Community Finance Ireland (CFI) continues to support local and early-stage community initiatives. One such project that has recently benefitted from this support is Hair Together, a social enterprise based in Dublin and founded by CEO Eileen McHugh who says:
“Hair Together deliver hairdressing and barbering courses with a social twist. While learning practical skills and exploring career paths, participants also learn valuable tools to enhance their overall well-being. We offer a safe space for personal growth with our main focus on young people from Ballymun and women who have experienced prison”
John Evoy, Board Member at Community Finance Ireland, and Colm Prendergast, Client Relationship Executive Community Finance Ireland recently met with CEO Eileen McHugh where the news of our financial assistance was met with genuine delight.
This assistance will enable Hair Together to expand its services, reach more individuals in need, and continue its important work in the community.
John Evoy, expressed his enthusiasm for the project, stating:
“We are proud to support Hair Together and witness the tangible impact it is making on people’s lives. Social enterprises like this are essential in creating resilient communities.”
Colm Prendergast added, Hair Together embodies the spirit of social enterprise. It’s inspiring to see how Eileen is using hairdressing as a tool for positive change.”
More information about Hair Together or to get involved in their program here.
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Community Finance Ireland (CFI) is proud to announce its continued support for local and early-stage community initiatives. The latest recipient of this vital support is ‘Lust for Life,’ a Dublin-based social enterprise that is pioneering innovative solutions for children’s mental health and wellbeing.
Lust for Life, led by CEO Bernie Keogh, is dedicated to enhancing the mental health of children and young people through creative and impactful programmes. As the need for mental health services continues to rise, ‘Lust for Life’ is stepping up with targeted interventions that provide much-needed support to the younger generation.
Earlier this summer, Donal Traynor, CEO of Community Finance Ireland, announced support for Bernie and the team. This funding will help the social enterprise’s efforts in delivering critical mental health services.
Donal Traynor expressed his enthusiasm for this social enterprise stating:
“Community Finance Ireland is delighted that Lust for Life has benefited from our assistance. The team’s services have never been more needed, and we are delighted to support them at this juncture in their chapter.”
The support from CFI comes at a crucial time for Lust for Life enabling them to expand their reach and impact more lives across Dublin and beyond.
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Social enterprise Community Finance Ireland (CFI) has been playing a vital role in helping our athletes compete at the highest level, according to the Irish athletics stalwart who has coached at four Olympic games.
With the country still celebrating the success of our athletes at the recent European Championships in Rome, ex-Irish Athletics team manager Patsy McGonagle said clubs across the country are benefitting from social finance loans from the charity lender to improve facilities.
McGonagle, who during his 25-year stint at the helm of the Irish Athletics team coached the likes of Sonia O’Sullivan and Rob Heffernan said:
“It’s all about the grassroots feeding into the elite games, and you won’t have Irish athletes succeeding at European Championship or at Olympic level if they don’t have proper training facilities in their local communities.”
Since 2001, CFI has committed more than €100 million to hundreds of community organisations on both sides of the border. Lending to sports clubs, community projects, faith-based groups, and social enterprises, CFI funds initiatives that make a difference in local communities.
And CFI’s recently published Social Value Report 2023 shows that 49 sports clubs were loaned a total of €6 million between January and December 2023.
In Stranorlar, Donegal, CFI funds were used by McGonagle’s club Finn Valley to build new changing facilities for members and officials.
“We’re providing a modern facility in an area where there’s very little opportunity,” McGonagle said. “The mental impact that’s had on the community, the physical and social impact – it’s all positive. When there was a shortfall and we needed money, Community Finance Ireland made it a win-win for us big time. They were very responsive and easy to work with. It was a great experience. The facility would not exist were we not to get that finance.”
Calculating the wider social value of CFI loans
In its Social Value Report 2023, published June 2024, CFI says that for every euro it loaned, the social return was €3.69, a figure which, the charity says, reflects the positive impact its loans have on the wider community.
Between January and December 2023, CFI loaned a total €13 million to 109 organisations across the island of Ireland.
