THERE was an uproar when the newly elected committee of Singapore's best known women's group spent about $100,000 in their first month in office.

Now it turns out that Aware has ended up with a profit from the whole affair.

It collected more than $106,000 in membership fees and donations during the crisis, it was revealed at a media conference at the Aware Centre yesterday.

More than $98,000 was gathered in membership fees alone, from 29 Mar to 2 May. A total of 2,748 people joined Aware or renewed their membership during the crisis.

An additional $8,000 was donated by the companies that provided services at the EGM on 2 May.

The current committee is now willing to forgive and move on.

Initially, when it was revealed that the previous exco had spent so much, some Aware members had called for the money to be recovered from those who served on it.

The current exco then formed an internal review team, as it felt that the previous team did not adhere fully to the Aware Constitution and with Aware's standard operating processes.

However, Aware president Dana Lam, 56, said yesterday that no action will be taken against the previous exco.

'There are several reasons for this,' she said.

'First, we recognise that they were handicapped by their lack of experience with NGO (non-governmental organisation) culture.'

Secondly, the previous exco was working under some stress because the number of members was increasing every day during the saga.

She added: 'They also had the vote of no confidence hanging over their head.

'Especially as we are able to recover some of the money anyway, through the generosity of the donors, we don't see a need to pursue this any further.'

Reasonable amount

Added Ms Corinna Lim, 45, the assistant honorary secretary: 'You can't get away from paying for certain things, like the rental of the venue. There are not many venues which can accommodate so many people.

'We did our checks, and found that it (the amount spent) was actually a reasonable cost.'

Aware has enough money to fund its ongoing services, such as providing counselling services, a helpline, and a legal clinic for women, until the term of the current exco ends in March 2010.

It also has enough to run some of its projects, until the end of the year.

It has plans to raise funds actively from now on, like through an upcoming flag day on 8 Aug, and by approaching donors.

Said Ms Yap Ching Wi, 41, the honorary secretary: 'By the time we came into this term, we had lost a good few months, so we are catching up.

Getting support

'We'll work as hard as we can, and we're very confident that we can get support from the public and all the supporters of Aware.'

Said Ms Lam: 'Most importantly, we want to get on with our work - which is to identify and help remove the obstacles that prevent women from realising their full potential.

'This is, and always has been, Aware's agenda.'

All the companies that provided services at the EGM provided some monetary assistance to Aware.

Rajah & Tann, Aware's legal adviser at the EGM, donated $5,000, and Deloitte & Touche donated $3,000.

Rajah & Tann also waived a portion of its fees, as did Boardroom Corporate & Advisory Services.

Both Suntec Singapore and Ape Communications gave Aware a discount of more than 25 per cent for using their venue or services.

The current exco of Aware was elected on 2 May after a vote of no confidence was successfully passed on the previous exco, headed by Ms Josie Lau.

This article was first published in The New Paper