STRATEGIES FOR INCREASED private funding and the introduction of better shared services will be among the suggestions put to an Oireachtas committee today on how to boost jobs in the not-for-profit sector.
Representatives from Philanthropy Ireland, Social Entrepreneurs Ireland, and the Carmichael Centre for Voluntary Groups will meet the Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation to discuss the sector’s potential for job creation.
Speaking to TheJournal.ie ahead of the meeting, Executive Director of Philanthropy Ireland Seamus Mulconry described how the not-for-profit sector is “hugely significant” for Ireland
“People who look at it as the poverty industry are looking at it through the wrong lens,” he said, “It supports 100,000 jobs across Ireland, which is more than the IT and Pharmaceutical sectors combined.”
Raise €300 million
Philanthropy Ireland, an association of philanthropic organisations, aims to outline how a strategy has been developed to raise €300 million in funding for the sector by 2016. Part of this will be the One Percent Difference Campaign that encourages business and individuals to contribute 1 per cent of their time or profit to a charitable cause.
A reduction of 15 to 30 per cent in operating costs, as well as an increased focus on core mission activities, could be the result of better access to shared services as proposed by the Carmichael Centre.
However they say that the “current fragmented structure” of the sector will hamper this.
Committee Chairman Damien English said that members of the committee “will be keen to assess how the philanthropy sector could support jobs in the not-for-profit sector and boost economic activity, while meeting social needs”.
The meeting takes place at 1.30pm today in Committee Room 2. Watch it live here.
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