Starting on the 27^th of September  2into3 will hold four events around the country to launch the annual Irish Not-for-Profit Sector: Fundraising Performance Report, supported by The Community Foundation for Ireland, Quilter Cheviot, BDO and Salesforce. This will be the 9th annual report prepared by 2into3, which provides a detailed view of a representative sample of not-for-profit organisations and insights into their activities and experiences, especially in relation to fundraising.

This is the only report of its kind in Ireland that is freely available to the public. Over the last 9 years the report has proved to be a source of support for organisations when planning to increase their philanthropic income serving as an evidence tool for better fundraising.

The details for the events are as follows:

Dublin Launch Event, Friday 27th of September: Grand Lodge of Ireland, Freemason’s Hall, 17 Molesworth Street, Dublin:

• Master of Ceremonies:Deirdre Garvey, CEO, The Wheel
  • Report Presentation: Niamh Carruthers, Analyst 2into3
  • Panelists Include:
• Richard Dixon, Director of Public Affairs, Concern Worldwide
• Denise Fitzgerald, Chief Executive, Children’s Health Foundation
• Jackie Harrison, Head of Development, The Community Foundation
• Deirdre Mortell, CEO, Social Innovation Fund Ireland

Galway Roundtable Event, Monday 30th of September: Connacht Rugby Club, The Sportsground, College Rd, Galway:

• Chair:Karl Boyle, Director of Development, Connacht Rugby

Limerick, Monday 30^th of September: BDO Limerick, 103-104 O’Connell Street, Limerick.

Cork, Tuesday 1st of October:  Irish Guide Dogs for the Blind, Carrigrohane, Model Farm Road, Cork:

• Chair:Neil Munday, Financial Controller at Irish Guide Dogs for the Blind

With this report 2into3 aim to stimulate debate, discussion, and reflection, and to motivate civic and private stakeholders to support the efforts of the sector in continuing to enhance fundraising performance.

To register your interest in any of these events please contact Judith Power at  judith.power@2into3.com

 

Last Friday, in partnership with Sport for Business, 2into3 held a panel discussion in the offices of Mason, Hayes & Curran to discuss ‘Governance in Sport’. The event was held in light of the recent scandals engulfing the Irish sporting world.

2into3 Director, Dennis O’Connor was delighted to take part in the panel discussion, chaired by Sport for Business CEO, Rob Hartnett. On the panel he was also joined by Maura Quinn, CEO of the Institute of Directors, Deirdre Garvey, CEO of The Wheel and Niamh Callaghan, a Partner at Mason, Hayes & Curran.

In what was a very well-attended event, we were also joined by six CEOs from Ireland’s foremost NGBs, along with members from the private sector who brought experience and deep knowledge of the importance of good governance.

The discussion proved to be very insightful. Although loosely based around the context of the last few months, the panel also discussed how the sporting world can learn from similar problems faced by the charity sector in 2013. The panellists then looked to the future, discussing the steps sporting organisations must take to ensure that these issues do not arise again.

Looking forward, the panellists suggested that good governance will ultimately come down to a willingness on the part of those in charge to accept and stand up for the three pillars of good governance; accountability, transparency and probity.

If you would like more information on the panel discussion, you can find the full report on the Sport for Business website by clicking here.

We would like to thank all those who attended on Friday and contributed to a very interesting discussion. We would also like to express our appreciation to both Mason Hayes & Curran and Sport for Business for their collaboration with 2into3 for this event.

The Conference asked the question if sport is the most inclusive community of all. Simply put, yes it is. Sport is one of the few communities that welcomes people from all communities, cultures, ethnicities and backgrounds. The key to successfully managing this is showing leadership and managing strong relationships. Cross-sectoral approaches form the basis of doing this successfully. The case studies of the GAA Healthy Club Project and Parkrun outline how sporting organisations work with the wider community and not-for-profit sector to bring diversity and inclusion into sport.

Parkrun is an Irish example of an organisation that collaborates outside of sporting circles. They work with charities, politicians and community groups, solely aiming to bring people together for the good of health, mental health and inclusivity. For example, the number of visually impaired participants has increased from 12 to over 170 in the space of one year. All participants take place in the same run. There is no segregation.

Questions arose about having segregated sporting teams, in regards to the like of LGBTQ+ sporting events for example. In an ideal world, we would not need to have such events. However, at the time of writing, young people either hide their sexuality or stop playing team sports at an early age due to “dressing room culture.”

Garreth Thomas addressed these points through discussing his own personal journey through sport. Without a doubt, there exists a strong element of homophobic abuse on and off the pitch in sport, which becomes a massive barrier for gay athletes. However, curtailing this issues will prove difficult. In the writers opinion, it will take a campaign on the level of “Kick it out.”

In what was a hugely insightful day, the overall message was simple, we need to change our behaviour when it comes to inclusivity in Sport. Wouldn’t it be great that instead of talking about disability sports, or the LGBTQ+ sporting community, we were just talking about the sport and the sporting community?