Fundraising growth continues at Focus Ireland
Howard Lake | 7 September 2018 | News
Continuing a trend over the last few years, Focus Ireland, one of the largest charities in the homelessness field, posted another strong year of fundraising growth in 2017 with income at just under €12 million.
The figure is an increase of nearly €1.4 million on the figure for 2016. The biggest growth area was ‘public fundraising’ which was €7.5 million in 2017, up from €5.4 million the year before.
‘Partnerships and philanthropy’ was also up from €2.2 million to €2.8 million while corporate campaigns and retail were roughly level at €700,000 and €400,000 respectively.
A total of 1,187 people signed up to support Focus Ireland with a monthly direct debit donation last year which brought the figure for individual/public giving to over 50% of total fundraising income.
The accounts for Focus note a one-off donation of €1.6 million from the Immigrant Investor Programme (IIP) which is ring fenced for donor acquisition, a digital strategy and a property strategy. IIP is open to non-EEA nationals who commit to an approved investment in Ireland. IIP requires a minimum investment of €1m from the applicants own resources and not financed through a loan or other such facility which must be committed for a minimum of three years.
Corporate partnerships
In 2017 a total of 489 companies supported Focus through corporate partnerships, donations, employee giving and fundraising along with payroll giving. 2017 also saw the second full year of a strategic partnership with Bord Gáis Energy, who committed €1.2 million in funding over three years to help prevent family homelessness.
Over €750,000 was raised through Focus’s Christmas Shine a Light Night with over 100 CEOs, 450 employees and 54 companies sleeping out for one night in support of people who are homeless.
Charity shops
Focus Ireland also operates three ‘Beloved’ retail shops located in Dublin, Kildare and Cork which last year brought in €400,000.
The cost of raising funds last year increased from €2.3 million to €2.8 million. Total income for the charity, which includes government grants, was €28.7 million, up from €26 million the year before.
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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.