Shanmugaratnam spoke about the founders of social impact organisations: “Founders are different from staff and employees. They’re driven by a cause.”
He said the founder mindset “is that of spotting a problem, usually looking for a problem, challenging the status quo of what is possible and finding a solution to make things better”.
“We need that founder mindset as well in the social sector... The Foundry should never lose that spirit.”
The Foundry, set up with donations totalling more than $10 million contributed by private philanthropists, foundations, individual donors and corporations, aims to eventually house 24 social impact organisations.
After a two-year pilot programme and operating from a temporary office in Bugis, Mr Narasimman expressed his appreciation for the current venue, which embodies the “kampung spirit”.
“Now, because we are right next door, we can just go up and talk to one another,” he said, adding that he hopes his organisation will benefit from the pooled resources offered by the new hub.
“Majurity pulls in resources and funders who are interested in supporting organisations doing good work. It is also helping us to upskill by giving us communication training – how to talk to funders and how to run a campaign, for example. Therefore, there is learning taking place.”
Mr Mohammed Narish, 25, a youth mental health advocate and para-counsellor with Impart, also expressed his happiness with the arrangement.
“Having our own space makes us feel more comfortable and efficient. There are meeting pods and small spaces for us to hold meetings.”
He also shared how Ray of Hope, a registered charity, which had extra tickets to a sporting event, passed them on to Impart, adding that the close proximity helped facilitate such good-willed gestures.
As President Tharman said during the building launch: “It will all add up. All these small efforts, founding efforts – some succeed, some don’t – but they will all add up, and they will make this a better society.”
