About the Fund

The Community Care Fund (CCF) has been established since early 2011. Its main objective is to provide assistance to people facing financial difficulties, in particular those who fall outside the social safety net or those within the safety net but still have special circumstances that are not covered. In addition, the CCF may consider introducing programmes on a pilot basis to help the Government identify those measures that can be considered for incorporation into its regular assistance and service programmes.

In late 2010, the Chief Executive appointed the Steering Committee on the CCF to oversee and co-ordinate the work of the CCF. An Executive Committee and four Subcommittees (Education, Home Affairs, Medical and Welfare) were set up under the Steering Committee to support the operation of the CCF. The terms of the above-mentioned committees/ subcommittees ended in end 2012 and the CCF has since 2013 been integrated into the work of the reinstated Commission on Poverty (CoP). The CCF Task Force has been set up under the CoP as chaired by the Chief Secretary for Administration.

Operating Principles

The operation of the CCF is guided by the following principles:

• building a caring culture in society, gathering the efforts of various sectors of the community and encouraging the better-off to contribute;
• programmes should be people-oriented with assistance directly provided to beneficiaries; administrative costs or involvement of implementing agencies should be minimised though the need for non-government organisations' help to reach out to target groups outside the existing service network will not be precluded; programmes should be multifarious in nature; and the vetting procedures should be streamlined to ensure cost-effectiveness;
• programmes should complement the assistance and services provided by the Government or other charitable funds; duplication of efforts should be avoided as far as practicable; and
• operation of the CCF is mainly funded by investment returns on the seed capital, but the seed capital may be deployed in accordance with the principle of financial prudence in response to needs.

The target beneficiaries of the CCF are those facing financial difficulties and in need of assistance.