Fund-Raising As A Commercial Fund-raiser Or Participator A commercial fund-raiser is anyone who is engaged at a fee to fund-raise for a charitable cause, and a commercial participator is anyone who carries on a business (of non fund-raising nature) and in the course of the business raises fund for a charitable cause. As with charities and IPCs, commercial fund-raisers and participators should comply with the following requirements when conducting public fund-raising appeals.
Written Agreement With Beneficiary Charity 
All entities who wish to raise funds for a charity must have a written agreement with the charity before soliciting funds. The agreement with the charity must contain the following information:
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Place and date of appeal and fund-raising method;
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Percentage of proceeds to the charity;
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Timeframe within which proceeds will go to the charity; and
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Fees of the fund-raiser
Receiving Payment For Fund-Raising Efforts Commercial fund-raisers should take note that when they are engaged in any public fund-raising appeals, all donations received must be made directly to the IPCs, individuals or organisations who engaged them. Any payment to commercial fund-raisers must be made by the IPCs, individuals or organisations separately.
Duty To Donors Commercial fund-raisers and commercial participators need to fulfill the following obligations towards donors: • Any information provided to donors or to the general public is accurate and not misleading.
• Disclose the name of their organisation, intended use of funds raised (includes the cause and/or beneficiaries) and whether any commercial fundraiser has been engaged in soliciting the donation.
• All solicitation and publicity material must be accompanied by a written statement with the additional information: Proportion of total proceeds that will go to charitable causes; Breakdown of proceeds to each charity (if funds are raised for more than one charity); Name of the commercial fund-raiser or commercial participator and its status as a commercial entity; How the fund-raiser/participator’s remuneration is calculated. Information relating to donors is kept confidential. No information relating to a donor should be given to any other person without the consent of the donor. Arrangement to solicit donations must have adequate control measures and safeguards to ensure proper accountability and to prevent any loss or theft of donations.
Use of Donations The usage of donations should adhere strictly to the following requirements: • All donations have to be used according to donors' intentions. • If such intention is not specified, donation must be used according to the purpose communicated to the donor during solicitation. • If such intention is not specified and no purpose is communicated to the donor during solicitation, the donation should be used in the following manners:
Tax Deductible Donations: Donations may be used to fund any activity carried out by the IPC that is exclusively beneficial to the community in Singapore as a whole and is not confined to sectional interest; and that meets its objectives under its governing instruments and the objectives of the Sector Administrator.
Non-Tax Deductible Donations: Donations may be used to fund any activity carried out by the IPC that meets its objectives under its governing instruments and the objectives of the Sector Administrator. • If a donation cannot be used, the IPC must refund the donation or use the donation as may be approved by the Commissioner of Charities or Sector Administrators.
Maintenance Of Accounting Records Commercial fund-raisers and commercial participators must maintain every accounting record for a minimum period of 5 years from the end of the financial year.