Dublin, 30th March; The Community Foundation for Ireland, one of the country’s leading foundations for developing philanthropy in Ireland, today announced Mark FitzGerald as International Philanthropist of the Year at the fourth annual Philanthropist of the Year awards at a luncheon held in Number 10 Ormond Quay.
Mark FitzGerald’s vision and generous support for Amawele resulted in him winning the International Philanthropist of the Year. Amawele is a charity which creates and supports partnerships between schools in Ireland and South Africa through curricular based activities and educational exchanges. The name ‘Amawele’ comes from the Xhosa word for ‘twins’. Mark FitzGerald was the driving force behind Amawele. As a parent in Kildare Place National School, and from his children’s involvement in a twinning project, he saw the potential from Irish schools engaging with schools in another country. Working with Amawele’s staff, and board, Mark’s vision is to develop meaningful partnerships between school communities in South Africa and Ireland, enabling the learning, sharing and experiencing of local knowledge and issues. Through Mark’s support, he has facilitated meetings with interested parties, has created funding opportunities for the organisation and has established a fundraising committee. Also through the Sherry FitzGerald countrywide network, he has promoted the work of Amawele to schools and local communities. The nomination for the award was supported by Temple Street as he has also been instrumental in the development of the Sherry FitzGerald “Your Home Away From Home” project to assist Temple Street Children’s University Hospital in purchasing a house on Fontenroy Street in Dublin 7 for use as parent’s accommodation.
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Amawele are delighted to announce that they have just launched their school twinning programme in the UK & Northern Ireland and also plan to expand their African schools in Uganda in the coming months, Mark FitzGerald explained “I am very happy to receive this award today, it is a testament to the hard work of everyone involved with Amawele, we are now embarking on a exciting expansion programme that will further the opportunities of learning for children across five nations”
“This is a very proud day for all the pupils and teachers involved in our twinning programme; they have all embraced the vision of mutual learning across our distant continents, their horizons have widened because of their participation with each other and I feel particularly proud to be here today to represent them all” said Mark FitzGerald
Two other awards were given to:
Leslie Buckley who scooped the Local Philanthropist of the Year Award for his philanthropic support of the children’s cultural centre The Ark
And U2 were given the National Philanthropist of the Year Award for their involvement with Music Generation, Ireland’s National Music Education Programme which aims to help children and young people access vocal and instrumental tuition in their own locality
The awards, now in their fourth year, were set up by The Community Foundation for Ireland to shine a light on the extraordinary generosity and leadership of philanthropists in the country. The above winners join other well known philanthropists such as JP Mc Manus, Niall Mellon, Declan Ryan and Chantal McCabe in being awarded the accolade of Philanthropist of the Year.
At today’s ceremony, Tina Roche, CEO of The Community Foundation for Ireland, said, “Philanthropy is now more important than ever. Our winners this year were all focused on enhancing young Irish people’s experience of Arts and Culture. Arts and culture can play a key role in reigniting people’s pride in our country and reaffirming a feeling of self worth and unique identity that is truly Irish. Philanthropy has grown in recent years and already The Community Foundation has had a number of new funds opened in 2011 alone. We hope these most recent recipients will serve to inspire and challenge others to think of philanthropy and how they can have lasting impact on Irish society and culture.”
This year’s philanthropists were nominated by their peers, by members of the communities in which they work and by the non-profit organisations that they support. The winners were decided by a high profile independent judging panel chaired by author Deirdre Purcell.
The Community Foundation for Ireland works with philanthropists to connect them to causes which may interest them. The Foundation now manages over 50 funds. This year alone, 14 new funds have been set up with The Community Foundation and the total amount on endowment with the foundation stands at €27 million. Grants totalling €2.2 million were issued on behalf of donors in 2010, a 63% increase on 2009.
