Koh Choon Hui has been chairman of the Singapore Children’s Society (SCS) since 1978, and was concurrently chairman of Singapore Pools for eight years until June 2021. Koh has a long history of being involved in various charitable ventures, leading to his nickname of Singapore’s “fundraising king”.

Koh made a number of changes to help the SCS with its fundraising efforts not long after he joined. The tweaks, spanning the length of his tenure, included revamping its Flag Day to mobilise more students in fundraising efforts, building a donor database, and taking events and fundraising efforts online during the Covid-19 pandemic, among other initiatives.

At Singapore Pools, Koh was also actively involved in leading various philanthropic ventures. At the height of the pandemic in 2020, over SG$1 million was awarded to the needy, including a sum of SG$350,000 to the Community Chest’s Courage Fund and SG$200,000 to the Community Foundation of Singapore’s Sayang Sayang Fund. In 2020, the staff volunteerism rate among Singapore Pools’ full-time employees was also 70 per cent—nearly double the 37 per cent from the year before.