Sands Celebrates the Progress of Sands Cares Accelerator Members at Annual Global Virtual Event

On May 29, Sands hosted its annual Sands Cares Accelerator Virtual Global Celebration to highlight nonprofit member accomplishments in the exclusive three-year program and celebrate the global initiative’s fifth graduate, Green Future Macau.

The Sands Cares Accelerator was inspired by Sands’ founder Sheldon G. Adelson and his legacy of creating successful businesses and giving back to communities through meaningful philanthropic involvement. Since 2017, the program has empowered Las Vegas, Singapore and Macao nonprofits to build their capacity in strategic areas and develop new initiatives to make greater community impact. Over the past nine years, Sands has invested $1.85 million in seven Sands Cares Accelerator member organizations, and Team Members have contributed 734 hours of skills-based consulting and mentoring to support achievement of their goals in the program.

Ron Reese, senior vice president of global communications and corporate affairs shared the company’s motivation in the creation of the Sands Cares Accelerator and the intention behind its structure.

“We established the program to give our nonprofit partners the impetus to plan, test and implement their ideas in a strategic growth area, one that they believe will have impact on their organizations for years to come,” Reese said. “We only have one member in each region, so that we can really focus on helping them achieve their goals – by providing not only funding, but also wraparound support in the form of outside project facilitation and consulting from our Team Members in related areas of expertise.”

The global virtual celebration featured updates from current Sands Cares Accelerator members on their progress toward the goals they established for their time in the program.

In Las Vegas, The LGBTQ+ Center of Southern Nevada, now in its third and final year in the Sands Cares Accelerator, updated on its focus area of expanding marketing and communications capabilities to drive visibility for its services, sustain funding and elevate its reputation as a leading advocate for the LGBTQ+ community. The Center detailed its progress over the past year and updated on its final-year focus of coalescing communications plans, evolving its annual Impact Report, producing new videos to tell its story and engage with donors, and continuing efforts to launch a podcast.

The 2025 Global Virtual event marked the first showcase by The Food Bank Singapore, which joined the Sands Cares Accelerator earlier this year. The Food Bank Singapore increases food sustainability by acquiring donated food from a variety of sources and redistributing more than 2 million meals to vulnerable families and individuals annually.

The organization’s Sands Cares Accelerator goal is to expand its Bank Card Program, which helps beneficiaries receive food aid through smart wallets that are pre-loaded with monthly virtual credits. With support from the Sands Cares Accelerator, the nonprofit plans to digitize its processes for operational and cost efficiency, and increase its outreach to more beneficiaries, particularly youths in tertiary institutions.

The annual event culminated with celebration of the Sands Cares Accelerator’s first Macao graduate, Green Future Macau. Founded in 2012 to provide education and awareness programs to improve commercial recycling rates in the region, Green Future joined the Sands Cares Accelerator in 2022. Its program goal was to launch and sustain Sap Fong, an environmental protection and recycling social enterprise that provides Macao businesses with waste sorting and recycling services, as well as supports independent recyclers in the region.

Green Future successfully achieved its Sands Cares Accelerator objective – when the organization’s membership concluded at the end of 2024, Sap Fong was serving nearly 90 clients, including regular subscribers and large-scale events, and is the only recycler in Macao that accepts a diverse range of materials for recycling. The Sands Cares Accelerator also empowered Green Future to forge relationships with more than 200 independent recyclers and provide them with critical resources and employment opportunities.

Joey Choi, vice president of Green Future, described how the Sands Cares Accelerator helped the organization navigate challenges and achieve its goals.

“Starting from scratch wasn’t easy—especially in the first year,” Choi said. “We faced setbacks and long working hours, and many things didn’t go as planned. But we learned that success requires adaptability and persistence. The Sands Cares Accelerator was instrumental in our growth, especially as a team from an environmental background with limited experience in business management, marketing and pricing.

“Through regular expert meetings, Sands China’s marketing and e-commerce team guided us in promoting our recycling services effectively. The advertising, brand management and visual media team helped us create a beautiful video, and of course the sustainability team has always been incredibly supportive. For example, they’ve offered platforms like the Sands Shopping Carnival and hotel recycling initiatives for Sap Fong, along with providing practical insights on hotel waste management practices that helped us refine our services.”

The Sands Cares Accelerator is a global initiative to support nonprofit partner advancement, which is one of Sands’ core community engagement priorities to ensure its regions remain great places to live, work and visit. To learn more about the Sands Cares Accelerator and its focus on building nonprofit capacity, visit: https://www.sands.com/responsibility/communities/sands-cares-accelerator/