In-Between

Opportunity

Citizens applying for grants through Singapore's SG Grant Portal face a daunting process. The portal hosts over 60 community grants covering everything from placemaking initiatives to arts programmes to social services, but applicants consistently encounter the same friction points regardless of which fund they're applying to.

After identifying the right fund, applicants must navigate unclear requirements, unfamiliar stakeholders, timelines that don't match expectations, and compliance considerations they may not anticipate. The cognitive load is significant: each grant has its own eligibility criteria, budget limits, approval processes, and documentation requirements scattered across guidelines, FAQs, and supplementary documents.

This complexity creates drop-offs. As one officer put it: "So many things to read. It's a deterrent." By reducing this friction, we can help more citizens, especially first-time applicants, successfully navigate the process and bring their ideas to life.

Velocity

We entered the month with three hypotheses and built two prototypes to test them. We started with the Lively Places Fund as our initial test case, interviewing officers from HDB and URA who administer it.

Hypothesis 1: People don't know which opportunities exist We proposed a repository where citizens could discover and suggest ideas.

What we learned:

• Previous crowdsourcing attempts generated ideas but no clear path to action

• Officers noted that applicants typically come with specific projects in mind rather than browsing for inspiration

• Application volume isn't the core problem; application quality and completion rates are

Hypothesis 2: The application process feels too complex We proposed an AI-guided form to help applicants understand requirements as they fill in their application.

What we learned:

• The grant forms live on SG Grant Portal, which is centrally managed. Making changes to the portal itself would require cross-agency coordination and governance approvals

• Officers liked the AI concept: "Like the AI, very useful" and "If we build something simple to publicise, it will increase take-up"

• But a standalone replacement form isn't viable

The pivot: We shifted from a standalone platform to a browser plugin that works alongside the existing SG Grant Portal, requiring no changes to the portal itself. As users fill in their application, the plugin extracts form fields and uses AI (with fund-specific knowledge) to generate a personalised checklist:

• Stakeholders to engage (with contact links where available)

• Suggested timeline with to-dos and approval milestones

• Compliance and eligibility notes specific to the fund

• Budget considerations based on fund limits and allowable expenses

This approach works across all 60+ grants on the portal, not just the one we started with.

Traction

Our user interviews helped us invalidate our initial hypotheses quickly and understand the real constraints, particularly the governance boundaries around the SG Grant Portal.

The plugin concept emerged directly from this feedback. Officers responded positively: "It's a worthwhile project. We want to see it work." They highlighted that a tool helping applicants navigate requirements upfront could reduce back-and-forth and improve application quality.

We are currently at a low-fidelity prototype stage. Next steps include:

• Refining the UI to improve usability and clarity

• Testing with actual grant applicants to validate whether the AI-generated checklists reduce confusion

• Expanding the knowledge base to cover more grants on the portal

Team

• Lai Jing Yi

• Tham Si Mun