Twenty-five years ago, the people of Northern Ireland and their political leaders changed the course of history with the Good Friday Agreement , we all witnessed the recent celebrations of that anniversary. The Ireland Funds and our supporters are proud of the role we have played in the peace process in Northern Ireland including financially supporting many integrated schools to establish or transform, the first school was Lagan College with 28 pupils – at the end of 2022 there were 70 schools with 23,000 + students.
Our longevity (founded in the USA in 1976 and Australia 1987) in this space is rare but is testament to the dedication, passion and integrity of our voluntary Board Members around the globe whom we salute including our own board chaired by Yvonne le Bas, CFO Resolution Life.
We have had a busy start to the year working on new initiatives and putting in place our calendar for the rest of the year. I am excited to say this includes our Ireland Funds Australia Women in Leadership and Philanthropy series created to empower, inspire, and give, which we launched this week . Our Annual Brisbane lunch is planned for Friday 4 August at Hillstone St. Lucia. We are working with our Young Leaders on our Global 5K on 23 September. We are thrilled that Mike and Annie Cannon Brookes have invited us back to stunning Fairwater to host our annual Sydney Garden Party on 19 November 2023.
As we approach the end of the financial year, it's an extremely important time of the year for us, we are reaching out to our supporters whose generosity and compassion is the lifeblood that powers our work, for their help with our annual June grant Round. Every donation to the Ireland Funds has the potential to change a life. This is the extraordinary impact of your generosity.
Here is a snapshot of some of the projects we are supporting:
• Learning Hub Limerick a safe, welcoming and inspiring learning environment . It’s a place where young people can reach their true potential. In Limerick only 6% of young children progress to University
• Inner City Enterprise helping long term unemployed individuals, social enterprises and potential youth entrepreneurs establish their own businesses , over the last 9 years ICE has established around 1,400 new businesses
• Community Action Network a social justice organization working with local communities in South Dublin to innovatively tackle local issues such as poor housing, community safety threats arising from drug abuse, unemployment and racism.
• No Mind Left Behind gives promising young people an opportunity to complete Third Level Education by providing annual scholarships to cover the cost of books, accommodation and other key expenses . This programme has helped 200+ students so far with a life changing scholarship.
• The Trinity St. James Cancer Research Institute is transforming cancer care in Ireland by combining world class science with excellent patient care to pioneer new ways to prevent, detect and treat cancer .
In Australia most recently we have assisted Beyond Blue, Mental health and in the local Lidcombe community supporting displaced Ukrainian people as they arrive (as well as support for Ukrainian people locally in Ireland).
The Irish Film Festival, The St. Patrick's Day Parade Festival, partnering with the Adelaide Writers Festival and UNSW to treat the local community to a night with acclaimed Irish Journalist Fintan O'Toole.
This year we want to support more Irish organisations who are directly assisting the elderly and young Irish people.
We know the need does not appear to diminish anywhere – the divide between those that have and those that don’t just seems to get wider. We would love to continue to play our part but we are lacking in discretionary funds to support other communities in need.
In that regard as we approach the end of the financial year we would be very grateful of your financial support with a tax deductible donation, all donations large and small will be gratefully received and will make a difference.
Please pledge your support today, all donations over $2.00 are tax deductible.
We are a network with a purpose. We bring people together from all parts of the world to have fun, spend time with like-minded company giving us all joy, whilst giving back to those in need.
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