Joint Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation
Job Opportunities in the “Not for Profit” sector
Tuesday 19 November 2013
Speakers:
Seamus Mulconry, Executive Director, Philanthropy
Sean Coughlan, Chief Executive, Social Entrepreneurs Ireland
Diarmaid Ó Corrbuí, CEO, Carmichael Centre for Voluntary Groups
Seamus Mulconry
Executive Director, Philanthropy Ireland
Philanthropy Ireland is the membership organisation for Trusts and Foundations in Ireland and is the
organisation delivering the One Percent Difference Campaign for the Forum on Philanthropy &
Fundraising. Seamus has also worked as Strategy Manager for Accenture, where he specialised in
public policy issues and worked with the Departments of the Taoiseach, Social Protection, Health
and Children, as well as with the UNDP. Seamus is a member of the Board of Headway Ireland, and
the executive Board of the Institute of International and European Affairs.
Sean Coughlan
Chief Executive, Social Entrepreneurs Ireland
Seán is Co-Founder and Chief Executive of Social Entrepreneurs Ireland, a not-for-profit organisation
established to grow the impact of Ireland’s highest potential social entrepreneurs. Seán also holds a
number of other board and advisory positions including: Chairperson of The Wheel (the coordinating body for the community and voluntary sector in Ireland), Director of the European
Venture Philanthropy Association, member of the Advisory Group of the Ryan Academy for
Entrepreneurship, member of the Leonardo Group of the Science Gallery at Trinity College Dublin,
member of the Social Enterprise and Entrepreneurship Task Force and member of the Advisory
Group of SI-Drive (an EU Social Innovation project).
Diarmaid Ó Corrbuí
CEO Carmichael Centre for Voluntary Groups
Carmichael Centre for Voluntary Groups is the first and largest shared services centre and social
enterprise space for the not-for-profit sector in Ireland. Its core services are focused on providing
office space, organisational and governance, training and meeting room facilities. Carmichael Centre
currently provides accommodation and other services to 47 Resident Members and to 100s of notfor-profit organisations around the country. Diarmaid is also Chairman of Acquired Brain Injury
Ireland a not-for-profit organisation that is focused on providing appropriate supports to people
with acquired brain injury. He is also Chairperson of the Governance Code Working Group, a
voluntary group of umbrella organisations from the community, voluntary and charities sector,
which has developed a Code of Practice for Good Governance for organisations in the sector.
Key Messages – Philanthropy Ireland
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The not for profit sector is a key industry sector in Ireland employing more than 100,000
people and supporting everything from medical research to search and rescue. It employs
more people than the IT and Pharma sectors combined and contributes €3.5 billion in
wages.
The sector is facing reductions in income from fundraising, philanthropy and Government.
To counter this, the Forum on Philanthropy & Fundraising has developed a strategy to
increase private investment in the sector from an estimated €500 million to €800 million by
2016.
The One Percent Difference Campaign is a key element of this strategy and seeks to
encourage everyone and every business to contribute 1% of their time and/or income to a
cause they care about.
However, funding is only one element needed for the development of the sector and
Philanthropy Ireland would contend that there is an overall strategy needed for the
development of the sector if the sector is to reach its full potential as an economic actor and
partner with Government in national renewal.
Key Messages – Social Entrepreneurs
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Social enterprise can create real and sustainable employment. Research estimates that
social enterprises in Ireland generate some €240 million in revenue, spend €230 million in
Ireland and employ over 9,300 people directly and support a further 5,100 indirectly. The
researchers also estimate that at least 12,500 people are involved with social enterprises in
a voluntary capacity, thereby making a significant contribution to national policies on active
citizenship. Research also finds that social enterprise is outstripping conventional SMEs in
terms of growth and resilience and is dominated by services, which are job intensive and in
which up to 70% of their costs are related to human resources.
The scale of job creation is proportionate to the extent to which an enabling environment
for social enterprise is created. The recent appointment of a Minister of State to lead efforts
across Government to develop the social enterprise sector is to be welcomed.
In order for the social enterprise sector to reach its full potential and further contribute to
job creation in Ireland the following policies should be adopted: Social enterprise and
entrepreneurship support measures should in included in Local Enterprise Office and Local
Community Development Committee plans; Discussion of public procurement should
include “social clauses” (e.g. schools refurbishment programme), preferential treatment of
social enterprises in local service tenders (as in Scotland, Belgium) and inclusion of social
enterprises on “preferred supplier” panels; Full consideration should be given to the
potential of EU commitments to social enterprise in the 2014-20 Structural Funds period and
the Social Business Initiative.
Key Messages – Carmichael Centre
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1
Many not-for-profits are struggling from reduced funding, increasing compliance
requirements and inefficient business processes which is hampering their impact and
effectiveness and in many cases even threatening their viability.
Carmichael Centre would like to see the development of top quality and cost effective
national shared services centres for the not-for-profit sector. This would enable the more
astute not-for-profits to focus more attention on their core mission activities, reduce their
operating costs and increase process efficiency. Successful implementation of a shared
services model can deliver savings of 15%-30% in operating costs but requires significant
upfront invest to achieve these.1
Carmichael Centre is already a proven model and an excellent example of doing more for
less and delivering value for money. We would like to utilise and leverage this experience, in
partnership with a successful private or public sector provider, to develop and deliver a
shared services offering to not-for-profits nationwide.
Critical success factors for shared services centres are economies of scale, efficient
deployment of best-in-class technologies, up-front investment, a clear business case and a
strong incentive to go down the shared services route. The current fragmented structure of
the not-for-profit sector makes it difficult for the shared services model to gain traction
without strong leadership and support from key State funders to the sector.
The Scottish Government (2007 and 2012). The Shared Services Guidance Framework.
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/publications/2007/12SharedServicesGuidance