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Community Finance Ireland is pleased to announce its support for the SERI Census Campaign, a significant initiative aimed at uplifting social enterprises throughout Ireland. This partnership underscores Community Finance Ireland’s commitment to fostering positive change and community development.

In a notable achievement, Mobile IT CLG has emerged as the winner of Community Finance Ireland’s prize for their participation in the SERI Social Enterprise Census. This recognition highlights their dedication to the social enterprise sector and their impactful work within the community.

The celebratory event took place at the Deebert House Hotel in Kilmallock, Co. Limerick, where key figures from Mobile IT CLG, including Maureen Browne (Chairperson) and Alice Quinlan, joined Nora Keogh (Client Relationship Manager at Community Finance Ireland) and Catherine Fitzgerald from Charleville to discuss all things social enterprise related.

Community Finance Ireland and SERI are both committed to supporting social enterprises that make a lasting impact on our communities. Together, they aim to empower social enterprises across Ireland, ensuring that they have the resources and recognition they deserve.

For more information on this collaboration and the SERI Census Campaign, please visit SERI’s website.

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We are thrilled to announce that Community Finance Ireland (CFI) has attained the prestigious ISO 9001 Quality Management System accreditation on an all-island basis.

This significant accomplishment reflects our unwavering commitment to excellence in serving our clients and advancing positive social impact.

The ISO 9001 standard is built upon a set of quality management principles, including a strong customer focus, active involvement of top management, a process-oriented approach, and continuous improvement. By adhering to these principles, we have established a solid foundation for organizational excellence.

Benefits to CFI and Our Clients
This achievement brings several advantages to both Community Finance Ireland and our valued clients:

Increased Efficiencies: With all our processes aligned and comprehended by every member of our organization, we can enhance the efficiency of our internal controls, streamlining our operations and ensuring optimal performance.

Enhanced Reputation: The ISO 9001 accreditation further strengthens our reputation as a credible and genuine charity and social enterprise. It underscores our dedication to advocating for positive social impact and demonstrates our commitment to delivering high-quality services.

Clear Objectives and Commitment: By assessing the overall context of our organization and understanding the expectations of those affected by our work, we can clearly define our objectives. This enables us to showcase our unwavering commitment to excellence and the pursuit of our mission.

Customer Focus: We reaffirm our dedication to putting our customers first, consistently meeting their needs, and enhancing their satisfaction. This recognition ensures that our clients’ experience with Community Finance Ireland remains at the heart of everything we do.

Compliance and Governance: Attaining the ISO 9001 accreditation guarantees that we meet the necessary statutory and regulatory requirements, strengthening our compliance and governance practices.

We extend our gratitude to our dedicated team, whose hard work and commitment have made this achievement possible. We are excited about the opportunities this accreditation brings and the continued positive impact we can make together.

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This week Ulster Community Investment Trust Ltd t/a Community Finance Ireland held its all island Annual General Meeting (AGM) in Belfast’s Clifton House. As part of the AGM, the team officially launched its Annual Report for 2022.

The report published today highlights the following key takeaways:

  • Ulster Region: £2.8m (€3.2m) of loans into 28 organisations
  • Leinster Region: £3.1m (€3.5m) of loans into 38 organisations
  • Munster Region: £0.9m (€1.0m) of loans into 16 organisations
  • Connacht Region: £0.6m (€0.7m) of loans into 7 organisations
  • £6.5m to 231 communities via much needed grant payments funded by the Department of Communities NI and in collaboration with NICVA
  • £5.8m in loan support to 186 SME clients through the management of the Invest NI sponsored NISBLF Fund II since 2018, in collaboration with Enterprise Northern Ireland.

With a client portfolio, whose core assets are predominately its volunteers, the 89 projects saw their own belief mirrored back to them and secured term or bridging loans which supported them in:

  • Providing access to facilities and services for their local area
  • Expanding their businesses and growing their memberships
  • Improving their sustainability and helping them achieve their long-term goals

In what was another extraordinary year for the history the organisation and for the communities and citizens on the island Donal Traynor Group Chief Executive highlighted the following in his welcome video message:

To learn more about Community Finance Ireland and discover the inspiring stories of the organisations we supported in 2022, please visit here.