The analysis was calculated by economic development specialists Rose Regeneration using its Social Value Engine (SVE). Rose Regeneration’s SVE is used by public bodies in England and Wales and follows several key steps when calculating a loan’s social value, such as examining agreed project outcomes to give them a financial value.
CFI chief executive Dónal Traynor said calculating the social return of their investments helped the charity understand the wider impact its loans were having. He said:
“There is a huge excitement for Irish athletes going into the Paris Olympics, especially after their recent successes in Rome. But their coaches will tell you, the hard work starts at home, in their local communities. Athletes require decent local facilities if they are to stand a chance of succeeding at major events. For more than two decades, CFI has been helping grass-roots clubs to foster the potential of budding youngsters. Finn Valley is a great example of this, but they’re not alone. We also provided a bridging loan to St. Laurence O’Toole Athletic Club in Carlow, to begin works on an Olympic-standard running track. More than 400 athletes of all ages and abilities in Askea are now training in world-class facilities. They’ve produced 40 track-and-field internationals in the last decade. Imagine how many more young athletes have the opportunity to follow in their footsteps now. We know that international success inspires young athletes – that’s social impact. Like those athletes, as a social enterprise, we strive to create a lasting social impact in every community on the island. It’s the driving force behind everything that we do.”
Click here to read the Social Value Report for 2023 in full.
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Essential funds will be made available to capital projects in communities across Northern Ireland thanks to a brand new £13m loan fund managed by Community Finance Ireland (CFI).
The unique Financial Transactions Capital (FTC) fund, made available by the Department for Communities will be used to address social need through targeted funding to help communities meet objectives set out in the draft Programme for Government.
North Belfast based Crusaders Football Club is the first recipient of the loan fund for the installation of a 3G pitch at its Loughshore Road Grounds for use by its women’s and youth teams.
Donal Traynor, Group Chief Executive of Community Finance Ireland (CFI), welcomed the new tranche of funding. At a visit to Crusaders Football Club, he said:
“This new programme offers the most substantial capital intervention to the social finance space in Northern Ireland, ever. As the most progressive community lender with over 20 years of history working with local communities in Northern Ireland, our team are ready to speak to community and social enterprise projects seeking financial support, and to channel the distribution and management of this capital.”
Loans of £10,000-£500,000 will be available for terms of up to 15 years, with no penalties for early repayment. Where community projects demonstrate a need for a larger loan amount, CFI can consider making match funding available.
With a current social value return of £3.42 to every £1 invested, CFI can help organisations to create significant positive change in their communities that far exceeds the face value of the loan. It’s an exciting opportunity for communities and CFI look forward to seeing the impact from projects like the new 3G pitch at Crusaders Football Club.
Minister for Communities, Gordon Lyons said the scheme would provide targeted funding to the VCSE sector:
“The Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise sector is hugely important for our local economy, providing much needed employment opportunities as well as vital community support. It is great to visit Crusaders FC to see their plans for a new training base for their ladies and youth teams and meet some of the people who will benefit from the investment. As the Minister for Sport, I’m pleased to see projects which will increase participation in sport, encouraging people to be more active, more often.”
Minister Lyons added:
“This scheme goes beyond the benefits these bricks and mortar projects will deliver. It also increases accessibility to facilities and builds community confidence, offering sports, cultural and social enterprises access to sustainable funding. Funding streams like this one can offer the VCSE sector a financial lifeline at a time when organisations are facing challenging budgetary conditions.”
Mark Langhammer, Crusaders FC Vice Chair said:
“Crusaders Football Club are delighted to work with Community Finance Ireland in developing training facilities that will particularly benefit the female and junior sections of our club and surrounding area. The close relationship, added value and flexible nature of the finance provided by Community Finance Ireland best allows us to deliver on our plans and make modern football facilities available to everyone.”
The £13 million investment will be made by the Department for Communities in three tranches to 2025/26. £4.333m has already been released to the scheme and loans totalling £576k have recently been made available to three projects.
