Irish Life in the Community
We actively embrace the responsibility and opportunity to positively impact the future for all. Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is at the heart of Irish Life and means supporting our employees and the communities where we live and work, putting resources in place to support others through volunteering and giving back to charity.
We Believe in Support
P-TECH is one of our flagship CSR initiatives, it was introduced in Ireland in 2018 and includes five post primary schools in the north-east inner city.
The Irish Life Staff Charities programme is close to our employees’ hearts and is central to our corporate social responsibility activities. Started in 1995, Irish Life Staff Charities have since raised a total of €5 million for chosen charities.
Our Community Partnerships
Irish Life GAA Healthy Clubs
In 2023 we celebrated the 10th Anniversary of the Irish Life GAA Healthy Club Programme. The programme delivers health and wellbeing benefits worth €50M to Ireland, according to an independent Social Return on Investment (SROI) evaluation conducted by Just Economics. The partnership supports healthy communities across the country and in 2024, over 40,000 people from 970 GAA clubs nationwide tracked over 6.6 million kilometres through MyLife.
Larkin Community College & P-TECH
We are now into our fifth year of partnering with P-TECH and Larkin Community College. PTECH is a global education programme that complements a student's normal secondary education and enables them to gain a third-level qualification. Transition-year students from Larkin College complete work experience for five weeks in Irish Life and fifth-year students receive mentoring from Irish Life mentors. In 2021, Larkin Community College was one of the Irish Life Staff Charities and €207,000 was fundraised by employees.
Scoil Chaoimhín, Time to Read
We are over 10 years into our partnership with Business in the Community on the Time to Read Programme with local primary school, Scoil Chaoimhín. The Time to Read programme provides children in second class with reading support from an Irish Life volunteer. Time to Read plays an important role in helping Ireland improve its literacy levels and Irish Life is proud to be involved.
Business to Arts
Irish Life is proud to be a founding member of Business to Arts. Business to Arts is a charity that develops strategic creative partnerships between the corporate and cultural sectors. Having worked together for nearly thirty years, Irish Life brings its expertise to the wider artistic community, and works with Business to Arts to broaden its impact on the cultural sector.
Irish Life Staff Charities
Every year Irish Life employees raise funds for two chosen charities. Started in 1995, Staff Charities and our employees have raised a total of €5 million. As well as annual fundraising events and taking part in MyLife challenges, 1,000 Irish Life employees donate via salary deduction every month.
This year's Irish Life charity partners are the Down Syndrome Centre North-East and the Irish Motor Neurone Disease Association (IMNDA).
The total donated to our 2023 charity partners, ChildVision and the Gavin Glynn Foundation was €550,000. This was €275,000 raised by Irish Life employees and €275,000 employee donation matching by Irish Life.
In 2022, the total donated to our two charity partners - Alzheimer’s Society of Ireland and Women’s Aid was €512,000.
In 2021, the total donated was €414,000 between two charities:
- Larkin Community College, a school located close to our Abbey Street office in Dublin
- ALONE, a national organisation that enables older people to age at home as well as providing befriending services, advocacy and support
2024 Irish life Staff Charities
The Down Syndrome Centre North East
The Down Syndrome Centre North East (DSCNE) provides family-centred support services to meet the individual needs of over 100 children and young people with Down Syndrome, their families plus the professional community in the North East of Ireland through dedicated clinical therapies, family support services, education, information, and advice.
DSCNE raise awareness of Down Syndrome and promote acceptance, inclusion and an appreciation of diversity within the wider community.
The Irish Motor Neurone Disease Association
The Irish Motor Neurone Disease Association (IMNDA) was set up in 1985 to provide care and support to people with Motor Neurone Disease (MND), their caregivers and families. It is the only organisation of its kind in Ireland. There are currently over 450 people living with MND in Ireland.
One person is diagnosed every 2 days with MND in our country and it is often referred to as the 1,000-day disease as most people die within 1,000 days of being diagnosed. It can affect anyone at any age.
MyLife Challenges
Irish Life delivers nationwide steps challenge initiatives through our 'MyLife' app. The challenges are hugely successful in recognising and rewarding the importance of physical activity and community wellbeing.
- Over 150,000 people have participated in MyLife Challenges
- 40,000 participants from 970 GAA clubs nationwide tracked 6.6 million kilometres in the 2024 Every Step Counts Challenge
- In 2023 and 2022, we supported the Irish Life Dublin Marathon Race Series events and the Alzheimer’s Memory Walk in 2022 on the MyLife app
- €10,000 was donated between LGBT Ireland, GCN, BeLong To, Shoutout following the successful Step it to Stonewall MyLife Challenges in 2021, 2022 and 2023
- €10,000 was donated to the Samaritans Ireland after the GAA My Mind Matters Challenge in 2021
Irish Life in the Community
Giving Back
- Together with employees, Irish Life donated over €16,000 to local charities the Capuchin Day Centre, St Vincent De Paul and the Salvation Army in 2021, 2022 and the Samaritans in 2023
- Donated €15,000 to the St Vincent De Paul
- Continue to support long standing educational partnerships in the community with Scoil Chaoimhín and the P-Tech programme in Larkin Community College
- Made donations to charities and clubs that Irish Life employees are involved with in their local communities through our Special Donations Fund and Club Draw initiative
Social Impact during Covid 19
- Irish Life donated €500,000 to Family Carers Ireland and the Peter McVerry Trust to help provide additional services to people who need it most during the Covid 19 crisis
- ILIM supported with the provision of additional residential accommodation for frontline health staff
- In 2021, Irish Life sponsored 2,500 vaccines on behalf of Irish Life employees in the UNICEF Get a Vaccine, Give a Vaccine support programme
- In 2020, Irish Life donated €370,800 to our chosen charities - Barretstown and Laura Lynn