By Sean Ryan - 30 July, 2016
President Michael D Higgins will be the special guest at the 20th anniversary celebrations of one of the biggest providers of social finance in Europe next September.
Clann Credo is a Social Investment Fund in Ireland founded by Co Waterford born nun Sr Magdalen Fogarty and the Presentation Sisters in 1996.
Its goal is to make capital available to community-focused enterprises to promote their growth.
The fund is a not-for-profit organization with charitable status.
On Thursday 15 September Clann Credo will celebrate 20 years as Ireland’s leading provider of community loan finance.
Since 1996, Clann Credo have supported more than 800 projects and provided over €82 million of social finance.
According to Ceo Paul O’Sullivan, “The 20th anniversary conference will be addressed by the President of Ireland Michael D Higgins.”
“Katie Hannon, RTE’s Prime Time political correspondent, will act as moderator. Other speakers include, Senator Marie Louise O’Donnell who will speak on Communities Define a Nation’s Strength, Cathy Moore will speak on The Path to Clann Credo, the story of founder Sr Magdalen Fogarty and three community projects will showcase how they achieved big community impact.”
Delegates will also be given a free guided tour of Richmond Barracks, which was redeveloped by Dublin City Council in collaboration with the local community as part of the Ireland 2016 Centenary Programme.
The work of Clann Credo has also received international recognition in recent years.
In 2010, Clann Credo was commended by the United Nations in New York when its founder Portlaw-born Sr Magdalen addressed the global body’s Civil Society Forum.
Speaking about the award at the time Sr Fogarty said, “The Congregation got a letter from the UN about a social integration survey last summer and was asked to include Credo, so I decided I’d better.”
“So I sent it off and I’d no idea what was going to happen, or if anything would happen for that matter. Then, one afternoon, I got an email from the UN saying that they’d had 190 responses to the survey from 62 countries and they were happy to tell me that mine was one of the 14 projects selected by the UN to present its work.”
The 20th anniversary conference entitled ‘Financing Community Ambition’ takes place on from 9am to 2pm on 15 September in the Historic Richmond Barracks, Inchicore in Dublin 8.
