Leading Irish philanthropist identified
Howard Lake | 8 March 2011 | News
Irish newspaper the Sunday Independent has identified the person it claims is “the foremost Irish philanthropist” – Declan Ryan, who last week made a €10 million donation to build schools in Sri Lanka.
The newspaper claims that Declan Ryan, 47, also donated at least €27 million up to early 2009.
Ryan is the son of Ryanair founder Dr Tony Ryan. His late brother Cathal was also a philanthropist and before he died arranged his affairs to continue giving along with his brother. He left €250 million to family and friends in his will as well as around €35 million to charity.
The €10 million donation to Sri Linka, with which the Ryans have a family connection, was given via UNICEF. It was announced at the ‘Partnering with the Philanthropic Community to Promote Education For All’ event at the General Assembly Hall in the United Nations.
Ryan runs The One Foundation, named after the U2 song One, which has given millions of euros to charities in Ireland and overseas. In Ireland it mainly supports Barnardos, Children’s Rights Alliance and Longford Women’s Link.
www.onefoundation.ie
About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.