At a recent Community Foundation Ireland webinar, we explored how Donor Advised Funds can empower donors to achieve greater impact with less complexity – offering a flexible route to philanthropy.
2025 is an important year for Community Foundation Ireland in that we are celebrating 25 years since we were set up in 2000. To date Community Foundation Ireland has received over €200m in donations (over 60% received in the past 5 years). These funds have supported progressive grant making in Ireland and overseas and have contributed to the growth of an endowment fund of over €50m. Working with individuals and families, corporates and other trusts and foundations, we currently manage over 110 Donor Advised funds as well as 25 other significant donor partnerships. Larger scale gifts are increasingly frequent – in 25 years 25 single gifts have exceeded €1m, with 38 donors having given more than €1m cumulatively since 2000.
Addressing the webinar, I mentioned 4 trends which we are observing in relation to philanthropy:
The significant potential which we see for greater philanthropy in Ireland. Notwithstanding the very significant political and economic uncertainties of these times, there is clearly significant and growing wealth in Ireland, including in relation to intergenerational transfers of wealth. In the past 12 months, we are seeing a growing interest in relation to long term giving mechanisms, including legacies and endowment. In a number of cases, initial discussion in relation to the updating of wills and letters of wishes have led to a combined plan to give while living as well as making legacy plans.
Families are increasingly thinking about and engaging in philanthropy. Importantly this includes engaging the next generation but it is also intergenerational and not always parents and their (often adult) children. We work with families to agree their strategy and plans for giving, as well as implementing the plan which often includes engagement across the family.
We often talk about philanthropic journeys and this is something we see again and again. To give an example. During the Covid 19 pandemic, Community Foundation Ireland saw a surge in giving which included a significant number of new family funds. I remember a number of the new funds mentioned at the time they set up they just wanted to “get started” – they had been talking about doing something for some time and the pandemic became the catalyst to get going. 5 years on and a number of those families are now thinking about their giving further – scaling up, legacy plans, involving families in a more active way, moving to a longer term endowed fund. The experience of the past 5 years has given them the capacity to do so – Community Foundation Ireland were the stabilisers on the bike in helping them to get going.
Two factors characterises Community Foundation Ireland’s engagement with donors which is that philanthropy involves both the head and the heart. Donors are concerned to know that their donations are stewarded to the highest standards and in line with their wishes and this includes knowing that Community Foundation Ireland itself is committed to the highest standards of accountability and governance, including in all aspects of the management and administration of their funds and in ensuring a feedback loop as to the impact of their donations, increasingly made on a multi annual basis.
However, In the context of a new strategy for Community Foundation Ireland in 2026, we have recently undertaken an independent survey of donors and these interviews confirm that factors of the ‘heart’ – wanting to give back to a particular cause or place that inspires them, wanting to engage their family and to know the joy of giving and above all, knowing that they are making a difference and making an impact through their philanthropy is really important to them.
Conclusion
We see the great value of partnering with professional advisors and other key strategic partners and the power of referrals. Wealth advisors and family offices are often the best placed to judge when the time is right for an individual or family to engage in philanthropy and we greatly appreciate the growing number of advisers and firms who refer clients to Community Foundation Ireland; often this may be a quick email or coffee to discuss what their client is interested in to determine whether we are relevant/able to assist.
If you would like to refer a client to us, then reach out to us on giving@foundation.ie.
Jackie Harrison, Director of Philanthropy, Community Foundation Ireland
