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G
OVERNMENT cutbacks are now dominating reality for ,
organisations in the community and voluntary sector which had
contracted by % by the end of and is expected to have
contracted by % by the end of this year. Government expendi-
ture, down .% generally, is down an extraordinary % for such groups:
which deal with issues from health to social housing, from the environment
to sport and culture. Philanthropic support is also reducing for them. One
Foundation and Atlantic Philanthropies are spending down their funds and
will leave the scene over the next four years. This will leave an annual 1
million hole in the funding available to the sector.
Government appears to be working with philanthropic organisations
to come to the rescue. Given the established context of philanthropic cut-
backs and spend-downs it seems an unlikely white knight. The Government
reconvened the ‘Forum on Philanthropy’ as a ‘Forum on Philanthropy and
Fundraising’ with Frank Flannery as chair. The Forum reported last year
and is currently working to effect its recommendations.
The responsible Minister, Phil
Hogan, stated that he reconvened
the Forum because “I believe that
Philanthropy and Fundraising can
play a critical role in driving addi-
tional investment in the not-for-profit
sector in Ireland”. This belief in public
philanthropy and fundraising is not
surprising given the manner in which
his Department has reduced its fund-
ing for them.
His concern for the not-for-profit
sector appears to have limitations. He did not appoint any representatives
from the community and voluntary sector to his ‘Forum on Philanthropy
and Fundraising’. The Forum is made up exclusively of representatives of
Government Departments and of philanthropic organisations. The rela-
tionship between philanthropy and Government seems to grow ever more
intense as it gets ever more exclusive.
Where then are philanthropy and Government going? The big pro-
posal is a ‘National Giving Campaign’. This initiative is to increase “private
giving” by % each year, through a publicity campaign costing 1. mil-
lion over two years, to be funded jointly by Government and philanthropic
organisations. So that’s one way the Government funding cut back from
community and voluntary organisations is being redeployed.
The central strategy of the Forum is to target “[the inevitable] high-net-
worth individuals, business, and the general public”. It suggests that “the
campaign would be positioned as part of a movement for national renewal
and restoration” with one outcome being to “instill a culture of giving into
Irish society”.
The jargon-heavy rhetoric is overblown and the timing hardly seems
promising to instil “a culture of giving”. Of more concern, though, must be
the potential for such a campaign to compete for resources with the very
sectors it seeks to assist. A robust community and voluntary sector repre-
sentation on the Forum might have resulted in a different approach.
The big idea to fill the 1 million Atlantic-Philanthropies-and-One
–Foundation-shaped hole is the creation of a ‘Social Innovation Fund’.
Revealingly, this is also referred to as a ‘Social Venture Fund’ in the report.
This recommendation reflects a very particular model of philanthropy. It
is social-enterprise based. It provides “growth capital – not working capital”
to enable social entrepreneurs to “upscale” their activities. The inevitable
close ties with Government are laid bare where the report suggests that,
with such a Fund, “the government leverages its own funds and can align
philanthropic funds with its own priorities”.
The Forum report notes: “The SVF (Social Venture Fund) is a model of
government and private sector collaboration to tackle the problems that
Ireland faces today”. Representation from the community and voluntary
sector might have resulted in partnership between the sector itself and phi-
lanthropy, instead. An engaged community and voluntary sector – unlike
‘social entrepreneurs’ might challenge the politics of austerity.
Philanthropy needs to take new directions, develop new partners and
offer new opportunities for social change if it is to be relevant to the posi-
tion the community and voluntary sector finds itself in now. The direction
offered by the Forum is, instead, a jaded dead-end.
niall crowley
The government
leverages its own
funds and can
align philanthropic
funds with its own
priorities
opinion
Government Forum
directs philanthropy up
dead-ends
Voguish hokum
Toothless venture-capital
model of philanthropy
