Memorandum Of Understanding Signed by Five of Ireland’s Age Sector NGO’s

Arising out of a Collaboration Initiative begun last May, on October 2, 2009, the Chairs and CEOs of five of Ireland’s age sector NGOs came together at the offices of The Atlantic Philanthropies in Dublin to sign a Memorandum of Understanding. The five organizations are Active Retirement Ireland, Age and Opportunity, The Carers Association, Irish Senior Citizens’ Parliament and Senior Helpline. They have committed themselves to working together initially on shared premises, collective purchasing and hiring of expertise and a funding initiative.

The anticipated outcomes by 2012 are greater cohesion among the five participating organizations, with regular communication and cooperation with other NGOs becoming a core part of each organization’s “way of working”; shared premises in a number of towns around Ireland with increased visibility of the NGO ageing sector across the country; more professional and formalized organizational supports across all the participating NGOs; and demonstrated cost savings across a range of goods and services. A formal review of implementation will be carried out and the scope for broadening and deepening the Collaboration Initiative will be explored.