Community Finance Ireland will apply their existing business model to prioritise projects for investment and manage repayments; the investment will be repaid to the Department for Communities over 15 years from drawdown.
If your community group or sports club has a project in mind that we can help with, thenget in touch today to speak to one of our client relationship managers working in your local area.
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📢 Attention All Local Communities! 📢
Almost €9 million in funding is now available under the 2024 CLÁR (Ceantair Laga Árd-Riachtanais) programme. This funding is specifically aimed at supporting community and sports facilities nationwide, particularly in areas that have faced significant population decline.
Here is the breakdown of what’s available:
Measure 1: Grants ranging from €5,000 to €50,000 for community and sports facilities, youth clubs, playgrounds, sensory gardens, walking tracks, and more.
Measure 2: Support for voluntary groups providing free transport for cancer care, Community First Response Support, Search and Rescue organizations, and this year, meals on wheels services. Maximum grants of €50,000 for a car and €100,000 for a bus.
Measure 3: Aimed at supporting offshore island communities, with maximum grants of €120,000 for community transport projects and up to €50,000 for amenities projects.
At Community Finance Ireland, we understand that if your grant is approved you may need additional support in the form of accessing your grant via bridging finance. And this stage is often needed swiftly.
That’s why our local relationship managers are here to support you at that key stage in the overall process. Whether you are in one of Ireland’s most remote areas or not we’re dedicated to helping you drawdown that much needed grant award.
If you are interested in accessing CLÁR 2024 funding and need assistance on the drawdown of an approved grant, don’t hesitate to reach out to us. Our team is committed to working with you make the most of a successful application.
Get in touch with Community Finance Ireland’s seasoned navigators who are here to help you access Bridging Finance.
More info from the department visit their website.
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Community Finance Ireland is recruiting interested parties to join its Board of Trustees. New trustees have an exciting opportunity to shape a new social enterprise that has an all-island footprint and the mission to ensure that Social Impact is felt, not just dreamt.
Let’s Make Lasting Change for Good
Our current Board works as an all-island team. Each member has different experiences and skills (their bios are here).
We are looking for the following to add to the existing Board’s strengths:
Community Finance Ireland in association with Rural Community Network and supported by the International Fund for Ireland (IFI) have delivered a series of workshops to aid the coming together of communities who straddle the border regions, seeking to develop social enterprise.
23 participants from NI and ROI communities attended a series of residentials, workshops and mentoring sessions that culminated in a final event at Lusty Beg Fermanagh. Also in attendance were the Chair of International Fund for Ireland Paddy Harte, Frances Spence of Rural Community Network & CEO of Community Finance Ireland Donal Traynor.
The participants opened their minds to working collaboratively on a cross-border, cross-community basis to aid the development of social enterprises or community projects, working in varying areas of deprivation and legacy issues arising from the Troubles.
This unique pilot’s primary role was to support the ongoing peace and reconciliation on the island through the medium of social enterprise development. Delivered through collaboration between CFI and Rural Community Network, the IFI supported programme has certainly played a positive part in continuing that ambition.
With Orange Halls and GAA clubs working side by side the programme demonstrated that whilst culturally there may be differences, there was far more in common than realised. You can hear firsthand from Donal Traynor, Paddy Harte and some of the participants on how this project came about and their experiences and the benefits of being involved.
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With an impressive agenda and a packed hotel room social enterprises were out in force in Galway this week with an impressive line up of guests.
The event was a real collaboration of those in the area and involved in the ongoing sustainability of the social enterprise sector.
Thanks to SCCUL Enterprise Centre, LEO Galway, Galway City Partnership, Galway City Council and Galway Rural Development and Enterprise Ireland for pulling together to bring it about.
Our local Relationship Manager Mary Nohilly was in attendance along with inspiring ladies such Amanda Corbett of Brothers of Charity, Geraldine Ryan from Meals4health and Betsy Cornwell of The Old Knitting Factory and she had this to say:
“The event was well received with lots of key insights that will bode well for the ongoing sustainability and vibrancy of the social enterprise sector.”
