Irish Companies Contribute Almost €17 million to Charities and Community Groups in 2011 - 29 May 2012.
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43 of Ireland’s largest Irish companies contributed
over
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€16.7 million euro to the community in 2011
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€3.3 million of this was through employee
fundraising
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Over 3,600 community partnerships have been
established
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Statistics available on online interactive map
entitled the ‘Business Impact Map’
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Map launches today at special event in Grand Canal
Dock where 100’s of employees will create Ireland’s first pop up orchard
Over 40 socially minded Irish companies have formed
over 3,600 community partnerships and donated over €16.7 million in cash
donations, in kind donations and employee fundraising to local charities and
community groups. Volunteer employees alone raised over €3.3 million. This
information is being captured by Business in the Community Ireland on an online
interactive map entitled the “Business Impact Map” which gives a county by
county breakdown of how much companies and employees supported their local
community groups and charities in 2011.
National statistics show that over €11 million was
given in cash donations, €2.3 million was contributed through in kind donations
and €3.3 million was raised through employee fundraising. Employees also
volunteered over 130,000 hours to local groups and projects during the year.
The statistics are from 43 of Ireland’s largest companies that are members of
Business in the Community Ireland, the network for responsible business. The
map can be viewed at www.bitc.ie.
Social issues that received the most support were
health at €5 million, community projects at €3 million, education at €2.9
million, social inclusion at 2.3 million and homelessness at €760,000.
“Companies are in a strong position to have a major
impact on social issues. One of the reasons for creating the map is for
businesses to identify other companies that are working on similar social
issues and to uncover possible areas for collaboration. So much strong work is
being done by so many different companies and Business in the Community Ireland
actively encourages companies to work together on specific areas or issues so
that they can have an even greater impact.” said Tina Roche, CEO of Business in
the Community Ireland.
In the county by county breakdown, counties which
ranked the highest for employee fundraising outside of Dublin were Kildare
raising €329,000, Cork raising €230,938, Waterford raising €119,188 and Galway
raising €118,777. Kildare also ranked the highest for volunteer hours with over
21,000 hours in total followed by Meath and Cork both with 6,000 hours
approximately. Cash donations were highest in Dublin, €6.8 million, followed by
Mayo at €1.1 million, Cork at €800,000 and Kildare at €350,000.
The map was launched at a special event in Grand
Canal Dock where employees from 40 different companies came together to create
Ireland’s first pop up orchard. The orchard was designed by Make Hand Stands in
partnership with Dublin Community Growers and after the Orchard has been
enjoyed in situ the trees, shrubs and plants will find new homes in community
gardens and groups that are part of the Dublin Community Growers network.
Source: www.csreurope.org
29 May, 2012.