We are delighted to announce that we have reached the milestone of €50 million in grants since we first opened our doors in 2000. We have prepared a short video below that provides insight into our very first grant to Age Action in 2000 for €1,000 to the grant that pushed us over the €50 million milestone, LauraLynn Children's Hospice who were awarded €57,000.
Over the last 19 years throughthe generosity of our donors we have given out almost 10,000 grants to the communtiy and voluntary sector in Ireland and abroad.
Our Chief Executive Tina Roche commented on the announcement: “I started The Community Foundation for Ireland in 2000 with a €1 million challenge grant from Government to grow a community foundation in Ireland, since then through the passion of our donors and the innovation of the community and voluntary sector we have only gone from strength to strength. However our culture of philanthropy in Ireland is still underdeveloped compared to our neighbours in the UK and US and only accounts for 0.3% of our GDP, yet there are over 78,000 millionaires in Ireland today.
Our job is to encourage those with means to give back in a strategic and impactful way. We ensure the highest standards of governance, trust and transparency so that our donors know their donations are being put to good use.
In 2011 we gave out just over €1.5 million, yet last year we gave out almost €7.5 million. Our organisation has become one of the largest grant makers in Ireland yet this is still only a drop in the ocean for what we need to achieve real social change. We hope over the next few years that more people who have the means to give back will come forward and help us in our mission of creating a fair, caring and vibrant Ireland.”
If you would like to find out more about the donors who have contributed to €50 million in grant making please visit our case studies and impacts section. If you would ike to find out more about giving please click here.