US gala dinners increase fund

Charging attendees $100,000 for a table at its gala dinners helped one of Ireland’s best known charities increase its revenues from fundraising by 34% last year to $15.1m (€11.3m).

The US-based American Ireland Fund has raised $480m for Irish causes since 1976 and its 2013 annual accounts show that its spend under ‘grant awards’ to various recipients last year increased by 46% from $13.71m to $20m.

The fund’s gross revenues last year topped $27m — its second best outcome on record.

Last year the fund supported 365 causes across the island of Ireland.

A major contributor to revenues are two annual dinners in New York and Boston — where last year, it cost $100,000 to purchase a table for 12 people, or $1,000 a ticket to attend.

The fund yesterday confirmed that the amount raised from the two dinners totalled $4.5m.

At the 2013 New York dinner, three-time Oscar winner, Daniel Day-Lewis made an impassioned plea to the 1,100 present for funding for the Wicklow Hospice Foundation which is supported by the AIF.

The annual accounts show that the revenues from all AIF fundraising events totalled $10.19m with fundraising expenses amounting to $3.1m.

According to the president and CEO of the Worldwide Ireland Funds, Kieran McLoughlin the rise in revenue for the AIF last year “is a result of the response of our donors to the extension of our Promising Ireland Campaign.

“Driven by our donors’ generosity, the Board of Directors agreed to double the goal of the campaign to $200m and extend it by two years to the end of 2015. Meeting this new goal requires us to double our average weekly income from $250,000 to $500,000 a week. In response to these new targets, we enhanced our asking programme and donors have responded with greater generosity.”

Explaining the factors behind the increase in income in 2013, Mr McLoughlin said: “In response to the Promising Ireland Campaign, our asking increased and more donors gave at all levels. In 2013, we experienced a 9% increase in the number of donors from 2012.”

He added that 2014 revenues are, so far, on a par with this time last year. The Ireland Fund was established by former ambassador to Ireland, Dan Rooney and businessman, Sir Anthony O’Reilly in 1976.