GMF#26 | What Workout, Free Hugs, and Barakah 2025 All Have in Common? Meet Xavier.
TL;DR:
Over the weekend, my Slack was buzzing with excitement as the team prepped for our upcoming Barakah event to celebrate Ramadan. It got me thinking back to 2009, when Give.Asia (then called Give.sg) first started with a simple dream: turning fundraising into FUNraising. From awkward Free Hugs to moustache challenges to advent calendar-inspired digital goodies, we’ve spent 15 years building tech to make charity events more creative and joyful. One story that stands out is Xavier’s personal challenge during COVID, which perfectly captures our spirit—doing good can be fun, meaningful, and personal all at once. This Ramadan, we’re excited to team up with MIJ, Muhammadiyah Association, MTFA, and Yayasan Mendaki to bring that same energy to Barakah 2025 (link).
FUNraising started as Give.Asia’s original tagline in 2009—to make doing good fun.
Early experiments like Free Hugs and Moustache Challenges taught us kindness spreads through joy.
During COVID-19, Xavier’s creative family workout fundraiser showed how personal fun can drive meaningful impact.
Advent calendars inspired us to create “digital goodies” that make charity events playful and rewarding.
Barakah 2025 brings it all together—celebrating Ramadan with fun, community, and giving.
A Slack Notification and a Trip Down Memory Lane
Over the weekend, my Slack app started buzzing with excitement.
The team was deep into preparations for the Barakah event—our upcoming collaboration with four amazing charities to celebrate Ramadan together.
That little buzz triggered a flood of memories. It reminded me how the journey of building tech for charity events first began, and how that journey still shapes what we do today.
When Fundraising Became FUNraising
Back in 2009, when we launched Give.Asia (or Give.sg, as it was called then), we had one simple belief:
If doing good was fun, more people would want to join in.
It was our twist on Gandhi’s famous line—be the change you want to see in the world.
We thought: why not make it easier for people to want to be the change, by making kindness a fun, shared experience?
That’s how FUNraising was born.
The Early Days: Free Hugs and Big Moustaches
We started testing ideas—some worked, some didn’t, but all of them taught us something.
One of our first experiments was a moustache-growing challenge to raise funds for prostate cancer.
Another was a Free Hugs event, where we stood on Orchard Road offering hugs to strangers.
I still remember standing there, arms wide open, feeling utterly awkward when nobody approached for the first few minutes. For a moment, I thought maybe my I was sweating a little too much in the sun. But eventually, one brave person came forward, and suddenly it caught on.
That moment stuck with me—kindness often just needs someone to go first.
COVID-19 and Xavier’s Family Workout Challenge
Fast forward to the pandemic, and the world changed overnight. Physical events were off the table.
But the spirit of FUNraising didn’t stop—it just moved online.
That’s when Xavier, one of our teammates, came up with a brilliant personal challenge.
Stuck at home with his two kids, he decided to turn his workouts into a fundraiser.
But instead of regular weights, he used his kids—literally.
They climbed onto his back for push-ups, hung onto his arms for bicep curls, and rode along for squats. Every rep became a moment of joy, and together they raised funds for The Food Bank Singapore, helping families struggling to put food on the table during the crisis.
What I loved most wasn’t just the creativity—it was how Xavier found a way to do good through something personal and joyful. That’s what FUNraising is really about.
Advent Calendars and the Magic of Digital Goodies
Last year, we stumbled onto a new spark of inspiration—chocolate advent calendars.
You know the kind—each day you open a little door to find a treat.
We wondered: What if we could bring that sense of discovery and delight to giving?
So we built the tech to let charities run daily challenge events, where every completed task unlocked a digital goodie—a small surprise that made each act of kindness feel rewarding and playful.
We tested it with Caritas Singapore for their Christmas campaign—and this month, we’re using that same playful spirit for Barakah 2025 with MIJ, Muhammadiyah Association, MTFA, and Yayasan Mendaki.
15 Years of Trial, Error, and Joy
Looking back, it’s been about 15 years since we first started trying to turn fundraising into FUNraising.
Along the way, we built tools to manage everything from concert ticketing to participation forms to leaderboards that spark friendly competition—but through it all, one thing never changed:
Doing good should feel good.
That’s the belief that kept us going—from moustaches to advent calendars, from Free Hugs to Xavier’s workout.
What’s Next? Let’s Build More FUNraising Together
This journey has been one long experiment, and we’re nowhere near done.
If you’re a charity looking to try something new—or if you have a crazy idea that could make giving more fun—we’d love to team up.
Check out our events platform here or just drop me a message.
Who knows? Your idea might just become the next FUNraising classic.
