Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 6 November 2019
50. Deputy Catherine Connolly asked the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht further to Parliamentary Question No. 62 of 16 January 2019, the breakdown of sponsorship raised by Galway 2020 to date; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [45408/19]
Amharc ar fhreagraGalway 2020 commenced the rollout of a largescale fundraising drive earlier this year with leading cultural production company, Artichoke, working with Galway 2020 to secure fundraising and sponsorship income in support of the European Capital of Culture project. Since their appointment, contact has been made with over 500 companies and over 130 meetings have been held. Recent additional appointments have been made to the fundraising team to further support the fundraising drive.
To date, over €1.7m has been secured in sponsorship. This includes both cash and in-kind support.
Notable amongst these was the announcement on 31 July last that Galway 2020 had entered into a significant corporate partnership with Medtronic. The partnership sees Medtronic become the official Health Partner of Galway 2020 and sponsor of the Wave Maker volunteer programme and the Wave Maker Health Hub, the first of its kind for a European Capital of Culture.
In addition to this, the current value of the fundraising and partnerships pipeline is €3.2m – this includes a combination of commercial as well as trusts and foundations, comprising funds proposals submitted and further partnerships that are under consideration.
Galway 2020’s fundraising team continues to engage with local, national and international businesses very positively and effectively, following up on pledges of support made as well as contacting new businesses, to determine their interest and capacity to support. As is normal for projects of this scale, it is envisaged that the fundraising drive will continue into and during 2020, with funding realised throughout the entire duration of the project.
The process to negotiate and agree packages with fundraising partners continues to take time to finalise for each individual business, however the overall feedback from partners is positive and there is great interest from the business community in getting involved. A series of cultivation and stewardship events have been held in Galway and these will continue to be organised in support of the Galway 2020 project in the coming months.