If you and your community facility need advice, get in touch today. We speak finance, but we hear people and we’re listening.
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Ballymacash Sports Academy, based in Ballymacash outside Lisburn, Co. Antrim has been able to install a new floodlit 3G pitch, car park and spectator fencing thanks to a Social Finance loan from Community Finance Ireland.
But this is just the start of the club’s ambitious developments. As Chairman Phil Trimble comments:
“It feels like the building work going up is us just getting started. There is an unstoppable force, an army of volunteers, coaches, people behind the scenes and our committee who put in phenomenal efforts to make the club what it is. It’s a brilliant place to be with a great vibe. It’s all really really positive.
In addition to providing sporting facilities on the pitch for their members, they have teamed up with local community development organisations to create a community garden and allotments which has had lasting social impact for the groups involved. One such community group led by Karl Bothwell said:
“We’ve been kindly welcomed in by the Ballymacash Sports Academy. Our young adults come here three days per week and they work at the allotments, planting vegetables and then they take the vegetables they have grown and donate them to local foodbanks and homeless charities.”
Since 2016, Community Finance Ireland has supported 166 sports clubs, social enterprises and organisations from across the community and voluntary sector in Northern Ireland, with a total of £18.1 million in social finance loans, with £5.6m of that going to sporting organisations like Ballymacash.
Peter Smyth, Client Manager at Community Finance Ireland added:
“In the case of Ballymacash Sports Academy, the improved facilities has led to an increased sporting success by the club and greater usage by local schools and groups. The collective ambitions and efforts of the committee and the wider community is admirable and one that we were keen to support with social finance funding. Often capital projects like this one creates new facilities, but it also helps build momentum and shows that the club committee is delivering on the club development plan.”
During the BBC’s coverage of the Ballymacash Rangers v Glentoran match on 2 February, the broadcaster kindly featured the community’s efforts. You can play this back here at 1:13:40 in.
If you and your community facility need advice, get in touch today. We speak finance, but we hear people and we’re listening.
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– £18 million social finance provided to Northern Ireland voluntary sector since 2016 –
Kilcreggan Homes, an independent charity that provides housing, day and employment opportunities for adults with a Learning Disability, Autistic Spectrum Condition or an acquired brain injury, is expanding its residential accommodation offering with £85k support from social finance providers, Community Finance Ireland.
The charity has received a total funding package of £240k from Community Finance Ireland in 2023. The package includes refinancing of existing accommodation loans, £85k towards the purchase of a property to support the rehabilitation of a client with complex needs and a £5k charitable donation to Kilcreggan Homes, towards developing its Mid Ulster Sanctuary site near Magherafelt.
Since 2016, Community Finance Ireland has supported 166 social enterprises and organisations from across the community and voluntary sector in Northern Ireland, with a total of £18.1 million in social finance loans.
Phelim Sharvin, Head of Community Finance Ireland, Northern Ireland said:
“The team at Kilcreggan Homes is hugely ambitious and has worked hard to widen the organisation’s portfolio in the past year. Across multiple sites including an urban farm and supported living properties in Carrickfergus, the charity helps 160 clients every week and achieves a clear social impact through the delivery of a high quality essential care service. Community Finance Ireland has provided £18million in social finance to Northern Ireland’s voluntary sector since 2016 and we’re proud that almost a third of that has gone to organisations like Kilcreggan Homes, which delivers Community Services and Health and Wellbeing services.”
Damien Cassidy, Managing Director of Kilcreggan Homes said:
“The financial support from Community Finance Ireland allowed us to restructure existing debt and in turn to plan for the purchase of a property in Newtownabbey and develop our Mid Ulster site. As well as our urban farm, our café, garden centre and pop up Christmas shop welcome 15,000 visitors annually and provide service users with training, day opportunities and employment.. We have a resource centre where they can socialise and the purchase of the residential properties close by means we can now also offer further independent living opportunities to complex needs service users. We very much appreciate the advice from Phelim and his highly experienced team throughout the process, along with their enthusiasm for our vision.”
Read more stories from Community Finance Ireland’s clients here.
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