Dáil Éireann debate -
Tuesday, 1 May 2001

Vol. 535 No. 1

Written Answers - Foundation for Investing in Communities.

Trevor Sargent

Question:

446 Mr. Sargent asked the Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs if he will report on progress since the establishment of the found ation for investing in communities; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11594/01]

Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs (Mr. D. Ahern)

The foundation for investing in communities was established in November 1998 as a joint venture between Government and the major employer bodies to provide additional support, through finance and resources, to communities experiencing social exclusion and poverty. The foundation is an independent body with its own board of directors, including a representative from my Department.

The main aims of the foundation are as follows: support for voluntary-community based projects on the basis of providing additional, rather than duplicating or replacing, existing State funding; the continued development of local enterprise networks under the auspices of "business in the Community"; and seeking new ways of addressing the needs of disadvantaged children, including supporting research into the root causes of disadvantage among children, and distributing funds to voluntary and community organisations involved in the welfare of children.

Funding totalling £1.05 million was provided by my Department to the foundation – £750,000 in the 1998 and £300,000 in the 1999 budget. This funding was provided as a "challenge grant" to help meet the establishment and set-up costs of the foundation and to form part of the foundation's funding base to be spent in achievement of its objectives.

One of the main functions of the foundation is to build up an endowment fund, through corporate and private donations and bequests, from which, overtime, funds will be distributed to voluntary and community groups-projects. An endowment fund has been established and £400,000 from by Department's allocation of £1.05 million has been put on endowment. A challenge facing the foundation is to seek funds for this endowment fund from potential donors in the wider business community, wealthy individuals, bequests etc.

The work of the foundation of investing in communities is carried out by three separate companies, Business in the Community, the Community Foundation for Ireland and the National Children's Trust.

Business in the Community, which now has 20 founding members, assists companies in setting up specific programmes or in participating in established programmes. Some of the programmes operated by BITC include: BITC is currently working with several major companies on the development of in-house employer supported volunteering policies to support employee already involved in volunteering and to encourage those not yet involved; the linkage programme is a joint programme between the probation and welfare service and BITC which creates work experience and job placement opportunities for ex-offenders; and through the stay in school initiative, BITC offers companies the opportunity to become involved in a local school and assists with developing programmes and initiatives between the company and the school.

The aims of the Community Foundation for Ireland are to raise, manage and distribute funds for charitable purposes and to build a permanent civic endowment fund to serve the Irish community. I understand from the foundation that since its establishment in November 1998, 270,000 in grants have been allocated to 33 different local groups.

The National Children's Trust, which is chaired by Mr. Tom Mitchell, former Provost of Trinity College Dublin, was established to seek new ways of addressing the needs of disadvantaged children, including supporting research into the root causes of disadvantage among children, and distributing funds to voluntary and community organisations involved in the welfare of children.