Ambition at heart of Community Wealth Building
By Denise Charlton
Establishing Dublin as a city of strong communities with locally owned, clean businesses providing decent work and a fair distribution of wealth is not only a worthy May Day ambition but a powerful model for overcoming divisions within our communities.
New Strategy
The launch of a new strategy for the Bohemians Cooperatives today (1st May 2026) offers a counterbalance to the negativity, extremes and divisions which have emerged in recent years.
The aim is clear – to not only see Dublin join the growing global Community Wealth Building movement but to establish our city as a leader for others to follow.
Co-ops, of course, will be familiar to many in Ireland. They have a long tradition in agricultural and fishing communities, where family businesses came together to secure fair deals from big operators. Co-ops have proven to be effective. Now, like all great ideas, it is back and at scale.
In taking their first steps, these Northside-rooted Cooperatives are informed by Bohemians Football Club, which itself is a co-op and one of the oldest fan-owned clubs since its founding in 1890.
The Movement
Insights have also been gained from other countries. In Mondragon, Spain, a network of community groups from the 1950s has grown into a business with 70,000 people engaged in fair employment.
In Preston, England a decision by businesses to source their services locally has seen local wealth increase by £74 Million in 5-years.
While in the US, the Evergreen Co-ops established in the financial crash are creating hundreds of jobs in communities which otherwise would be abandoned.
In February, Scotland formally acknowledged the opportunity around community wealth building by becoming the first country to introduce national legislation, providing structure and a blueprint for Community Wealth Building.
These examples demonstrate the current power of community wealth building as well as what can be achieved in the future.
Given these successes, it is encouraging to see strong home support for the Bohemians initiative, including the May Day launch with President Catherine Connolly. While in a foreword former President Mary Robinson commends Bohemians for ‘its willingness to think beyond the conventions of modern football and to imagine what becomes possible when communities are trusted as builders of their own future.’
The Strategy
What is being set out are firm goals and timelines, providing momentum and energy. In the Autumn, work will begin to establish an insurance mutual and a food systems co-operative.
Both are substantial undertakings, requiring extensive design work, feasibility analysis, governance and staged investment design. Success is identified as established processes, which will turn local civic energy and shared expertise into wealth building.
Such an approach requires the businesses not only be great and fair employers but also clean by embracing the circular economy and existing in harmony with nature.
Underpinning the work are shared values. The values include integrity and respect, a passion for community benefit, care and decent work, democracy as well as a focus on education and accountability.
There will be a focus on ending poverty with clear pathways for everyone to participate, targeted supports, decent work stands and practical measures to reduce or end barriers faced by people within society.
Why Now?
When community leaders, partners and philanthropic supporters of the Bohemians gather to hear President Connolly today, they will do so with the knowledge that 5,500 of our children are in emergency accommodation, that 250,000 live in the shadow of deprivation.
Those reasons alone should be enough to take proactive steps with fresh thinking, courage and conviction, which offer an alternative to those policies which are so far failing to break through.
It seems clear the cost-of-living crisis is far from resolved and as the Bohemians Cooperatives start becoming tangible in September, they will be doing so when the prospect of an approaching winter will be dreaded in many homes.
Together with the dis-enfranchising of many people from politics, bad actors driving division in our society, and the complexities caused by global instability, and the need for pro-active initiatives like this are needed now more than ever.
This work is pioneering, ambitious and courageous. It is the type of work that others, including Government, find themselves unable to fund. Nevertheless, it is made possible through Irish Philanthropy, and in this case, supporters of Community Foundation Ireland. Leveraging such support offers opportunity to take big steps to protect rights and advance equality – actions which we recognise and celebrate on May Day.
A day which is the traditional start of Bealtaine, as we move from the darker months of the year to those which are brighter, we are welcoming a new season for Dublin and imagining a hopeful future together.
Co-ops are deeply rooted in Ireland’s history and have proven effective. International experience has shown us the further potential around community wealth building. Like all great ideas, its time has once again come.
Denise Charlton is Chief Executive of Community Foundation Ireland, a philanthropic hub which since 2000 has provided over €170M in grants to communities to support an equality mission.
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