Strengthening Charities’ Resilience in Today’s Digital Age

9 November 2021 – Building stronger, sustainable and progressive charities is the heart of resilience. As one of the strong lines of defence in protecting the marginalised during uncertain times, charities must have the capacity to recover quickly and weather major, unforeseen disruptions such as the COVID-19 pandemic. With that in mind, iShine Cloud organised their fourth Hosted Talk (virtually), themed “Strengthening Charities’ Resilience in Today’s Digital Age”, to share relevant insights that can help charities stay digitally and mentally resilient.

Attended by over 100 professionals from the charity sector, the virtual Talk discussed how organisations can deal with digital burn-out and mental health on a daily basis. Guest speakers – Mr Anthony Wo, Cybersecurity Consultant of Netpoleon Solutions and Singapore Association for Mental Health (SAMH)’s Vice President, Dr Lee Cheng, presented on the various frameworks that charities can adopt to enhance workplace productivity amidst the pandemic.

With the right infrastructure and skill sets, charities can consistently build excellence in both people and processes to uplift their organisation capabilities. 
“We read a lot about digital security, but I think digital resilience is more instructive. It takes into consideration digital security, and the agility and speed to adapt faster to changing and disruptive market conditions, such as that resulting from COVID-19. We need to be all-encompassing, Secure, Agile and Fast if we want to remain relevant. This is something to think about and act on whatever agency we come from.” Said Ms Jeanne Conceicao, Senior Manager at Thye Hua Kwan Moral Charities on Digital Resilience presented by guest speaker, Antony Wo.

She also recalled a useful piece of advice from Dr Lee on Mental Resilience, that being mentally healthy was in our control. Breaking down negative situations into manageable, bite-sized pieces, and seeking help when things become too overwhelming is an important step that differentiates between a healthy mental state and inertia or lack of control.

Aside from the informative presentations, this year’s Hosted Talk included a new segment. Executive Directors of SUN-DAC – Mr Quek Hong Choon, and Teen Challenge Singapore – Mr Silas Tan joined the panel moderated by Singapore Pools’ Deputy Chief Business Technology Officer, Mr Nelson Tan, to discuss resilience-related topics and share their charities’ best practices.

Building resilience in the charity sector has become more important than ever. iShine Cloud will continue to partner with technology providers to support charities in their digital transformation.