Our People
Staff
Ed Hurrell, Business Development Manager
Ed was appointed as Business Development Manager at Fundraising Ireland in March, 2010. Ed was initially tasked with developing and implementing a membership offering for the organisation; overseeing the full rebranding of Fundraising Ireland including the development of a new website and delivering Fundraising Ireland’s first mentoring programme.
Having delivered on these tasks, Ed is now charged with the day-to-day running of the organisation; ensuring that membership of Fundraising Ireland grows and helping to refine and execute the Board’s ambitious vision for future development.
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Board of Directors
Mark Carrigan – Managing Director, Carrigan Fundraising and Management Consulting
With almost 10 years experience as a fundraising consultant Mark has worked across four continents and supported over 70 organisations with their management, strategy and fundraising needs. Often acting as Director of Development he has helped multinational and local organisations of all sizes, in the fields of education, medicine, culture, environment and development, with combined goals exceeding €400 million. He is a member of several associations, regularly speaks at industry events and has also written for a number of trade journals.
“I believe the ‘third sector’ has the capacity to contribute more effectively to the development of a capable and sustainable society, and Fundraising Ireland is playing a vital role in realising this potential.”
Niall Devine –Managing Director, Mycharity.ie
Niall is the Managing Director of Mycharity.ie. Niall would like to bring his knowledge of the sector and his problem solving expertise to help charities through Fundraising Ireland.
Niall has fundraised for the National Council for the Blind by participating in many of their fundraising events and therefore has an excellent understanding of the fundraising experience from a charity supporter’s perspective.
Niall says: “I am delighted to have been elected to the board of Fundraising Ireland. I am very much looking forward to working with all the soon to be members of Fundraising Ireland to bring about a healthy, knowledgeable and dynamic fundraising ability to the charity / not for profit sector in Ireland”.
Ambrose Duffy - Head of Donor Marketing, Concern Worldwide
Ambrose is Head of Donor Marketing in Concern Worldwide, a position he has held since 2004. He has ten years fundraising experience in large and small charities throughout both the Republic and Northern Ireland. His background has primarily been in direct marketing with Concern and previously in community fundraising with the Simon Community Northern Ireland.
Ambrose says: "I am looking forward to joining the Board of Fundraising Ireland to discuss best practice and share new ideas."
Harvey Duthie - Senior Director, CCS Fundraising
Harvey has almost 10 years fundraising experience, more than half of which has been with CCS and their clients. His projects have included capital campaigns for the Archdiocese of Armagh and the Diocese of Down and Connor in Northern Ireland, the Archdiocese of Glasgow, Scotland and Castleknock College in Dublin. More recently he has led a resource mobilisation initiative for a global Fund preserving global crop diversity which is part of the United Nations based in Rome. These campaign targets total more than €150 million and all have significantly surpassed goal expectations. He is currently working on a major campaign in Westminster. Harvey has also worked extensively in the areas of fundraising strategy development, audit and team recruitment. Clients have been from the religious, international development, civic society, homeless, healthcare, sport and child welfare sectors and include the National Council for the Blind (NCBI), Simon Communities of Ireland, National Rehabilitation Hospital, Saint Vincent DePaul, Irish Sailing Association, Irish Red Cross, Niall Mellon Township Trust, CARI and the ISPCC among others.
Harvey has a B.A. Finance from the National University of Ireland, Maynooth and a Certificate in Fundraising Management from the Institute of Fundraising, UK and has been involved with Fundraising Ireland since its inception.
Rhona O’Connor, National Fundraising Manager, Age Action Ireland
Rhona is National Fundraising Manager at Age Action Ireland, where she is developing a program of short, medium and long-term fundraising strategies. She is also implementing a Client Record System for Age Action.
Rhona previously worked as Corporate Citizenship Program Manager at Bank of Scotland, Ireland, from 2006 - October 2010. Within this role she was responsible for developing a broad Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) brief within the Bank, which included: managing a “Corporate Charity of the Year” partnership program; developing an active volunteer culture and an active-citizenship ethos amongst bank staff. Rhona is also an active board member of “The Blue Box”, (a Limerick based children’s charity).
