Bank staff giving likely to decline
Howard Lake | 16 February 2011 | News
Ireland’s biggest banks, Bank of Ireland and AIB, will continue to support charity and community groups despite their well documented problems. However, schemes that depend on staff contributions will probably decline if staff numbers reduce in the years ahead.
Staff reductions seem inevitable. Irish Bank Officials Association (IBOA) general secretary Larry Broderick said he anticipated ”significant job losses at AIB” and feared ”up to 2,000 job losses between AIB and Bank of Ireland restructuring and a merger of Anglo Irish Bank and Irish Nationwide.”
Bank of Ireland, for instance, has two significant staff giving programmes. To date, over 7,500 employees have taken part in Give Together, whether through volunteering or fundraising. Over 2,300 volunteer days have been given and employees have been involved in raising more than €13.5 million for the benefit of over 1,200 different causes.
Bank of Ireland also has a Third World Fund which has enjoyed substantial support from staff and its annual income is close to €750,000. Funding is typically €3,000 to €30,000 per project, with occasional larger projects approved. Almost 600 individual projects have been supported since 1982.
AIB’s main charitable vehicle is the Better Ireland Programme which has given out nearly €18 million since it was set up in 2001. Last year Better Ireland gave €10,000 to 182 local branches to be shared among three shortlisted groups.
Both banks have received very signifcant support from the Irish government to stay afloat and AIB has recently been delisted from the stock market. Media speculation is that as well as a reduction in staff numbers, branches will close.
Financial institutions were amongst the biggest contributors to charity over the years of Ireland’s economic boom, including high profile support for particular campaigns.
www.bankofireland.com
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.