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Fundraising is one of the key income sources for GAA clubs. Unlike most mainstream lenders, Community Finance Ireland takes fundraising and projected fundraising into account when considering applications for finance for GAA projects.

Our recent #Supporting Clubs On and Off the Pitch Webinars hosted by Aisling O’Reilly Off the Ball Sports Journalist and featuring some of the best GAA clubs in our communities, offered some really insightful and diverse ways that GAA clubs and volunteers are engaged in helping finance the ambition of their clubs and players.

Here are some of the innovative and most popular fundraising initiatives that are being delivered right across the island of Ireland. You may already have tried these in your club, or you may not but as everybody knows all ideas for financing and keeping the club open and vibrant are always welcome.

1. Club Lotto

Club Lotto remains a big earner for GAA clubs. When Covid struck, volunteers weren’t able to go door to door to sell tickets anymore and a number of clubs moved their lotto activity to online. As one of our clients Jim Codd from Ballyhea GAA in Munster told us, at times the Club Lotto can account for up to 30% of our income.

2. Coffee Mornings and Bake Sales

Who doesn’t love a delicious treat? Host a coffee morning and invite the local community to come along. From Rice Krispie squares and millionaire’s shortcake to cupcakes and brownies, everyone can bring along their baked goods to sell, with the profits going into the club’s coffers.

3. Fundraising Walks

During the pandemic, the activity that saw the biggest rise in participation was walking. As a result clients like Knockananna GAA (Co. Wicklow) and Kilcoo GAA (Co. Down) invested in off pitch facilities such as floodlit walkways. Our own Client Relationship Manager for Munster Nora Keogh said that sponsored fundraising walks are a great source of income for GAA clubs as well as great family events:

“My daughter’s football club in West Limerick has the sponsored walk back again this year. The kids are delighted to go out and get €2 off each of their relatives for taking part. It’s only a small amount but it all adds up. It’s great to see and it’s a great family event on the day.”- Nora Keogh, Community Finance Ireland.

4. Golf Classics

The GAA continue to use other sports outside the realm of Gaelic Games to assist with raising funds for their club. One example that our client Jim Codd at Ballyhea GAA referenced was that of a recent Golf Classic, where a combination of players or volunteers created golf teams to compete against each other with all funds raised going back into the club.

5. Strictly Come Dancing Competitions

Add some sequins and sparkle to your fundraising activity with a Strictly Come Dancing style competition. Pair your GAA players with local community volunteers and sell tickets for a weekly dance off to see who knows their sliotar from their salsa.

6. The 300 Club

After meeting with Community Finance Ireland and setting specific and realistic fundraising targets, Freddie McInerney from Newmarket-On-Fergus GAA Club in Co. Clare explains how they set up a 300 Club:  

“We created a 300 club. We got almost 300 people to sign up over a four year period in which we asked for a donation of €5 per week, €250 a year or a quarterly or sign up on direct debit. People were very generous with some offering €1,000 upfront. We created a team of eight people dedicated solely to this fundraising activity. There were two lads in particular – Thomas Reagan and Darren Dugan who went out and collected probably the bones of €100,000 themselves, talking to people, ringing people, cajoling people and getting them to bring money in. So, in the end we got an awful lot of people signed up.”- Freddie McInerney, Newmarket-On-Fergus GAA.

7. Family Fun Days

With many GAA clubs now the hub of most communities the ability to offer family fun days for their members and their wider community is now a reality. Bouncy castles, Mr Whippy vans, face-painting, arts and crafts and fun and games are almost as likely to be found as the footballs or hurls.

8. Car Boot Sale

It’s an oldie but a goodie, but with us all trying to repurpose or resell rather than put items in landfill the car boot sale is a fantastic way to raise funds as well as reduce waste.

