Rethink Ireland ‘has raised €72m and created 500 jobs in five years’

Rethink Ireland has raised €72 million since 2016, helping almost 1,000 people to overcome barriers to gain employment and creating over 500 jobs, according to its five-year impact report.

Rethink Ireland, formerly known as Social Innovation Fund Ireland, is a non-profit organisation that provides cash grants and business supports to charities and social enterprises.

In the report, which highlights the group's investments as well as its manifesto for the future, chairman Dalton Philips, who is also the chief executive of DAA, said there had been "impressive growth" over the five-year period.

“We’ve grown from a start-up with a €1.2 million turnover in 2016 to a high-growth organisation with a €19.7 million turnover at the end of 2020,” he said.

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“Among our achievements are setting up a €72 million fund, supporting 246 social innovations, reaching over 400,000 people, creating over 500 jobs in the social innovation sector and supporting almost 1,000 people into employment.”

However, Mr Philips said the numbers were only a part of the story, with the group’s social impact seen as a key measure.

“Rethink Ireland is a venture philanthropy fund. This means that we exercise the same discipline and rigour you would expect of venture capital funds, searching for the most remarkable innovations to invest in.

“But the difference is we measure a project’s success by the social impact it generates. We are calling on philanthropists, companies, individuals and families who are interested in making smart philanthropic investments and achieving long-lasting results to get in touch.”

Rethink Ireland also unveiled how the impact of its three-year €7.5 million education fund had been evaluated by the UNESCO Child and Family Research Centre at NUI Galway.

The evaluators used a “social return on investment framework” to measure social value. It found seven awardees delivered a return on investment ratio of 1:12 meaning that for every euro invested in these projects, a social return on investment of €12 was achieved.