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15 Funding and Fundraising Actions for Northern Ireland Government

I was wondering late last night - if I could give Northern Ireland Government a list of practical actions to improve the financial viability and growth of the charity and not-for-profit sector in this small part of the world what would be on it - so here is a list of 15 actions for a start.


  1. Distribute Dormant Accounts now. The money is there - spend it.
  2. Set up a Northern Ireland Peace Fund ahead of the end of European Funding in 2020. Not to mention replacement for other important European funding
  3. Invest in Gift Aid training for charities and Community Amateur Sports Clubs. The money is there to be claimed - the knowledge to claim it is not.
  4. Reform the NI Lotteries Act to enable greater use of charity raffles. Having a legal £1 maximum is very restrictive and many raffles are unwittingly run illegally.
  5. Do not break the centuries old rates relief for charity shops.
  6. Provide challenge funds for the sector to encourage local philanthropy.
  7. Provide support to raising money from Gifts in Wills. The return will be many times the outlay for a public awareness and charity training programme.
  8. Provide greater input into Northern Ireland directions for spending from the National Lottery. The opportunity to shape millions of pounds worth of funding to Northern Ireland is there but the direct input of Northern Ireland Assembly is sadly very largely absent.
  9. Make greater use of professional grant making organisations to distribute government funding. They know what they are doing.
  10. Commit to a baseline level, monitored year on year, for spending in the charity and social enterprise sector as a proportion of the Northern Ireland block grant, including specific allocations on low capacity areas such as sports, arts, heritage, volunteering and the environment.
  11. Promote payroll giving with incentives to new givers and new companies. Again the return to charities ill decrease the need for Government funding
  12. Allow for end of financial year urgent departmental spend (slippage) to be carried over and used in areas of revenue as well as capital.It is absurd that money is spent last moment to cover departmental financial underspend for the sake of arbitrary accountancy rules. 
  13. Provide support to build capacity for self-regulation of fundraising in Northern Ireland and a development programme for fundraisers to create greater sustainability. This will ensure trust in the sector and people will keep giving.
  14. GIVE over community assets for community. They belong to them anyway,
  15. Make funding offers with at least six months to go before grants/contracts run out. Terribly bad funding practice has been allowed to put organisations, lives and beneficiaries at risk - especially in the youth sector.

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