Maeve Monaghan – Community Foundation for Northern Ireland Chair’s Farewell

Maeve Monaghan has been at the helm of the NOW group for over 21 years, transforming it into a thriving social enterprise based in Belfast supporting hundreds of people with learning difficulties and autism into jobs with a future. Even if you’re not familiar with the work of NOW group, you’ve no doubt encountered some of its beautiful Loaf pottery mugs on the myriad of Zoom calls we’ve come to regard as normal life since 2022!

Wednesday 26 January 2022

Maeve Monaghan has been at the helm of the NOW group for over 21 years, transforming it into a thriving social enterprise based in Belfast supporting hundreds of people with learning difficulties and autism into jobs with a future. Even if you’re not familiar with the work of NOW group, you’ve no doubt encountered some of its beautiful Loaf pottery mugs on the myriad of Zoom calls we’ve come to regard as normal life since 2022!

Yet even with such a demanding remit, throughout her career Maeve has dedicated enormous amounts of time and energy to supporting other organisations in the voluntary sector. One such organisation is the Community Foundation for Northern Ireland, which in 2019 celebrated 40 years of ‘connecting people who care with causes that matter’. As a Board member and most recently as Chair, Maeve was instrumental in leading and supporting the Foundation through a time of unprecedented challenge and change.

As she stepped down this month, Maeve reflected on her time with the Foundation.

“The Community Foundation has been on a journey and it has been a pleasure to be along for the ride. When I took up post six years ago, I saw an opportunity for me to develop an ambitious strategy, build the Foundation’s brand and make it the ‘go-to’ organisation for philanthropy whilst ensuring we never wavered from facing the edgier work and continued to support people on the edges.

“The Foundation is such a well-respected organisation and I have felt like a custodian as well as a Chair but the common spine running through everything I have been involved in with the Foundation, has been good people with amazing knowledge, and a heart for the hard work that’s needed to make sure the money in our society touched the sides.”

Each year the Foundation awards around £54 million in funding to hundreds of charities and community groups throughout Northern Ireland. Over the last two years, this has increased significantly, with other funders choosing to partner with the Foundation to address the issues that were precipitated by the pandemic. With such a volume, it could be easy to lose sight of the incredible individual stories and impact achieved through this support, but Maeve said:

“My parting sense will be of the small volunteer-led organisations in villages I had never heard of before, who told me that they felt heard and appreciated by the Foundation and its wonderful staff team. As someone who comes from one of those towns it has been great to be involved in an organisation who works tirelessly to make sure their funds are dispersed across Northern Ireland and get to the people who need them with as little fuss as possible.”

For further information on the Community Foundation visit www.communityfoundationni.org or to learn more about the NOW group, visit https://www.nowgroup.org/

“As I step down as Chair I have the utmost confidence that I do so with an amazing new CEO, Roisin Wood and a new Chair, Adrian Johnston who are the very best people to lead the Foundation into the next stage of its growth. We have managed this succession process with care and attention and these two individuals will be a formidable team. We see big challenges ahead and emerging pressures on resources but the Foundation has positioned itself well to be able to support the sector and our communities to develop the tools and resources they need to be their own change agents.

I worry about the level of need and any funder's ability to meet the need and this has been seen most recently with the Mental Health Support Fund being heavily oversubscribed. That’s a strong indicator of the need for extra resources and funding to support those who need it most. But I will rest assured that the Foundation has the right people in the right seats and they are clear on their direction of travel and the areas that are most in need.

“What I will miss most about the Foundation is the people and that feeling of leading an organisation with such integrity and care for people often forgotten in our communities. I am leaving it in safe hands and will always remain a friend and supporter of the Foundation, and I would encourage everyone to do the same.”

Wednesday 26 January 2022