Charitable Purpose Trusts

Disclaimer: The material on this webpage does not constitute legal advice. The Government is not assuming, or taking on, any responsibility to any person who relies on the material stated on this website. If you wish to obtain legal advice on trusts and trust-like arrangements in Singapore, please engage a lawyer.

1. Basic Features of Charitable Purpose Trusts

As a general rule, trusts must have ascertainable beneficiaries, or a class of beneficiaries. However, one exception to that rule is the charitable purpose trust. Such a trust:

1.     Must have a charitable purpose (e.g. for the relief of poverty, advancement of education, advancement of religion, or other purposes beneficial to the community);

2.     The trust must through its action promote a public benefit; and

3.     The trust must be wholly and exclusively charitable.

Charitable purpose trusts do not have beneficiaries. While a person may receive a factual benefit from a charitable purpose trust, such a person is not vested with beneficial interest in the trust property, and therefore has no standing to enforce the charitable purpose trust.

2. Regulation of Charitable Purpose Trusts

In order to avoid the abuse of the charitable purpose trust, such trusts are upheld to a high standard of probity.

• All charitable purpose trusts (and more generally, charities) must apply to be registered with the Commissioner of Charities pursuant to the Charities Act 1994. Such applications must be accompanied by a copy of the governing instrument, which would ordinarily provide details as to the trust’s ownership, and any other documents or information that the Commissioner may require for the purposes of the application. The conditions for registration are found in Regulation 3 of the Charities (Registration of Charities) Regulations.   

• As with all charities, charitable purpose trusts (which are a type of charity) are supervised and enforced in the public interest by the Attorney-General and the Commissioner of Charities, who can establish a scheme of administration for the charity. The Commissioner of Charities may also from time-to-time institute inquiries with regard to charities, either generally or for particular purposes.

• Trustees are under a duty to keep proper accounting records to show and explain all of the charity’s transactions and to prepare annual reports of its activities which should be open to public inspection at all reasonable times during the period for which it is kept, or during a shorter period if the Commissioner determines and specifies so.

• The requirements stipulated in Part 7 of the Trustees Act and the Trustees Regulations mentioned here also apply.

A register of charities is publicly accessible on the Charities Portal, where details such as the particulars of the trustees and the charity’s annual reports may be found.