Rhona says: “I am delighted and honoured to be elected to this board and look forward to helping Charities develop and grow with the assistance of Fundraising Ireland.”
Tim O’Dea – Director of Development, Barretstown
Tim is Director of Development for Barretstown, the children’s charity based in Co Kildare, which is the second time he has worked with Barretstown having been Corporate Fundraising Manager between 2003 and 2007. In the interim, Tim was Head of Fundraising for the Irish Hospice Foundation. Managing a team of seven, Tim is responsible for all aspects of fundraising for Barretstown including direct mail, corporate and community fundraising as well as a significant major gifts programme. Prior to this role Tim was a fundraising consultant with CCS Fundraising working on capital campaigns in Northern Ireland and the Republic.
In addition to his role with Barretstown Tim is on the Implementation Body for the Fundraising Codes of Good Practice, and has been nominated to the forthcoming Charity Monitoring Board.
Mary O'Kennedy – Director and Founder, O'Kennedy Consulting (OKC)
Mary is the founding Director of Fundraising Ireland and is a regular speaker at events and seminars relating to the development of fundraising in Ireland. She is also the current Chair of EU Consult, the European Association of Consultants to and about the Not-For-Profit Sector.
Mary is the principal consultant at O’ Kennedy Consulting (OKC), which was founded in 2002 to address the need for strategic fundraising advice and guidance in the not-for-profit sector. OKC now has staff based in both Ireland and the UK and advises clients internationally.
Mary and her team work across the not-for-profit sector advising organisations on fundraising strategy, campaign planning and tailored fundraising techniques. OKC also advises companies and individual donors on how to maximise the impact of their charitable giving programmes. Mary previously worked as a fundraiser in Trocaire, one of Ireland’s largest overseas development agencies, and subsequently at Dublin City University’s Educational Trust.
Micheál Sheridan - CEO, Mercy University Hospital Foundation
Micheál is currently CEO of The Mercy University Hospital Foundation, an organisation that was established in 2007 that raises funds for patient centred and capital projects at the Cork Hospital.
Prior to taking up his role in Cork he was Director of Fundraising at the ISPCC & Childline.
In 2009 he was awarded the title of Fundraising Ireland Professional Fundraiser of the Year (Large Organisation).
He is currently Vice Chairman of Legacy Promotion Ireland, a consortium of over 60 charities aiming to create social change which will make leaving charitable bequests a normal aspect of will making and recognised and respected as a way of giving to charity.
Micheál says: I have always been a supporter of the work Fundraising Ireland do for the sector and I am thrilled to join the Board of Directors. I am particularly looking forward to playing an active role in developing the regional branches and supporting the mentoring programme.
Aidan Stacey (Chair) – Head of Fundraising, Irish Heart Foundation
Husband, Father of three, Dog Owner (Stripe), and major TED.Com fan! Aidan is responsible for a team of 12 and a budget of €6 million. Prior to this role he was Head of Fundraising & Communications with Dublin Simon Community. There he led a team of 7 with responsibility for income of €5 million.
"I'm excited at the opportunity to help continue to build the profession of fundraising in Ireland. I'm a Marketer by experience and education and part of my job within Fundraising Ireland will be to help educate not for profits to tell their unique "stories". I'm passionate about collaboration and efficiency within the industry and will work to develop best practice in fundraising."
Rachel Stevenson – Head of Fundraising, Cork Simon Community
I have been a Fundraiser since 1998, first in London and since 2001 in Cork. I am delighted to have been elected as a Board member of Fundraising Ireland. This is a pivotal time in the organisation’s and the sector’s development and I feel that the coming years represent an opportunity to take Irish Fundraising to a new level of professionalism, best practice and creativity.
I am currently the Head of Fundraising for Cork Simon Community where I am a member of the Senior Management Team and lead a team of 5 staff and several hundred volunteers to raise €2million per annum from the Cork and Kerry region. I am also involved with fundraising on a national basis through Simon’s national activities.
I gained my accreditation with the Institute of Fundraising in the UK last year and think it’s really important that we develop a professional qualification for Irish Fundraisers. I also feel very strongly that as a Board we address the particular challenges faced by organisations based outside of Dublin in terms of accessing training, networking opportunities etc.
