By Joy Booth, Development Manager,
Changing Lives DLR
Impact is one of those words we use constantly in philanthropy. We talk about creating it, measuring it, demonstrating it and, of course, sustaining it. Since joining Changing Lives DLR just over a year ago, I have found myself thinking a lot about what impact actually looks like in practice — particularly within a place-based model of philanthropy.
What I have learned over the past year is that the real value of this model goes far beyond the money raised.
Changing Lives DLR was established around a simple but ambitious vision: to make Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown the best place in Ireland to grow up and grow old. We bring together local donors, community organisations and other partners to identify needs, strengthen effective responses and direct philanthropic investment where it can make a meaningful difference. Dún LaoghaireRathdown is often perceived as an affluent county, and it is, but that broad perception can mask significant inequalities between communities and sometimes within communities themselves.
Needs around early childhood development, educational disadvantage, social isolation and ageing do not disappear simply because overall indicators for an area look positive on paper. Responding effectively means listening to the people who know those communities best. Rather than developing services ourselves, we seek to identify good work and strong local leaders and amplify what they are already doing — adding value rather than duplicating or competing. We work closely with community and statutory partners and in the context of local strategies and priorities, connecting knowledge and experience on the ground with philanthropic resources. Our Board brings together passionate people with life-long expertise, spanning social work, social policy and social justice; community development, fundraising and philanthropy; education; business, finance and governance.
It is that combination — local knowledge, professional expertise, trusted relationships and philanthropic investment — that makes meaningful impact possible. Our current projects focus particularly on children and young people in some of the county’s most disadvantaged communities and older people at risk of isolation or premature loss of independence— rreflecting our vision to make Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown the best place to grow up and grow old. Through Southside Partnership DLR, we support PEEP+ (Parents as Early Education Partners) groups, helping parents build confidence, strengthen relationships and support their children’s learning and development. We also support Homework and Afterschool provision, where children, including those with additional educational needs and families facing complex challenges, can access specialised support within their own communities. At the other end of the life course, Ageing Well in Place is a pioneering pathfinder project delivered through an interagency partnership with Dublin Central Mission, Dún Laoghaire Rathdown County Council and the HSE. It is exploring how older people can be supported holistically to remain connected, independent and cared for within the communities they call home.
Over the past four years, Changing Lives DLR has secured almost €800,000 in philanthropic pledges and grants, with an ambition to exceed €1 million by the end of 2026.
These programmes generate numbers, outputs and reports, and those are important. But some of the moments that stay with me are much smaller. A new parent growing in confidence and strengthening the bond with their baby. A child getting the support they need to stay engaged in school and beginning to dream about what they might one day study at university. An older person feeling less isolated, more valued by their community and able to remain independent for longer. I am immensely proud of that progress, but the amount raised is only one measure of success. The more interesting question is: what does that money make possible? Sometimes it enables a successful programme to reach another community. Sometimes it gives an organisation greater certainty to plan ahead.
Sometimes philanthropic funding provides the flexibility to test an approach, demonstrate its value, learn and adapt. And sometimes our contribution is not primarily financial. It is bringing people together, identifying a shared priority or creating a bridge between the philanthropic, community, statutory and business sectors. If there is one lesson I would take from my first year with Changing Lives DLR, it is that impact is relational.
No single funder, organisation or sector can address complex social challenges alone. Trust has to be built. Partners need space to be honest about what is and is not working, and funders need to understand that meaningful change rarely follows a perfectly straight line. Our progress has depended on relationships with our strategic partners, donors, trusts and foundations, members of the community, local government and businesses. Each brings something different – funding, expertise, local knowledge, networks, credibility or capacity. When those resources are connected around a shared understanding of place, something much more powerful becomes possible.
This year, we are producing Changing Lives DLR’s first Impact Report, and it has made me think differently about what we should be capturing. Of course, the figures matter. But money spent, programmes delivered, and people reached only tell us so much. The question I keep coming back to is much simpler: how are people’s lives better because this work happened? And then, what can we learn from that? If something is making a real difference, how can we strengthen it, extend it or bring it to another community? Perhaps what has struck me most over the past year is that place-based philanthropy is, at its heart, peoplecentred. I see every day the genuine love that people working in community organisations have for the places and people they serve. Many have lived or worked in those communities for years. They know the families, the challenges and, just as importantly, the strengths that exist there. I am constantly amazed by the commitment, creativity and the sheer determination of our project partners. I am equally struck by the generosity of our donors and funders – and not only their financial generosity. Their trust and flexibility create space for our partners to try things, to learn, to adapt and sometimes to be brave.
That for me is where the real power and potential of placebased philanthropy lies: bringing together people who care deeply about a place, people with the skills and the relationships to make real impact happen, and people willing to back them.
Not everything worthwhile can be predicted neatly at the beginning of a funding cycle, and some of the best ideas grow because people are given the room to respond to what they are seeing on the ground.