Voluntary community groups in the N.W. ?..

Paddy20

It would be interesting to have a list of voluntary community organisations, both established and new, those who receive oficial funding and those who do not.

Put your group name on the list, and let us all see where it leads in making the North- West a better place for us all .

P. :cool:

muffler

Im not sure where you are going with this Paddy or indeed the usefulness of such a thread.

A full list of these groups can be had from the Council

Paddy20

muffler wrote:

Im not sure where you are going with this Paddy or indeed the usefulness of such a thread.

A full list of these groups can be had from the Council

A lot of people do not know "A list of these voluntary groups can be had from the Council ?. in fact the council is generally way out of date.

P.:cool:

tuppence

Hi Paddy, I think these are listings for what they are worth sourced from Leitrim Council on a different site. There is a represnetative body I think within the council for them, in the Community and Enterprise section of the website as you probabaly are already aware. . The website itself though is a very good resource and I think Leitrim CoCo amongst others are involved. , (does Donegal and Sligo have a similar one?).
http://www.leitrim.ie/Community/GroupCat.asp
Leitrim Working Together is a good resource for the development organisations and the address is listed on the site.

The forthcoming bill is going to have big repercussions for any organisations that classify themselves as charities and fundraise as such. The pluses and minuses are being debated currently by the umbrella group, The Wheel. the Charites Bill 2007 will have a register of such charites in the forseeable future.
http://www.pobail.ie/en/CharitiesRegulation/CharitiesBill2007/

Paddy20

Hi tuppence,

As someone who has been deeply involved in 'Voluntary Organisations' for many years. In my experience they can achieve a lot for thier communities, but they can not rely on any grant aid as they are on the whole non-political.

Charitie's AFAIK seem to be able to get grants, even though I do not know of any official charitie's register or investgative government department that should watch organisation's that call themselve's charitie's .

In fact here in the Republic I cannot find any official guidline's on how to become a registered charity, which is something that concerns me.

P. :cool:

muffler

Im surprised at your inability to get info on this. Revenue can provide you with details.

here's another link to charitable status details/funding

Im involved with a community group and first thing we did was get a tax number and every year we apply for and get a tax clearance cert from the local revenue office in Donegal Town

smashey

Lifford-Castlefinn community health forum.

tuppence

Hi Paddy,
Yes Charitable recogonition was only useful for tax exemptions with the inland revenue. However the new Charitable Bill 2007 is going to be a huge stick for charitable organaisations. Before, the most normal form of regulation of sorts it appears was if non for profit organisations decided to become a Company Limited by Guarantee. This was mainly done if you wanted to hold a contract ie hire staff or buy premises. So they would have to fill out their annual returns and send their audited accounts to Companies House.
With the bill there is going to be a regulator or watchdog to ensure compliance to charitable status, amongst other things. There is also going to be a register so the public can see for example who is meeting standards (in the north west for example!)

http://www.wheel.ie/user/information_services/policy_advocacy/regulatory_reform_for_charities

The Department of Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs look as though they are stepping up to be the main driver of all of this change. The main problem will be that in order to gain the charitable status its going to invariably mean more work for smaller organsiations and without capacity thats going to be a big thing. The other scary thing I reckon is that if this is done without sensitivity then alot of the main funders are going to use chariatble status as a benchmark as to whether to give funding are not. That could mean that smaller organisations (who cant get to a level) could feel the pinch.
Anyway the Wheel were doing roadshows about it. Donnt know whether they are over now and whether they came down here. There advocacy newletter and news section are quite good for keeping abreast of the social policy changes. Them and Pobals website (or is it Pobail).
This isnt about a list but its about a pending list so not too off topic?

Paddy20

muffler wrote:

Im surprised at your inability to get info on this. Revenue can provide you with details.

here's another link to charitable status details/funding

Im involved with a community group and first thing we did was get a tax number and every year we apply for and get a tax clearance cert from the local revenue office in Donegal Town

I do not understand why the Revenue are involved in or interested in genuine charitie's, your reply implie's that " A Tax clearance certificate " is needed before grant's are available to voluntary non-profit organisation's.

I believe any voluntary group must be connected to a Political organisation, if you are to have a chance of grant aid . and your link state's clearly that " There is no so thing as a registered charity in Ireland". Very true and sickeningly so, very undemocratic, inhumane, and IMHO probably open to corruption on a massive scale.

tuppence,

I have just noted your post above, and I agree with it completely.;) .



P. :cool:

muffler

Paddy20 wrote:

I do not understand why the Revenue are involved in or interested in genuine charitie's, your reply implie's that " A Tax clearance certificate " is needed before grant's are available to voluntary non-profit organisation's.

The revenue commissioners are involved because there is money involved. Law of the land and all that.

Its not implied that a tax clearance cert is needed - its a fact. And why would a tax cert not be needed. If everything is right and above board then community and voluntary groups have nothing to fear.

In the past there were plenty of funding agencies ripped off by certain individuals and companies alike which effectively deprived the genuine cases of much needed money

Paddy20

muffler wrote:

The revenue commissioners are involved because there is money involved. Law of the land and all that.

