• A plan and resources for gathering and disseminating essential research to support fundraising
  
  
• A national awareness raising campaign about tax effective giving
  
  
• A five-year resource plan for measures to promote best practice in fundraising, building on and supporting work being done
  
  
• Creative and imaginative forums for dialogue between donors and non-profit organizations
  
  
• A national-level dialogue about income streams for the sector and the tracking and monitoring of needs
  
  
• Strategic provision of fundraising supports and skills to assist groups and organisations that cannot access these from their own resources. These supports could include :
• Bursaries for training and development
  
• Schemes to provide access to skilled fundraisers or specific fundraising expertise as needed by organisations and groups
  
• Support for targeted capacity building initiatives that can enhance fundraising abilities.

The Funds are now consulting with many bodies in the non-profit sector to see how this entity can be brought into being.

The response we have received thus far has been very encouraging. Philanthropy in Ireland will grow dramatically. We believe that by establishing such an entity this process can be accelerated.

The Ireland Funds
Fostering fundraising in Ireland
Read complete report...

• Promoting Philanthropy in Ireland 2006 >
• Promoting Philanthropy in Ireland 2005 >
• Philanthropic Ireland 2004 >
• Major Gift Fundraising Seminar 2003 >
• Fundraising Seminars 2003 >

The economy has grown at an unprecedented rate and much of this growth has been accompanied by lowering tax rates.

However, parallel with this, levels of inequality and social exclusion have also deepened.

There are, in effect, two Irelands - that of those who reap the benefits of the Tiger economy and those who are shut out from it.

The solution is to create a connection between this new wealth and those new needs.

The key to this will be the development of philanthropy in this country.

The Ireland Funds, inspired by the generosity of donors abroad, wish to be in the vanguard of these developments.

In late 2001, with the support of our partners Atlantic Philanthropies, we undertook a comprehensive review of philanthropy in Ireland. We carried out a postal survey of hundreds of non-profit groups in Ireland, established an Advisory Group to monitor the work, convened focus groups around the country and analyzed existing literature on the sector.

This work culminated in the launch of our report entitled 'Fostering Fundraising in Ireland', by the Taoiseach at a Funds' seminar in July 2002.

This was the latest in a series of such seminars organized for the sector by The Funds. The fact that it was attended by over 300 non-profit groups is a testament to the new energy among not for profits in Ireland.

What does it tell us?
Firstly that the capacity to give in Ireland has grown exponentially. For instance, there are now an estimated two hundred and fifty millionaires in Ireland while company profits have grown substantially.

The report shows the sector in Ireland, North and South, represents almost two point five billion Euros in activity. So it would seem that the sector has the capacity and prestige to attract private support and that the private sector, both individuals and corporate bodies, more than have the capacity to respond. However the level of giving is considerably below that of the United States.

One of the reasons is that the sector, although professionalizing more than ever before, still has to invest in itself. There is an under provision for training of fundraisers along with a lack of involvement by board members among other constraints.