From the Nominator

Travelling to overseas destinations was halted around the world due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and lockdown measures restricted leisure activities, which led to many in Singapore cancelling their annual leave entitlements. NTU came up with the idea to utilize the value of unused leave as a means to give toward student aid and endowment funds. The NTU Leave Redemption and Donation Exercise ran for 31 days in October 2020. A total of 1,821 faculty and staff donated their annual leave, giving the value of 20,000 days of unused leave, which enabled NTU to raise S$10.28 million through the NTU Leave Redemption and Donation Exercise campaign. 

This initiative not only allowed all faculty and staff to give back and enrich students lives through various funds of their choice, but the impact of the gift was doubled through the government’s gift matching programme. NTU’s leave donation campaign was featured in local media such as The Straits Time and Channel News Asia.

From the Judges

We were impressed with the ingenuity shown in this project. Staff across the institution pitched in to create something that had immediate impact on the university, in support of students through the pandemic. Staff could choose to donate their unused leave to a fund of their choice. This is a brilliant and unique idea that's clearly had a huge monetary impact, and attracted impressive levels of media attention too. Engagement from staff was amazing, with more than 20,000 days of annual leave donated. There was no monetary budget to implement this initiative. The target was exceeded ten-fold, raising money to support bursaries, student life, education, or general endowment. It takes staff giving to a new level, and provides people with options to do something generous. This project is something that could certainly serve as a model for other institutions to consider.