Since its foundation, Social Entrepreneurs Ireland (SEI) has funded its work primarily through the generous support of philanthropists.
In its early days, SEI was funded by the One Foundation, a private philanthropic trust established by aviation entrepreneur Dr Declan Ryan. The One Foundation – its name inspired by the famous U2 song that contains the line, “we carry each other” – believes in the power of active philanthropy to generate long-term solutions to address what it describes as “entrenched and emerging social issues”. It invests its funds, skills, expertise and other resources in organisations that share its vision, ethos and values
While the One Foundation has invested in various areas including disadvantaged children and families, youth mental health and integration, social entrepreneurship was also identified as an early priority for the organisation.
As time passed, SEI developed a broader form of funding through corporate and individual donors. Today, SEI receives 46 per cent of its funding from individual donors, 44 per cent from corporates with a further 10 per cent from charitable foundations. There are 16 corporate and foundation supporters, nine pro-bono and special project supporters as well as a wider group of individual donors.
“We receive great ongoing support on both a financial and pro-bono basis. This is our lifeblood, and I can’t thank our supporters enough for what they do,” says chief executive Tim Griffiths.
Griffiths explains that in addition to its range of existing programmes, SEI is also building tailored support programmes in conjunction with some of its philanthropic supporters to amplify accomplishments achieved through previous supports and to help propel a range of social entrepreneurs to the next level.
While delighted to publicly acknowledge the generous support of philanthropists Griffiths adds that there are also a significant number of other donors who wish to remain anonymous and whose support is also greatly appreciated.
In addition to these supporters, another organisation that Griffiths also acknowledges had a huge impact on the work of SEI is the Danish-based Laurtizson Foundation which made several very significant donations during the past 13 years.
“We were first introduced to the Foundation in 2011. We were seeking support for an in-depth, tailored support programme for three social entrepreneurs who are best placed to scale and grow and work with them intensively for two to three years, making significant investment in each of their projects.”
Griffiths says that the foundation specifically directs its support at one of those organisations, Grow It Yourself (GIY) led by Michael Kelly, whose mission is to educate and enable a global movement of food growers whose collective actions will help to rebuild a sustainable food system. They have established Grow HQ in Waterford city, which is a model of a more sustainable food system, an award-winning cafe, urban farm and education centre. It’s the Irish hub for the UN Chefs’ Manifesto programme and the filming hub for their online content and TV series.
“GIY is one of our biggest success stories — they have grown from strength to strength working in Ireland, UK and USA from their base in Waterford since 2011 when Kelly was only setting up the organisation. Today they are a leading social enterprise supporting over one million people to grow some of their food at home, at work, at school and in the community. In addition to that they have a fantastic TV series Grow, Cook, Eat and Food Matters have been seen by over 12 million people around the world on Amazon Prime and RTE.”
In addition to GIY, in more recent years the foundation also provided support to Ó Cualann Cohousing Alliance, which has delivered hundreds of affordable houses throughout Ireland.
Griffiths notes the increasing recognition of the value of social entrepreneurship at Government and EU level and how this is likely to affect funding the social entrepreneurship eco-system in the years ahead.
One very significant initiative is the launch of The European Social Fund+ (ESF+) which operates on a shared management basis between the European Commission and member states. The Employment, Inclusion, Skills and Training Programme, EIST for short, is Ireland’s ESF+ programme for the 2021 to 2027 period. This programme involves a total investment of more than €1.08 billion; €508 million from the EU and €573 million from the Irish Government.
The programme has several objectives including supporting the ongoing development of the social innovation eco-system through awareness-raising and maximising synergies with other key public policies in the areas of social inclusion, social enterprise and community-led local development. It will support capacity building for social innovation initiatives at national, regional, local and community levels and there will be social innovation pilot programmes to address significant social and environmental challenges. It has also set the objective of creating an enabling environment which will allow social innovation to thrive and support the scaling up of social innovations.