Our Current Projects & Collaborations
Every year, we deliver a range of special programmes and projects that help the volunteers and employees of the nonprofit sector advance their causes in a practical way.
Distinct from our regular work and events, many of these projects involve us collaborating with the government, statutory agencies, philanthropic bodies, and other charities, to deliver public benefit objectives.
Additionally, our positioning within the sector as the largest representative and support body for charities, coupled with our annual calendar of workshops events both online and nationwide, means we have the reach, professionalism and delivery capacity to engage in partnerships with legitmacy and confidence.
Our current projects and collaborations are listed below.
Access Europe is a support and capacity-building programme for Irish civil society organisations to better access EU funds and engage in EU policy. It is funded by the Department of Foreign Affairs and delivered by The Wheel.
RISE (Engaged Research In the Social Economy) is an Erasmus+ funded project that will build the skills of social economy organisations (SEOs) to partner in projects with research institutes. This will enable more engaged research (ER), a practice that creates more socially impactful projects through collaboration between researchers and communities. SEOs can be the key to accessing communities and practitioner expertise and achieving real change, but they can lack the capacity necessary to navigate the research landscape. RISE will address this need.
The European Parliament Ambassador School Programme (EPAS) is a network of schools across the EU raising awareness of European parliamentary democracy and European citizenship values. This year, in collaboration with the European Parliament Liaison Office (EPLO), The Wheel is delivering the EPAS programme to 67 schools all around the country, specifically transition year students.
iCommunity is a collaborative all-island project. It supports community and voluntary sector organisations in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland to showcase, and develop all-island collaborative initiatives. Focused on 5 themes related to challenges and opportunities best addressed on an all-island basis, iCommunity is building networks that are working to implement this vision.
For the last 5-6 years, The Wheel has been hired by Cooperative Housing Ireland as a partner to provide a training programme to CHI members/tenants interested in being part of CHI’s board, to upskill them in governance and board skills. The CHI board training is an 4-weeks online training programme.
SVI is an ongoing partnership between Whitebarn Consulting, Quality Matters and The Wheel. SVI runs under the umbrella of Social Value International. SVI offers 3 peer mentoring sessions and 2-3 themed sessions open to all network members. SVI membership is free and the network is open to anyone with an interest in social value.
The Transformative Leadership programme is aimed at individuals in senior management and at those who aspire to work in leadership roles in non-profit organisations. It is presented in collaboration with Community Action Network, and leads to a Level 8 professional certificate in Community Education & Equality Studies from Maynooth University.
Skills Matter is our quarterly newsletter focused on upskilling and training opportunities for the nonprofit community.
A partnership between The Wheel and Grow Remote on a blended learning programme designed to teach managers how to lead remote teams effectively.
Shared Services is a collaboration between The National Youth Council of Ireland, Bradán Accountants and The Wheel. It is directed at small youth work organisations with 1 or 2 staff relying on a voluntary board. The Wheel’s role is to provide these organisations with resources and workshops to support governance, compliance and management in their organisation.
Training Links funds community and voluntary organisations to form Training Networks - groups of organisations who come together to undertake training that they may not have the opportunity to do individually. The Networks design and deliver upskilling programmes to meet their own identified training needs.
The goal of Meet and Code is to introduce children and young people between the ages of 8 and 24 to technology and coding. Different social groups, such as schools, IT professionals, companies or computer clubs may apply for funding to plan and implement events for children and youth.
CCAP is a new pilot programme aimed at building capacity and know-how within communities to further engage in climate action. The programme is being delivered by The Wheel and The Ludgate Hub and is funded through Pobal.
The Leadership Academy is a project to support the sector in developing their leadership potential through accessing resources, attending events and connecting on projects.
A collaboration between The Wheel and SOLAS to highlight the value of the upskilling programmes run by SOLAS and the Education & Training Boards across the country.
Working Together for a “Just Transition” in the Wider Midlands Region EMERGE is a new training and mentoring programme designed to empower communities in the wider Midlands region to meet the challenges posed by Ireland’s transition to a climate-proofed economy and resilient society. The programme is being delivered by Eastern and Midlands CARO, Urban Foresight and The Wheel
Over the next 4 years, The Wheel will be working with social economy partners across 10 countries on this European Commission project focused on the social economy skills agenda. Aiming at establishing an alliance for Sectoral Cooperation on Skills for the Social Economy, baSE will focus on the upskilling and reskilling of social economy workers.
Since 2007, The Wheel has been actively engaged with the creation and promotion of the National Pay & Benefits guide for Ireland’s community, voluntary & charitable sector, with the support of Community Foundation Ireland, the most recent guide being published in November 2022. With each Pay & Benefits survey, there is an associated Gender Pay Gap [GPG] report produced. This GPG report provides the Community, Voluntary and Charitable sector with guidance and information as to the drawing up of a gender pay gap.
We Act is a campaign to celebrate the impact of Ireland's charities and community groups.
It elevates the positive stories and acknowledge the remarkable, everyday efforts of thousands of people around the country.
The Wheel partners annually with organisations from across the sector including Boardmatch Ireland, Carmichael, Charities Institute Ireland, Dóchas, Pobal, and Volunteer Ireland, together with the Charities Regulator to celebrate the contribution of volunteer trustees who are responsible for overseeing the operations of Ireland’s 11,500 registered charities.
A new project led, by NICVA, to provide a custom succession development programme for Peace Builders in Northern Ireland and the Border Counties.
The objective of this project is to give the community and voluntary sector the literacy knowledge, skills and confidence necessary for meaningful engagement with the ALL strategy and in turn ensure its effective delivery to the more marginalised in society. This will be done through training for staff and volunteers in the sector, and sector-specific research.
The Shifting Tides Project connects coastal communities and marine environments on the twin shores of beautiful Carlingford Lough through collaborative creative arts and practical ecology, working across the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland
Supporting Professionals and Academics for Community Engagement in Higher Education - SPACE is an Erasmus+ funded project that seeks to build the capacities of academics, professional staff and community partners to strengthen community engagement in higher education in Europe.
The IREPO (Irish Energy Poverty Observatory) project aims to go beyond the conventional factors that define energy poverty by developing a federated database that consolidates all relevant factors impacting energy poverty. This integrated database will overcome data limitations by integrating various data sources in near-real time, including surveys, interviews, historical databases, census data, and more.