ItsRainingRaincoats founder Dipa Swaminathan reveals how and why she started a charity for migrant workers in Singapore

Her new‑found calling was reaffirmed only weeks later, in another episode involving rain‑soaked migrant workers. “I saw workers wearing black garbage bags in the rain,” she recalls. “Meanwhile, their supervisor was standing at a bus stop holding an umbrella.” Similar to her earlier intervention, she stopped her car and demanded to know their employer’s name. “One of them lifted up his garbage bag so I could read the name. I called the company and told them I had photos of their workers working in the rain. I threatened to send them to the Ministry of Manpower and the media if they weren’t given raincoats. They slammed the phone down on me,” Swaminathan recounts. However, when she returned to pick up her son on another rainy day, she noticed that the same workers were wearing bright yellow raincoats.

Motivated by her experiences, she continued to champion the cause. Murugan’s story gained traction on The People of Singapore Facebook page, which features portraits and interviews with everyday people, and caught the attention of the Singapore Kindness Movement, a non‑profit organisation that aims to build a more gracious Singapore through its programmes. It partnered with her for a Kindness Day SG project in 2015, endorsing her idea to distribute raincoats to workers in the rain and inviting her to name the initiative.

Laughing as she recounts IRR’s origins, she says: “The name was inspired by the song It’s Raining Men. I didn’t realise ItsRainingRaincoats would be tricky to type and say.” In the early stages, Swaminathan ran the initiative completely on her own. Then, “one of my ex‑colleagues reached out and gradually, from two people, it became four. It just grew.”

Eight years after its inception, IRR has far exceeded her original aspirations and now has more than 1,500 volunteers. “We have amazing donors. From 2015 to 2021, we had no paid staff, no premises or place to call our own. We have three paid staff now—and that’s lean for an organisation that does as much as we do,” she says.

Swaminathan explains that IRR relies on a combination of public contributions, corporate sponsorships and grants. “We’re not a rich non‐governmental organisation by any means,” she says. “We’re small, but we’re content because we’re never short of help.” Gesturing at the many umbrellas placed at the side of her porch, donated as part of IRR’s One Umbrella Drive, she adds: “People of all races and walks of life walk up to my doorstep to drop these off. What more richness can I ask for? A million dollars cannot match that.” 

The scope of IRR’s initiatives is wide and varied. During the recent Formula 1 Singapore Grand Prix season, it brought migrant workers to the race. “Alvin Tan, the minister of state for Trade and Industry, had just done an inspection of the circuit a few days before the race. I commented on his Facebook page and suggested bringing migrant workers to this year’s event. He connected us to [the Ministry of Trade and Industry] and the Singapore Grand Prix,” she says.

The team not only secured subsidised tickets, but also coordinated volunteers and conducted a donation drive to raise spending money for the workers. “The workers built the racing tracks and the infrastructure. Long after the last champagne is popped, they’ll be the ones clearing up and dismantling everything. It’s only right that they get to enjoy some of the action,” she says.

IRR’s agility is central to its operations. “If you were to ask me about my plans for 2024, I’d say the only plan is growth,” says Swaminathan. “Every year, we do something different and layer on to our pre‐existing programmes. That’s my mantra: keep it simple, be nimble and make it happen.” At the time of writing, IRR was planning its Deepavali drive. Pre‐pandemic, volunteers would collect food from her home for distribution. When Covid‐19 struck, IRR shifted gears to a contact‐free alternative: volunteers would drive into a dead‐end street to load their cars with food, which they then delivered to predetermined sites. Despite the logistical complexities, the initiative was so well received that it has been continued, with the inclusion of motorcycles as a new medium of distribution.

With a proud smile, Swaminathan adds: “We keep it fun with simple, imaginative ways to engage with migrant workers. This has shifted the needle of engagement.” Rather than adhering to a rigid set of activities, IRR offers multiple ways for people to engage with migrant workers—be it through holiday events, outings or sustainability projects. “We give people different ways to engage with our migrant workers. That is what I think is changing the mindset. Now, we can’t keep up with the demand from companies and schools to do something with migrant workers. Every week, there are requests for us to give talks or do a corporate social responsibility event.” For her extensive efforts, Swaminathan has garnered multiple awards, including the President’s Volunteerism and Philanthropy Award in 2017 and 2020 respectively.

