The potential of a large and growing affluent Asia-Pacific population to support charity across the region has been highlighted at the annual global Philanthropists Forum 2012, hosted by Credit Suisse in Singapore.

The forum, titled “The Pacific Century and Philanthropy: Maximising Donor Impact”, involved 30 leading global thought leaders and practitioners in philanthropy and non-profit organisations, sharing their experiences with participants from around the world.

“At Credit Suisse, we believe that we are at a juncture of significant promise in which committed philanthropists can play a key role in shaping the direction of inclusive economic growth in Asia,” Francesco de Ferrari, Credit Suisse’s head of private banking Asia Pacific, said in a statement. He also spoke of the firm’s SymAsia Foundation, the umbrella client charitable foundation launched 18 months ago.

Singapore’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minster for Finance, Tharman Shanmugaratnam, this year’s guest of honour, opened the forum, for which the Tunku Besar Seri Menanti of Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia, was the lunch keynote speaker.

The panel sessions at the two-day event explored areas of opportunity for Asia-focused philanthropists to have a meaningful and lasting impact on the growth and development of societies in the region, and how donors can collaborate with the charities they support to ensure that intended philanthropic goals are realised.

They also provided insights on trends in the fields of social entrepreneurship, social enterprises, and impact investing, as well as donor strategies for ensuring accountability and the achievement of promised results following distribution of charitable contributions.

One particular highlight of this year’s occasion was the donation of S$25 million to the National University of Singapore (NUS), in support of the NUS University Town and Yale-NUS College, by Overseas Union Enterprise chairman, Dr Stephen Riady. Dr Riady’s family owns businesses including Lippo, the Hong Kong-listed property and investment company.

Speakers at Philanthropists Forum included Patrick Cheung, entrepreneur and chairman, Hong Kong Social Entrepreneurship Forum; Laura Lau, Head of Philanthropy for The Swire Group Charitable Trust, Hong Kong; Christopher MacCormac, Senior Advisor (Knowledge Enterprise) Office of the Vice President for Knowledge Management and Sustainable Development, Asian Development Bank; Jerry Ng, chief executive and president, Bank BTPN, Indonesia; Dr Surin Pitsuwan, Secretary-General, ASEAN; and HRH Raja Zarith Sofiah binti Almarhum Sultan Idris Shah, an advocate of philanthropy in Malaysia.