Irish government to provide €2.5 million emergency fund
Howard Lake | 5 May 2020 | News
The Irish minister for Rural and Community Development has launched a €2.5 million fund to support community and voluntary groups involved in the delivery of coronavirus community response efforts.
The COVID-19 Emergency Fund will provide immediate and urgently needed funding to groups that are participating in the government’s “Community Call” initiative which is being led by the local councils in response to the pandemic.
Minister Michael Ring said local community and voluntary groups are supporting significant numbers of vulnerable people, many of whom are self-isolating, to get through this crisis. He said the Fund will help these groups to cover the costs of their work.
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“This is a response to support immediate and emergency efforts by community and voluntary groups in assisting people locally, he said.
“It is recognised that there are wider challenges and impacts facing the community and voluntary sector as a whole but this initiative will help to provide support to community groups that are delivering services at the frontline,’’ he said.
The €2.5 million funding will be administered to groups involved in the Community Call effort. Local authorities will be making contact with those groups participating in Community Call in the near future with further details. The government says the need for funding assistance will be kept under review.
As part of the government response to the COVID-19 crisis, your local authority (council) has established a COVID-19 Community Call Forum. Your local forum works with state agencies and community and voluntary groups to provide supports or services to any vulnerable person who needs them.
Priority will be provided to organisations which incur costs on direct delivery of frontline services to people, such as Meals on Wheels and other similar activities. These individual grants will generally be modest in nature however it is expected that higher amounts will provided where the need is greatest.
“Collaboration and partnership between the community and voluntary sector and the state are key to coordinating and responding to the needs of our communities and supporting people at this time,” the Minister said.
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.