Philanthropy body rejects residency for donations idea
Howard Lake | 5 January 2014 | News
Philanthropy Ireland has come out against a proposal floated in the middle of last year which would have given additional residency privileges to wealthy individuals based overseas who made charitable gifts in Ireland.
Following Philanthropy Ireland’s AGM just before Christmas, the organisation issued a statement saying “there should be no connection between an individual’s philanthropic contributions and the non-resident status of such a person”.
Philanthropy Ireland added that if a non-resident decides to make philanthropic contributions, such philanthropic contributions should be regarded as equally welcome as those of donors whose tax residence is in Ireland.
The original proposal would have rewarded major donors who are registered as non resident for tax purposes with a number of extra days in Ireland. Currently tax exiles can only stay in Ireland 182 days in one year. The charitable donation level mentioned for the tax exiles in the proposal was €15 million over 10 years, €5 million of which would be paid in the first year.
The original proposal was favourably received by the chairman of the government backed Philanthropy Forum and by the Irish minister of finance, Michael Noonan. Other politicians were less supportive of the proposal.
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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.