9. Table Quiz

Hosting a table quiz is a simple but effective way to bring in some extra cash and a great way to add some entertainment to the line up at the club house bar. A simple eight round event can be used to test your membership’s knowledge on a variety of subject. Maybe even include a specialist round about your club’s history.

10. Scrap Metal Collections

Scrap metal is valuable in high quantities and rural clubs have been jumping on the opportunity for years. It’s easy to raise money by asking farmers and people in your village for their unwanted scrap metal at a collection point so it can then be sold on. It doesn’t cost the community anything and in fact you’re providing a service that they would otherwise have to pay for.

“When we started fundraising initially, we wanted to find things that are a negative cost to people, so we ran a scrap collection, initially that can bring anything from €2,000 to €10,000 depending on when you are running it and how much people have in their backyards that they want to get rid of.”- Jim Codd, Ballyhea GAA.

Our thanks to all the club members or volunteers who participated in our webinar series this summer and for sharing their insights and experience. If you missed these webinars, don’t worry- you can play them back here. In the meantime we speak finance, but we hear people. Click here and the local client to reach out to the local Client Relationship Manager in your area.

#Supporting Clubs On and Off the Pitch.

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Today (16 June 2022) Ulster Community Investment Trust Ltd t/a Community Finance Ireland held its all island AGM in person for the first time in three years. As part of the AGM the team officially launched its 2021 Annual Report.

The report published today highlights the following key takeaways:

Northern Ireland

  • £2m of loans into 14 local projects;
  • £7.2m to 354 charities via much needed grant payments in collaboration with Department of Communities NI and NICVA; and
  • £4.4m to 152 SME clients through the management of NISBLF Fund II since 2018.

Republic of Ireland

  • €2.2m of loans into 26 projects in the Leinster Region;
  • €1.2m of loans into 15 projects in the Munster Region;
  • €0.1m of loans into 4 projects in the Connacht Region; and
  • €1m of loan approvals into 17 projects in Ulster (excluding NI).

With a client portfolio, whose core assets are predominately its volunteers, the 76 projects saw their own belief mirrored back to them and secured term or bridging loans which supported them in:

  • Keeping their doors open;
  • Pivoting their business;
  • Ensuring their viability when their services were needed more than ever; and
  • Ensuring their sustainability as the island transitions to a new normal.

In what was another extraordinary year for the history the organisation and for the communities and citizens on the island of Ireland Donal Traynor Group Chief Executive said the following:

“Our team continue to ensure social impact is felt not just dreamt and 2021 was no different. Dreams were realised and progress was felt right across the island. Choose change is indeed the mantra of the sector and the volunteers who keep it vibrant. We are delighted to be part of that change, whilst recognising there is always more to do.”.

Donal Traynor, Group Chief Executive Community Finance Ireland

View the report in full here.

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Last week Donal Traynor our CEO was on hand to help ‘Dress for Success’ expand its reach in Northern Ireland.

As the leading global non-profit employment resource for women our team were on hand to celebrate the initiatives expansion in Northern Ireland, with the opening of a second branch, situated at the Glengall Exchange, in Belfast City Centre, under a new tenancy from Community Finance Ireland.

Dress for Success Northern Ireland is managed by Foyle Women’s Aid and to date has supported over 200 women through its first branch which opened in 2018 in Ashleywood House, Derry/Londonderry. 

This is the only affiliate of the global Dress for Success brand operating in the island of Ireland, there are more than 140 affiliates operating in 20+ countries across the globe and marks an important achievement in the organisation’s growth and reach in Northern Ireland. 

Dress for Success empowers women into the workplace from positions of disadvantage by providing professional clothing and styling, skills and confidence, interview coaching and ongoing support once they re-join the workplace. 

“As an equal opportunities company, as well as a registered social enterprise and charity ourselves, our team is delighted to support Dress for Success and aid their ambitions to help women going back to work.

We feel privileged to be able to host the Dress for Success Northern Ireland team, as well as its future service users at our premises, and wish them every success in this new chapter of their history.”

