The Lee Kuan Yew Water Prize is sponsored by the Singapore Millennium Foundation (SMF). The SMF was jointly set up in 2001 as a non-profit organization by Singapore Technologies Private Limited and Temasek Holdings. Temasek Holdings established the Temasek Trust in May 2007,and  the SMF has since then been one of the beneficiaries of  the Trust.

The SMF's primary mission is to promote research, development of human capital and the enhancement of Singapore as a Centre for Research.

The SMF's partners include the National University of Singapore, Nanyang Technological University, National Institute of Education, Tropical Marine Science Institute, Temasek Life Sciences Laboratory, National Cancer Centre Singapore, Singapore General Hospital,  National Neuroscience Institute and the Institute of Mental Health.

The SMF had awarded more than 200 post graduate research scholarships since 2002 . These scholarships were discontinued in  2010. The SMF has instead focused on funding niche research programs in areas of Liver Cancer, Neuromuscular Disease, Parkinson Disease, Mental Health, Biofuel, Pedagogy and Learning/Special Needs Education, Ageing and Non-medical Bioscience.

For more information, please visit http://www.smf-scholar.org/Apps/sms.nsf/WebkeyT/0078