United Charities Group

United Charities Group

The United Charities Group was established in 2004 to consolidate the fund raising efforts of three University-based charity committees operating at that time, i.e. The Third World Appeal Committee, The IFUT Charitable Committee (GORTA Fund), and Medicus Mundi. The United Charities Group has extended and now aims to raise funds for third world beneficiaries/charities such as GORTA, GOAL, Bóthar, Zikomo Malawi, and Neri Clinics in Zambia. It has the advantage of having no administrative overheads, so every cent raised goes directly to charity. It distributes circa €10,000 annually.

Featured Charity: Zikomo

One of the charities benefitting from UCG is Zikomo, a small NGO with links to Unviersity staff. Zikomo (which is local Chechewa dialect for ‘thank you’) focuses on small scale food production and malaria prevention projects. It operates in local villages in Malawi in S.E. Africa where malaria is the number one cause of death in children under five. The UCG has also assisted the Children’s Chernobyl Project, which brings children from Chernobyl to Camp Claddagh in Galway for a holiday each summer. Some UCG committee members maintain a direct connection with the smaller charities so we can be sure that the money donated goes directly to the people who need it most. Contributors to the fund may recommend beneficiaries for an allocation from the fund.

Getting Involved

There are a couple of ways to get involved with the United Charities Group.

• Make a donation through a monthly payroll deduction. The amount can be as large or as small as you wish every contribution makes a difference. To sign up for a payroll deduction, use the online form available at: http://nuigalway.ie/financial_accounting/documents/payroll_deduction_authorisation.pdf and quote Reference Number 717.
• Nominate a charity to benefit from the fund next year, just inform one of the Group members listed below.
• Undertake a one-off fund raising initiative, such as a coffee morning or ‘Buy a book’ day and donate the money raised to the United Charities Group fund. Remember, every donation counts – no matter how small.

Finally: sincere thanks to every member of staff who contributed to the United Charities Group in recent years. Your contribution is making a real difference to the lives of people in the third world.

Find out more:

For more information on the United Charities Group contact one of the following Group members:
Mary O’Riordan, Dom Colbert, Mary Cawley, Donal Leech, Catherine Emerson, Gearóid Ó Broin, Francis O’ Gorman