Dormant Accounts fund in N Ireland to start by March 2020
Howard Lake | 12 September 2019 | News
The Department of Finance in Northern Ireland has announced that a Dormant Account Fund will be established to support projects in the third sector.
£16 million has been made available to the Northern Ireland fund from dormant bank and building society accounts to fund work to support resilience, capacity and sustainability in the sector.
Making the announcement, Permanent Secretary Sue Gray, said: “Northern Ireland has a really strong third sector that is doing fantastic work and making a positive and meaningful impact on so many people’s lives.
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“A key principle of this £16 million 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,” Ms Gray said.
She also called for the voluntary sector to bring forward their ideas to help shape the plans for this fund.
In May, the Department hosted events with a wide range of stakeholders from across the third sector to identify themes the fund should address. The National Lottery Community Fund has been directed by the Department to deliver the fund and will now further engage with the third sector to develop a Strategic Action Plan for the scheme which will open this financial year.
Kate Beggs, The National Lottery Community Fund Northern Ireland Director, said: “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.”
Highlighting the impact these funds will have for the community and voluntary sector, Seamus McAleavey, Chief Executive of NICVA, said: “It is great to see this significant extra injection of cash which will help community and voluntary organisations in Northern Ireland particularly looking at their own sustainability.”
Dormant accounts are accounts where banks and buildings societies have been unable to trace the customer of accounts which have been untouched for 15 or more years. The Northern Ireland (Executive Formation and Exercise of Functions) Act 2018 allows the Department to make the decision without recourse to the NI Executive which has been suspended for two and a half years.
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.