Its not implied that a tax clearance cert is needed - its a fact. And why would a tax cert not be needed. If everything is right and above board then community and voluntary groups have nothing to fear.

In the past there were plenty of funding agencies ripped off by certain individuals and companies alike which effectively deprived the genuine cases of much needed money

Goodness, I agree with you, but I have no evidence that suggests that a new voluntary organisation will find it easier today to get funding unless they have political backing, the tax clearance cert was never a problem, but in my community there exists a so called 'charity' with massive financial and land asset's who have never to my knowledge held a 'Public meeting' :mad: . In one of your earlier post's you stated that " You did not understand where I was going with this or the usefullness of such a thread", perhap's my point is now becoming clearer.



P. :cool:

tuppence

muffler wrote:

T
In the past there were plenty of funding agencies ripped off by certain individuals and companies alike which effectively deprived the genuine cases of much needed money

Think I agree with you Muffler and Paddy! (is that possible?!) There needs to be more transperency. The work that some non for profit organsiations and social enterprises do is amazing. Those who are genuinely doing the work should be awarded for it. You shouldnt get funding cos of a nod from someone on the panel who is your friendly councillor. (God I had hoped that this was'nt still pervasive) So organisations need to be showing that they are performing. Hence evaluation tools, but preferably monitoring that they bring in themselves rather than big brother watching you. There are some of the umbrella organisations out there that provide training to set up systems. (mind you all the partnerships should be)
It looks like things are going to get alot more professional very soon. I am all on for higher standards for orgs who are dealing with the public but just worry that the small organisation that used to be able to be set up spontaneously (by a couple of interested folk eg an appeal on something like a famine) might be curbed. There is something heartening about our nations goodwill and level of voluntary endeavour that we should feel proud of. The North west is a prime example. .

tuppence

Paddy20 wrote:

but in my community there exists a so called 'charity' with massive financial and land asset's who have never to my knowledge held a 'Public meeting' :mad: . .



P. :cool:

If they are a Charity they will have to prove themselves very shortly. They would be a prime example of what the new Bill would set up to tackle ie accountability of public funds.

Paddy20

tuppence wrote:

If they are a Charity they will have to prove themselves very shortly. They would be a prime example of what the new Bill would set up to tackle ie accountability of public funds.

Thank heavens for that, and I suspect muffler knows the ancient Charity I am referring to, and tuppence how shortly is "Shortly" ?..;) .

P.:cool:

muffler

Paddy20 wrote:

and I suspect muffler knows the ancient Charity I am referring to

I do indeed Paddy butt we cant allow names/titles to be posted here

In any event they are most certainly not a charitable orginisation in the real sense of the word - in fact its the opposite. They have the responsibility of protecting and allocating certain vested assets for the good of the community.

But lets not get bogged down with any one group or organisation.

Paddy20

muffler wrote:

I do indeed Paddy butt we cant allow names/titles to be posted here

In any event they are most certainly not a charitable orginisation in the real sense of the word - in fact its the opposite. They have the responsibility of protecting and allocating certain vested assets for the good of the community.

But lets not get bogged down with any one group or organisation.

O.K. Butt maybe you could enlighten me, via PM if poss ? ..

P. :cool:

muffler

Paddy20 wrote:

O.K. Butt maybe you could enlighten me, via PM if poss ? ..

P. :cool:

Are you sure you dont want a kee for the door

Paddy20

muffler wrote:

Are you sure you dont want a kee for the door

No thank's .

P.:cool:

tuppence

Paddy20 wrote:

Thank heavens for that, and I suspect muffler knows the ancient Charity I am referring to, and tuppence how shortly is "Shortly" ?..;) .

P.:cool:

The key summary by the Wheel (2007) is this which I think should apply to your mutual "friends"

Summary and Analysis of The Bill

The Explanatory Memorandum to the Bill notes that its purpose is to reform the law relating to charities in order to ensure greater accountability, to protect against abuse of charitable status, to enhance public trust and confidence in charities and to increase transparency in the sector.

Key aspects of the Bill will provide for:

• a definition of charitable purpose for the first time in primary legislation;
• the creation of the Charity Regulation Authority to secure compliance by charities with their legal obligations and to encourage better administration of charities;
• the creation of a Register of Charities in which all charities operating in the State must register;
• the submission of annual activity reports by charities to the new Authority;
• the updating of the law relating to fund-raising, particularly in relation to collections by way of direct debits and similar non-cash methods;
• the creation of a Charity Appeals Tribunal;
• the provision of consultative panels to assist the Authority in its work and to ensure effective consultation with stakeholders.


The bill will now be going to oireactais to get rubberstamped. Delay been the governemnt changing. dont think theres any chance of derailment at this stage.

Anyway re funding for orgs cos thats the real probelm for most vol orgs do you keep in touch with this? Some times its very difficult to get info
all in the one place.

http://www.citizensinformationboard.ie/newsletter/newsletter20070529.html