Ms Frances Haworth:

As regards value added as a funder, the Community Foundation for Ireland is of the view that, by its nature, there is only a limited amount of philanthropy. The latter can never replace Government funding, so we always try to add value in terms of the projects we fund. The all-island fund is an example of that. Even when we were setting up the fund, we consulted with the sector to see whether there was a gap for that kind of funding. Indeed, the demand for this kind of grant initially came from some of our partners on the ground who wanted to do this kind of work but lacked the small-scale funding to initiate it or were unable to access most of the funds that were available as they were thematic in the context of a particular area or were focused on peace and reconciliation, for example, rather than on other issues that were affecting people across the country who were more disadvantaged. We consulted extensively before launching the fund in order to make sure that we were adding value. In the context of the PEACE PLUS money that was referenced, we consulted with other funders, including the reconciliation fund, to ensure that the grants we were offering would be supportive and make sense in the funding environment that exists. There really was a need for flexible funding to support community groups such as those that were at an early stage of meeting and starting to build partnerships and were not in a place where they could apply for PEACE PLUS funding, for example.

We play a key role in supporting community and voluntary groups to come together in respect of a broad range of issues and also being able to support issues for which it may be more difficult to secure funding through more mainstream supports. For example, we mentioned that we are supporting LGBT Ireland and the Rainbow Project in Northern Ireland to come together to consider a shared policy in respect of a ban on conversion therapy, for example. That is an example of being able to support sectors of civil society that have come together to develop a shared position on a key social issue.