Northern Ireland charities to benefit from £16m Dormant Account Fund
Melanie May | 18 September 2019 | News
A Dormant Account Fund is to be set up in Northern Ireland to support the country’s third sector.
Announced by the Department of Finance last week, £16m has been made available to the fund from dormant bank and building society accounts and will be used to increase capacity, resilience and sustainability in the Northern Ireland VCSE sector.
The Dormant Account Fund will be established by the National Lottery Community Fund, which will be consulting with the sector will be consulting with the sector to develop a Strategic Action Plan for the scheme which will open this financial year.
Permanent Secretary Sue Gray said:
“A key principle of this £16m Dormant Account Fund is that it will be used to fund services that would not normally attract public money – providing a real opportunity for a range of organisations including community and voluntary groups and social enterprises to access funding.
“I would really encourage the sector to bring forward their ideas to help shape the plans for this fund.”
Kate Beggs, The National Lottery Community Fund Northern Ireland Director said:
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“We are delighted to receive directions on Dormant Accounts from the Department of Finance, which allow us now to move forward with delivery. This will provide much needed funds to increase capacity, resilience and sustainability in the third sector, supporting organisations that carry out vital work in communities across Northern Ireland.
‘We want to ensure this money has the greatest impact possible. Over the coming months, we will be engaging widely with the Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise sector in order to design the programme and draw up the required Strategic Action Plan for delivery.”
About Melanie May
Melanie May is a journalist and copywriter specialising in writing both for and about the charity and marketing services sectors since 2001. She can be reached via thepurplepim.com.