Charity faces €5 million target in five months
Howard Lake | 19 January 2009 | News
The new chief executive of Special Olympics Ireland, Matt English, says he needs to raise €5 million by May.
The charity last week launched its 2009 fundraising campaign, which runs until May and has a target of raising €5 million through a programme of local and national events. The tagline for the campaign is ‘change.’
“My priority is sustaining the current organisation and creating opportunities for others,” English said. “We want to deliver on the promise of changing the lives of people, and there are still more than 24,000 people with intellectual disabilities that we don’t have as members.”
The fundraising campaign will support those goals, as well as the ongoing training of existing Special Olympics athletes. English said it cost about €6 million annually to run the organisation.
About 30 per cent of that comes from the government and the charity has also cultivated valuable sponsorship deals, including a long-standing relationship with Eircom and a more recent one with Kia Motors.
English said that Eircom was supporting the current fundraising campaign, with everything from office space for regional volunteers to high speed internet facilities. The campaign is structured from the ground up, with 39 regional offices run by voluntary committees. Between now and May, those groups will run everything from cake sales to race nights, while a national ad campaign covers bus shelters and the airwaves. Forms to attract regular donors through standing orders have been drawn up – a first for the charity.
The search for the 2009 Granny of the Year is already under way, and an all-Ireland collection day is slated for Friday, April 24, under a committee headed by Jim Barry, chief executive of utility firm NTR.
A church gate collection is also being considered for April 26. English is optimistic that the charity will reach its €5 million target, despite the economic slowdown.’ ‘There is evidence that some charities benefit in bad times because people reevaluate their lives and see more value in being part of society,” he 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.