The Arthur Guinness Fund is a global initiative, created as part of the Guinness 250 celebration. In the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland it is investing up to €2.5m. It was created by people in pubs across Ireland signing their name next to Arthur Guinness’ famous signature. By targeting social entrepreneur-led projects, the Fund will benefit Irish communities and is a fitting tribute to Arthur Guinness and his enduring, philanthropic legacy. The ethos of the Arthur Guinness Fund is ‘From one to many. Creating opportunities for communities’.
Guinness & Co. is working with Social Entrepreneurs Ireland to implement the Fund, which will support projects that deliver lasting social, community and environmental benefits. It will seek to identify, support and empower social entrepreneurs who have projects and initiatives that are innovative, impactful and sustainable, and make a real difference to Irish Society.
THE AWARDS PROGRAMME
The Arthur Guinness Fund awards programme is seeking to find and support up to 25 Social entrepreneurs over a two-year period within Ireland. Successful applicants will benefit from financial support (in the region of €100,000 per project) as well as practical support and advice. In addition, successful applicants will benefit from access to the Social Entrepreneurs Ireland Alumni network.
APPLICATIONS FOR THE ARTHUR GUINNESS FUND WILL RE-OPEN IN OCTOBER 2010
PLEASE VISIT WWW.GUINNESS.COM FOR MORE INFORMATION
Please note that The Arthur Guinness Fund is entirely separate to the Social Entrepreneurs Ireland Awards Programme.
2010 AWARD WINNERS
The 2010 Arthur Guinness Fund Award Winners were announced at a ceremony in the Guinness Storehouse on the 20th April 2010. Please see a brief description of each of the projects below. Each project will receive €100,000 over the course of two years, resulting in a total donation of €1 Million for the 2010 Awardees.
Cormac Lynch – Camara
Cormac Lynch’s project provides an elegant solution to two of the world's most intractable problems: increasing amounts of environmentally damaging waste being produced; and lack of educational resources within Africa and other disadvantaged areas.
While the last few years have seen a huge increase in re-cycling in Ireland, it is widely accepted that to protect our environment, re-using the world's dwindling resources is a superior solution to re-cycling them. Re-using saves landfill space; averts numerous chemicals from leaching into water and the ground; prevents incineration of computer components, which creates carcinogens; and decreases the exploitation of fossil fuel, chemical and water.
Using a sustainable social enterprise model, Camara have hubs in Dublin and Belfast where they take computers from companies and individuals to be re-used in schools in disadvantaged areas mainly in the African continent. To date Camara has re-used 15,500 Irish computers equating to a carbon saving of over 10,000 tons.
With funding from the Arthur Guinness Fund, Cormac plans to expand this proven model to Cork and Galway. This will increase the capacity of the organisation and increase the environmental and educational benefits of the organisation.
Joan Freeman - Pieta House
The average number of suicide deaths in Ireland each year is 494. The majority of people who find themselves in crisis and are suicidal are reacting to a life event. When someone is not coping with a life event, they need to learn how to cope with whatever difficulty is facing them through the help of qualified staff that will offer them a ‘Solution focused Approach’ and who will walk with them on the trying journey and show them on the way, all the reasons for living rather than dying.
Following a personal tragedy, Joan Freeman founded Pieta House - Ireland’s first centre for the prevention of self harm and suicide. They offer an alternative, therapeutic approach to suicide by providing one to one counselling. As a community-based centre for the prevention of self-harm or suicide, Pieta House addresses a gap in existing services by complementing and acting as a support to other services.
With funding from the Arthur Guinness Fund, Joan aims to open an additional centre in the Cork – Kerry region to expand the reach of the organisation.
John P. Murphy – Speedpak Workplace Accreditation Model (WAM)
Long term unemployment was a problem in Ireland even before the current economic difficulties. Lack of formal education is a key barrier to progression to the workplace for those who are long term unemployed.
After 7 years of working for Speedpak, a social enterprise which provides employment and training for long term unemployed people, John P Murphy has developed a model of workplace accreditation where staff receive accreditation for the work they complete during their work placement. John’s training programme provides real commercial work experience focusing on positive work behaviours; accredited group and individual training courses; and specialist one to one support.
Having developed and piloted this model locally within Speedpak, John is now ready to bring this idea nationwide. The WAM approach is centred on capturing current workplace learning which can be converted to a recognised educational qualification in the form of a full FETAC Award. The approach can be used in any workplace context and run in conjunction with any VEC college nationwide.
With funding from the Arthur Guinness Fund, John aims to drive the development of this model throughout Ireland.
Colman Farrell – Suas Service Learning Programme
As we enter the 21st Century, we are faced with environmental, social and economic challenges that are complex, global and interdependent. We need an emerging generation in which all play their part as creators, innovators, leaders and active citizens across all sectors: team players who can work across disciplines, backgrounds and cultures, individuals who are open to change, who have a social conscience to others, near and far, now and in the future.
Colman Farrell is driving an innovative Service-Learning Programme for young Irish people that supports the development of informed, engaged active citizens across Ireland. Colman’s vision is a generation of active citizens and leaders entering society and a world-class service-learning programme integrated into Third Level Education.