Arriving at this juncture has been an uphill battle, especially in a climate following events such as the 2013 Little India riot. “Migrant workers were all painted with the same brush of villainy. We can’t lump them all together, as they do so much hard work. Almost everything we enjoy is thanks to their labour,” says Swaminathan. She talks us through a migrant worker’s gruelling day, which involves waking up early to queue for basic shower facilities, and risking their lives on the back of lorries and at dangerous construction sites. “It’s a lot of work and risks to personal health and safety for very little in return.”

Countering the notion that migrant workers benefit financially from being in Singapore, she says: “Projects fell behind without them during the pandemic. Think about who else would do the work for these wages. Do we want to be a society that is inconsiderate and exploitative?”

While Swaminathan is now dedicated to addressing the challenges faced by migrant workers, this was not her first cause. Gesturing to her rescue dog, a Singapore Special, she says: “Prior to IRR, a cause dear to my heart was, and still is, animals. In school, I did extensive work on animal rights. I ended up being a commercial lawyer, but I still donate a portion of my earnings from the corporate world to animal welfare organisations.”

Born in Bangalore, and a graduate of the National Law School of India University and Harvard Law School, Swaminathan, who balances her advocacy work with her professional role as assistant general counsel at Singtel, moved to Singapore almost three decades ago to join her husband. “We started very humbly and lived in a rented room in an HDB flat,” she shares. Characterising her upbringing as unremarkable, she further notes that she comes “from a middle‐class family, but was raised on the philosophy of simple living and high thinking”. An only child to parents who read extensively, she says conversations around the dinner tables revolved around history and current affairs. “There were always opportunities to think and be intellectually engaged.”

From a young age, the act of giving back was ingrained in her, to be completed through everyday kindnesses. “My maternal family did a lot of good,” she explains, “[but] not in the sense of grand philanthropic endeavours or setting up charities. Instead, it was about daily interactions and putting yourself in the shoes of the other person.” It is with the same ethos she is raising her sons. “They’ve watched me run IRR since they were very young. It’s second nature for them.” Her influence is particularly visible in her 16‐year‐old son, who initiated the Groove for Good programme, which offers guitar lessons to migrant workers through IRR’s shop, InspIRRe. 

Such acts of kindness are vital to reinvigorating her, especially as Swaminathan’s altruistic endeavours make her susceptible to compassion fatigue. “I felt it most and for the first time in 2020,” she says. “When the rest of Singapore was slowing down, we were busier than ever with workers facing food, health and other issues. I reached a complete burnout point juggling non‐stop calls from media, various stakeholders, volunteers and the workers themselves. That year, all I wanted [to do] was run away.” 

Once again, the universe intervened: “A leadership coach unexpectedly reached out and offered me six free sessions of leadership coaching. I took a leap of faith and said yes,” she says. The lessons were a lifeline for her that year, but even so, she has to force herself to acknowledge she’s only human, with limited capacity. “Every now and then, it gets hard. I cry more these days,” she admits. “There’s only so much I can do as other demands on my time continually increase and it’s relentless, I never truly get to switch off. I have to find energy and sustenance from the small as well as the big things.”

Swaminathan says the most rewarding aspects of her role in IRR includes the network of connections it has afforded her. “It has also given me the opportunity to speak to companies and schools. It’s IRR’s gift to me.”

For those on the cusp of launching their own charitable pursuits, her advice is simple yet profound: “Don’t wait to change the world. If you can change the world for one person, one dog or one plant, do it. The world is a better place now than it was just five minutes before you did it.”

In a poignant moment, she remembers the man who kick‐started her calling. “I’m deeply grateful to Murugan,” she says. “I may have helped him, but he helped me right back.”

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