• In Singapore, the term is mostly used to refer to the sponsoring of community charity activities (such as donating medication and material resources) or religious ceremonies (such as providing offerings for deities and donating towards the building of temples).
  
• It is believed that the Mandarin term “报效” originated from the Hokkien or Teochew term po hau (“报孝”), which means “to repay” and “to show filial respect”. As “孝” and “效” are homonyms in the Hokkien and Teochew dialects, the term also came to be written as “报效”.

Another meaning of “报效” is to perform a task to repay someone’s kindness, which is different from how the term is used in Singapore.