Donal Traynor, Group Chief Executive Officer (Community Finance Ireland)

To find out more about Dress for Success or to refer to its services please contact Sarah Quinn, Programme Manager, 0771 963 681 or email sarah.quinn@foylewomensaid.org.

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Today CFI’s impact was in evidence as Nora Keogh Client Relationship Manager for the Munster region, provided support to social enterprise Recruit Refugees Ireland based in Cork.

Nora had this to say:

“We are delighted to help support Recruit Refugees Ireland and its ambitions to break down barriers to meaningful employment for refugees – the work they do really is delivering impact in the Cork region”

Nora Keogh, Client Relationship Manager (Community Finance Ireland)

CEO Roos Demol outlined to Nora how her team are committed to an inclusive and diverse Ireland and in supporting career aspirations for those who are now living in Ireland.

Community Finance Ireland delivers social finance solutions that support local communities and drive social impact through sports, community projects, faith-based groups, and social enterprises. 

Community Finance Ireland was established in 1995, and now supports a diverse portfolio of clients across the island of Ireland from Bantry to Belfast, and from Dublin to Dingle.

Currently, Community Finance Ireland is the only Irish and UK member of FEBEA, the European Federation of Ethical and Alternative Banks.

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Our all island team are very aware that every small step can help the enormous challenges that climate change and sustainable choices can make to our everyday lives and the planet at large.

We moved “house” in 2021 and had almost 15 years of paperwork stored in boxes that needed to find a home too. Step up Shred Bank, who shredded those old files, helped recycle it and helped us save five trees.

Our client Western Forestry Co- Operative, based in Sligo town have often told us that “trees are the lungs of the earth” and their passionate CEO Marina Conway is a key change-maker herself in the preservation and love of trees.

Marina featured in one of our first Change-maker podcasts and you can hear her views on sustainable forestry here:

Social Impact is in all our hands.

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This time last year we all had hopes that the Pandemic would be done and dusted. We are all aware this didn’t happen and, as we close off another year we will continue to live with its effects for a while yet.

Whilst we acknowledge Covid continued to affect us during the past 12 months, we can confidently say that we supported both our clients and key stakeholders to achieve progress and ensured that, whilst we were often asked to stay apart, we came together in ways that helped our clients deliver health, happiness and hope.

  • We took the opportunity to grow our local footprint and welcomed new team members Emmett, Anne, Pauline, Nora, Nick, Stephanie and Jack.
  • In Belfast our new head office was finally able to open its doors and support our new norm that is a hybrid working model.
  • We helped deploy £7.1m to 354 charities on behalf of Department for Communities via the Covid- 19 Charities Grant Fund.
  • We collaborated with Conor McGale at Rural Community Network and Larry O’Neill CEO Dublin South Co Partnership on the launch of our All Island Recovery Loan
  • We collaborated with Joanne O ‘Riordan of The Irish Times, Brendan Boyce Olympian Athlete and Patsy McGonigle of Finn Valley AC on the launch of our All Island Sports Fund
  • We continued to work with key stakeholders such as Invest NI, Enterprise NI and Department for Communities in Northern Ireland, as well as Social Finance Foundation, Rethink Ireland and DCU in the Republic.
  • We listened to and worked with 91 enquiries.
  • We welcomed an additional 62% increase in followers across our social media channels

All of the above are indications that despite hurdles the sector continues to seek support, insights and social finance.

Donal Traynor, Group Chief Executive, said the following:

“Whilst the Pandemic continues to challenge all communities we have seen greater solidarity across the whole island of Ireland. Clients are responding with innovative fundraising initiatives as-well as migrating to an online service (an investment we ourselves undertook in 2020) to help make the provision of services easier and sustainable.

The sector itself is not immune to trends. We expect to see hybrid events and campaigns plus sustainable, remote working facilities, as well as questions around how we play our part in supporting climate change targets.

All of the above offer the opportunity for us to continue to work with clients who want to ensure social impact is felt not just dreamt – we are here listening all the time and committed to finding solutions that support that ethos”.

