Priming Asia for good: Highlights from the Philanthropy Asia Summit 2025

Held from 5 to 7 May in Singapore, the Philanthropy Asia Summit (PAS) 2025, organised by the Philanthropy Asia Alliance (PAA), was held at the Sands Expo and Convention Centre. This year’s theme was Priming Asia for Good, and aimed to bring together global leaders to encourage collective action in the intersecting areas of climate, health, and education. 

The star of the Climate sector

On the last day of the summit, Ecosperity Week’s Impact Investing Roundtable 2025 was held, primarily spotlighting the case for sustainability across supply chains, particularly among Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs).

At this roundtable, the Centre for Impact Investing and Practices (CIIP) — a non-profit established by the Temasek Trust to foster impact investing and practices — released a report titled: Transforming for Sustainability: Driving Impact and Value through Supply Chain Action. To collect data for this report, the CIIP surveyed over 3,500 Micro, Small and Medium enterprises (MSMEs) from Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, and Vietnam, and interviewed people across 85 organisations across Asia — including MNCs.

Based on a survey of over 3,500 MSMEs and interviews with 85 organisations,while many MSMEs see value in sustainability, with 39% citing long-term efficiency and 27% talent retention, significant hurdles remain. Small teams, high upfront costs, and difficulty hiring environmental, social, and governance (ESG) talent make adoption difficult for these smaller organisations. While ESG practices and sustainability are not the same, ESG practices support sustainability ones, and therefore, the financial and manpower hurdles to ESG do serve as a considerable impediment to larger sustainability practices.

Still, as MSMEs often serve as key suppliers for multinational corporations (MNCs), and MNCs increasingly make sustainability pledges, MSMEs are trying to align with these evolving standards to remain competitive. As a result, half of the surveyed MSMEs plan to raise ESG budgets by 2027, with 32% of them saying that the ability to gain new clients or enter new markets would be a key motivating factor for future adoption of ESG practices.

To raise ESG awareness and adoption among MSMEs, the report calls for clearer guidance, stronger capacity building, closer partnerships with MNCs, targeted innovation funding, and more tailored financing. This includes developing easy-to-use toolkits, offering incentives through corporate buyers, backing MSME-focused solutions, and pairing funding with practical support and digital tools to guide and track progress with MSMEs at any stage of their sustainability journey. 

“MSMEs are the backbone of Southeast Asia’s economies and essential partners in advancing sustainable supply chains,” said Dawn Chan, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of CIIP. “Their growing interest in ESG signals a real opportunity to unlock business resilience and long-term value.”

Fashion and the environment

To put ideas into action, CIIP signed an MoU with the Singapore Fashion Council (SFC) to support fashion industry MSMEs. This collaboration will aims  to facilitate decarbonisation and a broader sustainability practice adoption. 

As a result, the SFC will oversee the development and implementation of the following initiatives: an industry specific plan that identifies the challenges and priorities for the local and regional fashion industry; a guidebook that offers practical roadmaps to help companies at any stage adopt sustainability practices; and a digital toolkit providing MSMEs access to ESG tools. 

To complement the SFC, the CIIP will provide insights and ecosystem-building support.

“The future of fashion lies not just on the runway, but in the roots of our supply chains,” said Zhang Ting Ting, the CEO of SFC. “MSMEs are the heartbeat of Asia’s fashion industry – collective action and practical support are key to meaningful progress in sustainability.”

“By partnering with forward-thinking organisations like Temasek Trust’s CIIP, we are bridging insight with implementation – empowering businesses with the tools and knowledge to future-proof their supply chains and thrive.”

A new lens to target Health

On the summit’s health track, the CIIP and the World Economy Forum’s Giving to Amplify Earth Action (GAEA) initiative launched a health report, titled Targeted Action and Financing the Fight Against Antimicrobial Resistance in Asia, with support from PAA. This report highlighted the disproportionate occurrence of antimicrobial resistance in Asia — where over half of the 4.7 million antimicrobial resistance related deaths in 2021 occurred in the region. 

In the Asia Pacific (APAC) alone, antimicrobial resistance-related costs are projected to reach up to US$700 billion (around S$909 billion) by 2050, while globally, it is estimated to become the leading cause of death by 2050, surpassing cancer. Timely investment into solutions, the report posits, could actually save the APAC region US$10-15 billion (around S$13-19.5 billion) annually.

“This report is a catalyst for deeper involvement from all sectors — philanthropic, public, and private,” said Shaun Seo, CEO of PAA. “We are encouraged by the ongoing work of organisations – including PAA members like the Gates Foundation, Wellcome Trust, and Novo Nordisk Foundation – in driving AMR research and greater access to affordable solutions.”

“Now is the time for more partners to come together, pool resources, and support high-impact solutions that safeguard health and resilience across Asia and beyond.”

New communities for health and energy

Likely Informed by this report, the Health for Human Potential Community was launched — one of two new PAA Communities. Co-led by the Gates Foundation, Institute of Philanthropy, Quantedge Advancement Initiative, Tanoto Foundation, and Temasek Foundation, the Community aims to meet SDG goals related to infection diseases and maternal, newborn, and child health and nutrition. 

To aid this, the Community leads and the PAA are will focus on maternal and child health, nutrition, and infectious diseases in South-East Asia’s most populous regions, Indonesia, Vietnam, and the Philippines, targeting an initial US$100 million (around S$130 million)  in catalytic funding by 2030.

The second Community, the Just Energy Transition Community, aims to close the region’s climate financing gap. Despite accounting for more than half the world’s global energy consumption, Asia receives disproportionately lower philanthropic support for energy transition. Between 2019 and 2023, just 20% of philanthropic funding reached Asia, Africa, and Latin America combined, while nearly 60% flowed to the U.S. and Europe.

Led by members such as Tara Climate Foundation and Bloomberg Philanthropies, this Community aims to bring together funders, governments, industry leaders, and local communities to co-develop clean energy solutions — with an emphasis on job creation, equitable development, and ultimately bring about better health for all.

Both Communities began co-developing their Collective Impact Frameworks at PAS 2025, outlining clear metrics and timelines to drive results.

Education through mentorship

The final pillar of the summit focused on education through the Global Mentorship Programme Amplifier 2025, developed by CIIP and PAA. 

This year’s programme offers three tracks, each curated by an industry partner: unlocking job opportunities in partnership with the Macquarie Group Foundation, supporting sustainable transformation in tourism supply chains with the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth, and advancing circular innovation in textiles with SHEIN. Each track is supported by a capital commitment of S$2 million, including catalytic funding for mentees.

“We continue to see rising demand for scalable, localised innovation across sectors like employment, tourism, and fashion — areas ripe for transformation,” said Chan. “By co-developing these tracks with ecosystem partners who bring deep industry expertise, we’re strengthening the infrastructure that helps promising startups overcome the ‘valley of death’ and deliver enduring, financially sustainable impact.”

The launch of the 2025 programme builds on the success of the 2024 cohort. Backed by recoverable grant funding from the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth, the cohort collectively attained US$4 million (S$5.2 million) in revenue and reached more than 890 clients across both B2B and B2C markets.

The Global Mentorship Programme Amplifier 2025 is presently accepting applications.

PAS 2025 made one thing clear: meaningful progress demands shared responsibility. From decarbonising supply chains to strengthening health systems and scaling impact ventures, the path forward lies in collaboration, one that PAS 2025 provides a platform for.