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PROMOTING PHILANTHROPY IN IRELAND

IRELAND COULD BE WORLD LEADER IN PHILANTHROPY
Ireland Funds hosts Philanthropic Seminar
20th April 2006.

The opportunity exists for the Celtic Tiger to become a “Philanthropic Tiger” according to one of the world’s foremost philanthropic organisations. Kingsley Aikins, CEO and President of the Ireland Funds worldwide remarked that all the conditions are present for Ireland to become one of the leading philanthropic countries in the world over the next decade.

Mr. Aikins was addressing an audience of 250 representatives from the non profit and charity sector at the Ireland Funds’ sold out philanthropy seminar in UCD. During the course of the event the Ireland Funds also published their 101 Fundraising Tips, a practical guide on how to drive fundraising. There was also information on the changes in legislation and regulations faced by charitable organisations this year.

101 Fundraising Tips >

“Ireland now has a wonderful opportunity to make great strides in the area of philanthropy. There is currently a worldwide explosion in philanthropy taking place and with the success of the Celtic Tiger, Ireland can reasonably expect to be to the fore of this movement,” Mr. Aikins said.

“There is certainly enough wealth in the country now and generally speaking the Irish are a very generous people. We need to maximise our social capital in this country and harness the generosity of these extremely wealthy individuals that are living and working in Ireland,” Mr. Aikins added.

“If we manage to achieve that goal we could rival the US for philanthropic efforts within the next 10 years. We could move from being renowned as the Celtic Tiger to being known around the world as a Philanthropic Tiger,” he concluded.

Other speakers at the event included Colin McCrea, Senior Vice President at The Atlantic Philanthropies, Paul G Schervish, Professor of Sociology and Director Center on Wealth and Philanthropy at Boston College. The objective of the seminar was to help build capacity and sustainability in the philanthropy sector and increase the strengths of the individual organisations which will, in turn, enable them to attract more philanthropic support.

The Ireland Funds is a global network for Irish philanthropy and has raised over $300 million in charitable giving to 1,200 organisations and projects over the course of the past 30 years on the island of Ireland. As part of its work, The Ireland Funds is committed to encouraging the development of not for profit sector in Ireland.

Promoting Philanthropy in Ireland >