Ivana Bacik (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the delegates for attending. I apologise for having been a little late coming to the Chamber. I congratulate the delegation on the work being done with BeLonG To. I am very familiar with its work. It has made exceptional progress in recent years in expanding, developing and rolling out services, which is really impressive.

With regard to Ms Mortell's comment on the forum on philanthropy, my question is on the ending of philanthropy. Senator Fiach Mac Conghail stated Atlantic Philanthropies was also ending its giving phase this year. The end of the giving term is clearly a very common phenomenon in philanthropy. What does one do afterwards? Ms Mortell referred to the effort to try to encourage philanthropy generally. As with the Obama campaign, it is a question of more people donating small amounts rather than large foundations giving larger amounts. Clearly, there must also be a State take-up. Is there another approach for foundations seeking to exit from donating without causing great upheaval in the social entrepreneurship sector they have been funding? I am conscious that there will be many difficult transitions for those bodies that have been supported by philanthropic associations.