Almost €1m in new loans for community groups across Offaly

A TOTAL of €933.000 in new loans to community groups in Offaly has been reported by the  Social Finance Foundation, a non-profit body that provides loan finance to community organisations around Ireland.
When added to pre-existing loans, the total value of  Social Finance Foundation  loans to community organisations in County Offaly is now €1,357,000.
This compares to counties such as Galway (€2,481,000 /€5,436,000), Kildare (€1,917,000/ €2,273,000), Laois (€748,000/ 1,015,000), Meath (€536,000/ €1,381,000), Roscommon (€127,000/ €442,000), Tipperary (€1,549,000/ €2,587,000) and Westmeath (€1,069,000/ €2,165,000).
The new loans went to the Community & Voluntary, Social Enterprises and Sports sectors and included community organisations such as Moneygall Community Hall, Birr Golf Club and Ballinamere GAA.
Social Finance Foundation  was established in 2007 by the Government of Ireland to address the needs of community organisations and social enterprises for loan funding where it is difficult to obtain from mainstream financial institutions. Acting as a ‘wholesaler’, it provides funding to its lending partners –  Clann Credo  and  Community Finance Ireland. Its motto is – ‘Finance for Social Good’.
Social Finance Foundation  is advising community groups in County Offaly that they can apply for funding of up to €500,000 through the Foundation’s partners – Clann Credo and Community Finance Ireland. Applications are processed within a few weeks with personal interaction a key feature of the lending process. This results in a high approval rate for loan applications.
A key feature of loans provided by the Social Finance Foundation is the provision of bridging loans.  Community groups are often in receipt of grants which are only paid when the work is completed and hence the importance to have bridging finance for the development which is then repaid when the grant is received. Approximately one third of its loan book is comprised of bridging loans.
Commenting on the trends in the sector,  Brendan Whelan (Chief Executive Officer of Social Finance Foundation)  said: “Our loan funding is available to nine different sectors namely Community & Voluntary, Sports, Social Enterprises, Healthcare, Social Care Housing, Childcare, Education and Arts, Heritage & Tourism and Climate/Environment.”
He added: “We are seeing a notable increase in applications from the environmental and bio-diversity sector which we are keen to grow as a percentage of our lending. Similarly, we also want to foster more social enterprises in communities.”