Donal Traynor, Group Chief Executive

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Ireland has celebrated a summer of sporting success at national and international level, but when we look to the grassroots of our sporting heroes, we must see how much more we could achieve with investment in community facilities. That’s according to Community Finance Ireland, who today (23.09.21) launched a new €5 million fund offering social finance solutions to sports clubs across the island of Ireland.

The new fund will make flexible loans of €10,000-€500,000 available to sports organisations seeking to make a change in their local community whether that is to renovate changing or training facilities for their players and participants, or to improve local infrastructure that makes their club grounds more accessible for the local community.

The fund launched today at an online event, ‘Financial As Well As Physical Fitness Is Key To Success’, with panellists including Sinead Reel, Chairperson of Armagh Ladies’ GAA County Board, sports journalist with the Irish Times Joanne O’Riordan, and Irish Olympian Brendan Boyce who trains at the Community Finance Ireland funded Finn Valley Athletics Club in Donegal.

Speaking at the launch, Anne Graham, Community Finance Ireland Client Relationship Manager said:

“Our athletes have been blazing a trail across tracks, pitches and pools, and inspiring our next generation of sporting heroes. While it’s been a summer to celebrate, it’s also challenged all of us to consider how much more we could achieve, how much more support we could provide our aspiring Olympians or All-Stars, with greater investment in grassroots facilities and clubs.

Every community will be looking to their local pitch, climbing wall or tennis court to see where improvements can be made to upgrade equipment, develop more accessible and inclusive facilities, or perhaps to make the circuit around a pitch or track a safe public walkway for the community to keep active on those darker winter nights by installing floodlights.

Wherever a club sees an opportunity to invest in their local community, we want to put the power to make that change into their hands with fast, flexible, fair loans that can be used to bridge gaps in their funding, unlock drawdown of government grants, or provide much-needed project finance.

We work closely with sports clubs across the country, in fact they make up over a third of the organisations we work with, so we know what they need. We know that volunteers and board members aren’t in a position to provide personal guarantees, so we don’t ask for them; we know funding streams can be unpredictable, so we don’t change our interest rates or hand out penalties for early or lump-sum repayments”.

Anne Graham- Client Relationship Manager, Community Finance Ireland

Patsy McGonagle, Chairman of Finn Valley Athletics Club, worked with Community Finance Ireland to make essential improvements to their grounds in 2013.  He said:

“We’re providing a modern facility in an area where there’s very little opportunity. 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’s welcome and their approach made it a win-win for us big time. They were very responsive, easy to work with. It was a great experience. The facility would not exist were we not to get that finance.”

Patsy McGonagle- Chairman, Finn Valley Athletics Club

Here’s What You Need to Know

1. What loan product types are available?

  • Short term bridging loans to facilitate retrospective drawing of grant support (interest only, plus grant upon redemption).
  • Longer term loans with bespoke repayment schedules.

2. What geography does the fund cover?

  • Northern Ireland, Ulster, Munster, Leinster and Connacht.

3. What is the loan range?

  • £10k – £500k (NI).
  • €10k – €500k (RoI).

4. What is the term range?

  • 1 month – 180 months.

5. What is the interest rate?

  • Maximum 6.25%*, calculated on a reducing balance.
  • *The lowest maximum rate across the island.

6. Is there an arrangement fee?

  • No*
  • *The only bridging product available across the entire island to do so.

7. What security is required?

  • None on bridging loans.
  • Most of our term loans are also unsecured.
  • No Personal Guarantees are required.

8. Is there an Early Repayment penalty?

  • No.

9. How long does a loan decision take?

  • 48 hours for any loan request of up to £/€200k once we have all of your final information.
  • Up to 4-6 weeks for loan request in excess of £/€200k.

10. How do I apply?

  • You can get started now by clicking here and completing an online application.
  • Or if you need to chat to us first click here and we will arrange a follow up call with either Phelim, Peter, Emmett, Barry, Nora or Anne depending on where you and your team are located.
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