SINGAPORE : The Singapore Association of The Visually Handicapped (SAVH) is holding a concert to raise funds.

It hopes to get $120,000 in its first fundraising effort, since it got back its Institution of Public Character (IPC) status in October last year.

The IPC status is needed to give the association the right to collect tax-exempt donations.

Providing members with gainful employment requires training, and training is one area the association plans to spend its funds on.

Other expenditures include staff payroll and providing facilities for the visually handicapped.

Funding of some $1.5 million used to come from the National Council of Social Services but that ended in October 2005 when poor governance at the charity came to light.

This came nine months after the association had its IPC status suspended.

The association said the concert will help raise funds for its activities as it is now running low on reserves. It is also planning to re-apply for funding from the National Council of Social Services.

The association said that it has about $1 million in reserves currently, which can only last a year.

Meanwhile, its corporate and personal donations have started trickling in once again after the association got back its IPC status.

SAVH will also look at getting people to bequeath part of their estate to it, as part of a sustained fundraising effort.

For now, only 5% of its donations come from this source.

"People don't realise that they can do a lot for the charities by bequeathing their estates... This is one area in which we are trying to explore and to persuade more people to come forward to donate their estates to us," said Tan Guan Heng, president of SAVH.

The association is hoping that through its concert - "Chorus of Dreams" - the public will once again lend its support.

"The old SAVH received some negative press, but that's over and it's the past. We want to look at the future and the only way to do that is to have a key event that will (make us) be known to the public," said Najib Ahmad, chairman and producer of concert "Chorus of Dreams".

"Chorus of Dreams" will feature local artistes such as Project Superstar winner Tan Weilian, Superband champions Mi Lu Bing, the world's only standing cellist Olivia Guo and funk-rock fusion band Halfestride.

It will be held at Republic Polytechnic's Cultural Centre on April 27 at 7:30 pm.

Tickets will be priced at $28 and will go on sale early March. - CNA /ls