#BeyondProfit: How raiSE is Powering Social Enterprise & Driving Lasting Impact in Singapore

Across Southeast Asia, businesses and organisations are increasingly realising that success cannot be measured by profits alone. From empowering vulnerable communities to building sustainable ecosystems, a new wave of purpose-driven initiatives is reshaping what it means to create value. This shift is especially visible in Singapore, where innovation and inclusivity often go hand in hand.

At the heart of this transformation is the Singapore Centre for Social Enterprise, better known as raiSE. Established in 2015, raiSE has become the cornerstone of the nation’s social enterprise ecosystem—championing enterprises that balance financial sustainability with measurable social impact.

Through funding, mentorship, capability building, and public engagement, raiSE enables social entrepreneurs to design solutions that uplift communities while ensuring long-term growth. Here are some of the ways raiSE is going #BeyondProfit.

1. VentureForGood (VFG) Grant

The VFG Grant is aimed at social enterprises in early or growth stages. It supports members of raiSE in initiatives such as inclusive employment (giving opportunities to disadvantaged individuals), inclusive products and services, and human-centred impact. Enterprises can receive up to S$300,000 in funding.

For example, over several years, raiSE has committed over S$11 million to 136 social enterprises, positively affecting tens of thousands of beneficiaries.

2. TS2 Accelerator (Technology for Sustainable Social Impact)

TS2 Accelerator is a 10-week accelerator (in partnership with NUS Enterprise) for tech-driven social enterprises. It offers mentor-led guidance, access to networks (including investors, impact professionals), and tools to scale both business and impact sustainably. The TS2 programme supports tech start-ups from “deep tech” to “light tech” that have human-centred goals.

Participating teams benefit from curated feedback, demo days (showcases), and exposure to regional opportunities.

3. Community Urban Farming Grant (SECUF)

The Social Enterprise Community Urban Farm (SECUF) Grant is a raiSE-supported initiative that supports raiSE Social Enterprise members in setting up and running community urban farms. It includes infrastructure grants and programming support for hands-on edible gardening and workshops that involve seniors, persons with special needs, low-income families.

This initiative builds skills in gardening, fosters community engagement, encourages sustainability, and helps reconnect people with food sources and green spaces.

4. Membership & Capability Building Programmes

raiSE provides a set of capability building supports—tailored programme tracks, masterclasses, fellowships, toolkits, networking, mentorship, and co-learning. For example:

• Masterclasses in business fundamentals such as financial management, impact measurement, marketing.

• SE Fellowship programmes where more experienced professionals mentor social enterprises, helping them refine strategy, operations, and scaling.

• The Social Impact Framework / ‘BusinessForGood’ membership criteria: membership categories based on verified impact, enabling enterprises to benchmark and build legitimacy.

5. FestivalForGood & The PurpoSE Agenda

FestivalForGood (FFG) is raiSE’s public-facing flagship event, starting in 2016, to raise awareness of social enterprises, allow them to showcase products/services, connect with the public, corporates, and ecosystem players. It has grown significantly in terms of participation, visitor numbers, and media/social reach. 

The PurpoSE Agenda is a curated conference (impact investment / ESG + corporates / private sector) run by raiSE for corporates, investors, SEs to share best practices, collaborate, and deepen understanding of purpose-driven business. 

Bottom Line

raiSE is not simply a grants body—its role is multi-faceted: enabler, ecosystem builder, capacity‐developer, validator, connector. By combining financial support with capability building, legitimacy (via membership and impact criteria), mentorship, public awareness, and platforms for collaboration, raiSE ensures the social enterprise sector in Singapore can grow sustainably.

More importantly, raiSE shows that impact is scalable: early stage social enterprises are helped to become sustainable; tech-based impact ventures are accelerated; communities are engaged with urban farming or inclusion programmes; visibility is provided via festivals & public events. The social value isn’t incidental — it’s built into the design of their programmes.

In short, raiSE goes well #BeyondProfit: helping enterprises not just to survive, but to thrive and deliver meaningful, measurable social impact. With Singapore’s increasing focus on ESG, stakeholder capitalism, and purposeful business, the raiSE model offers lessons for social economies anywhere: that combining purpose with profit is not just possible — it is essential.