With funding from the Arthur Guinness Fund Colman aims to develop this Service-Learning Model and begin the journey to integrate the model into Third Level Education in Ireland.
“Suas cannot change the world alone, so we support the generation that will”
Margaret Leahy – Clar IRD
Community gardens, a well established concept in many countries, are slowly gaining momentum in Ireland. Margaret Leahy (in conjunction with Clar IRD, a voluntary community development organisation) is developing a model for community gardens which could be delivered all over the country.
The chief focus of these gardens is training persons on low incomes to grow their own vegetables and improve their diet and level of exercise. Margaret will also add an extra dimension to the project by creating the conditions and culture to establish an enterprise thus creating year round jobs.
With funding from the Arthur Guinness Fund, Margaret will be able to develop her model and begin the process of bringing the model to other areas. The programme utilises local people making a positive contribution to their own lives and to their communities. It will help break the cycle of unemployment and the workers will be role models within their own communities.
Caroline Casey – Kanchi
In Ireland and around the world, disability is viewed as being about need and negativity. Such a mindset has contributed to the alienation, exclusion and discrimination of people with disabilities. People with disabilities are people first; their disabilities should not define them.
Nine years ago, Caroline Casey realised that nobody was talking about the ‘ability’ of people with disabilities. She believed that if businesses could see the value of disability, society would naturally follow.
With funding from the Arthur Guinness Fund, Kanchi will launch a measurement tool for business, which will allow companies to simply and practically assess and track their progress in including people with disabilities at all levels of their business, as customers, employees and potential recruits.
Using extensive research built up over 5 years of Ability Awards and based on research carried out in 2008, Caroline’s idea, modelled on the “Best Companies To Work For” scheme, will help businesses to bring about this change.
Mary Nally – Fáilte Isteach
Mary Nally is the founder of the Third Age Foundation, an organisation which supports older people to make a difference in society. In 2006, Mary witnessed the daily difficulties that new migrants were experiencing integrating into our community as a result of a lack of English. Everyday activities like visiting the GP, assisting children with homework, shopping, understanding correspondence from schools, employers and other institutions are all extremely difficult if comprehension or expression is limited.
In response to this lack of English amongst new migrants to Ireland, Mary developed Fáilte Isteach, a community project where older volunteers welcome new migrants to their community through conversational English classes. Fáilte Isteach now has 21 centres in 9 counties involving over 200 volunteers teaching over 400 non-Irish-nationals from 51 different countries every week.
Not willing to rest on her laurels, Mary plans to expand the project further until there is a Fáilte Isteach project in every town in Ireland. Funding from the Arthur Guinness Fund will go towards the further expansion of this project around the country.
Michael Kelly – GIY Ireland
With the current economic difficulties and increasing concerns about the quality of our food system, there is unprecedented interest in people producing their own food in back gardens, allotments and community gardens. Unfortunately, right at the time when it would be most useful, there is a deficit of practical expertise about growing food.
Michael Kelly set up GIY (Grow it Yourself) Ireland to promote and facilitate amateur food growing, to encourage people from all walks of life and of all ages to grow their own food and to provide them with the practical skills they need to do so successfully. Michael does this on three levels: (1) by promoting ‘GIYing’ through the national media, (2) via a social network on www.GIYIreland.com, and (3) at a local level through GIY groups that meet in local communities.
GIY Ireland launched in September 2009 but already there are 60 GIY groups around Ireland with an approximate membership of 5,000 people. With funding from the Arthur Guinness Fund, Michael aims to drive this project further, with more groups, more members and more support.
Sarah Miller and Carrie Ann Moran – ReDiscover Fashion
Carrie Ann Moran and Sarah Miller established ReDiscover Fashion to address growing national concerns within the fashion and textiles industry, relating to the environmental and social impacts of disposable clothing. Despite being a relatively easy waste stream to recycle, an estimated 93% of all textile waste in Ireland is sent to landfill, producing detrimental environmental effects. By recycling textiles, we can reduce these effects and the need for landfill.
As well as having a positive impact on the environment, this project also has social and economic benefits. As the project will generate a steady revenue stream from the sale of a 100% recycled and ethical clothing line, Carrie Ann and Sarah will be able to provide training and employment. Being a not for profit project, all revenue gained will be reinvested in training, materials and job creation. The project aims to change the way we, as a society, view recycled clothing, behave as consumers and manage textile waste.
Sharon Vard – Anam Cara
Every year in Ireland over 2,000 families experience the death of a son or daughter. Support for these families is limited and they can often struggle to make sense of their grief.
Sharon Vard founded Anam Cara to support these families by providing the services and information they need. This helps to reduce the incredible stress and torment they go through after the death of their child.
The person who can best offer a bereaved parent some hope that they will cope and find a way to live around their loss is a bereaved parent who is a little further along their journey. Sharon’s vision is to bring these parents together in a safe setting where they can avail of Anam Cara’s services and also offer support to each other. Anam Cara reaches bereaved families through various channels, the website, a private message forum and formal/informal events around the country.
With funding from the Arthur Guinness Fund, Sharon aims to continue the development of this organisation to provide these services all over the island of Ireland as well as developing a programme for bereaved siblings.
