Governance
The Mount Street Club Trust is an Incorporated Trust registered in Ireland (RCN 2004361).
Information about the Trust can be found on the Charities Regulator’s Register of Charities.
Governing document
The Mount Street Club Trust Scheme of Incorporation can be viewed here.
Audited accounts
The Trust’s most recent audited accounts can be viewed using these links:
Trustees
The Trust is governed by a board of voluntary Trustees.
The current Trustees are: Margaret Barry (Chairperson), Dr Katherine P. Meyer (Secretary), Micheál Ó Conghaile (Treasurer), Dr Charles Delap, Prof Robert Galavan, Alison Sleeth, Pavithra Ramesh.
Trustee term limits and succession planning
The Trustees have considered the Charities Regulator’s guidance on introducing term limits of nine years maximum for Trustees. However, they have decided that it is not in the best interests of the Trust to introduce strict term limits at present.
The thinking of the Trustees is as follows: Since its foundation in 1934, the Mount Street Club Trust has benefited from an ongoing connection, where possible, with the founding families of the MSC. In particular, this has enabled the Trust to keep in constant touch with the original desire of the founders to make a difference to the lives of disadvantaged communities in Dublin and to re-imagine its own work as needed in a changing Ireland.
Now, almost 90 years later, it is even more important to maintain an additional kind of continuity, that of remaining abreast of trends and new thinking in the areas of 1) trust-based philanthropy and 2) collaborative approaches to addressing systemic marginalisation. The contributions of certain Trustees who have served longer than nine years have been instrumental in moving the Trust forward in this regard with imagination and dexterity.
At the same time and for the same reasons, the Trust is committed to a triennial review of its membership. At least every three years, each trustee will be asked to state for the record their willingness to continue to serve; or their wish to step down - with reasonable notice, if possible; or to highlight any changes to their current interests or other commitments that might be relevant to forward planning.
Annual Report on Activities 2025
Description of Activities submitted as part of our Annual Report to the Charities Regulator:
In 2025, Hope & Ambition remained at the heart of the Mount Street Club Trust’s work, bringing together funding, development support and shared learning with organisations working to address social exclusion and marginalisation across the greater Dublin area.
During the year, the Trust agreed three strategic priorities which reflected what has been learned through Hope & Ambition and a growing ambition to contribute to the development of trust-based philanthropy in Ireland. This included the development and production of Trust in Action, a film exploring the practice of trust-based philanthropy through the experience of Hope & Ambition. The priorities also recognise the importance of continuing to develop the Trust’s own governance and ways of working in keeping with its values and responsibilities.
The following update reflects the Trust’s work during 2025 through these three strategic priorities, which now provide the framework for how the Trust plans, develops and reviews its work.
Amplifying the Potential of Hope & Ambition
Phase Two of Hope & Ambition continued throughout 2025, building on the relationships and learning developed since the initiative began in 2019. Hope & Ambition is the Trust’s funding and development initiative that supports community partner organisations working with communities experiencing disadvantage, social exclusion and marginalisation across the greater Dublin area. The initiative is grounded in trust-based philanthropy, an approach to funding that is based on trust, collaboration and partnership. It combines unrestricted funding, development support and shared learning, recognising the expertise of community partners and creating space for reflection, critical inquiry and learning.
The CEO and Practitioner Clubs remained central to this approach and activities in 2025. These regular Club gatherings continued to provide dedicated spaces for community partners to reflect, exchange experiences, explore challenges and learn from one another. The End of Year Narratives provided a further opportunity for partners to reflect on their work, learning and experience of Hope & Ambition. In 2025, these reflections highlighted an increasingly challenging environment for organisations and the communities they support, including pressures arising from homelessness, Direct Provision, racism, misinformation and gaps in public services and the growing demands placed on organisations and families. As part of this annual narrative reflection, the partners also highlighted the value of sustained, trust-based funding in enabling longer-term planning, capacity building and having the flexibility to respond to changing needs.
A significant development in the Hope & Ambition initiative was the welcome of a new community partner, LEAP , a pioneering charity providing support to families of children with disabilities. LEAP joined partners Connections Arts Centre, Glencree Centre for Peace and Reconciliation, Intercultural Language Service, Irish Refugee Council and Rua Red. Together, the six community partners bring diverse experience and expertise in addressing social exclusion and inequality and working alongside communities to strengthen participation, opportunity and inclusion in the greater Dublin area. The Trust is grateful to the partners for the openness, expertise and generosity they bring to Hope & Ambition. Their experience and willingness to learn collectively continues to shape both the initiative and the Trust’s understanding and practice of trust-based philanthropy.
Shaping Trust-Based Philanthropy @ MSCT in an Irish Context
Through Hope & Ambition, Mount Street Club Trust has become increasingly conscious of the uncertainty and administrative burden that can accompany conventional, project-based funding and of approaches to accountability that can place greater emphasis on reporting against predetermined outputs than on learning, adaptability and longer-term change.
Trust-based philanthropy offers a different approach that is built around relationships, flexibility, sustainability, shared purpose and learning. It seeks a deeper form of accountability in which funders and funded organisations learn from one another and recognise their shared interest in achieving meaningful and lasting change.
A major focus in 2025 was the development of Trust in Action, a film exploring the lived experience of trust-based philanthropy through Hope & Ambition. The film explores the relationships between the Trust and its community partners, how a trust-based approach has been experienced in practice, and what has been learned along the way.
The project received strong support from the Trust’s wider network. In February, Hannah Carney & Associates led a fundraising and networking event at the James Joyce Centre bringing together supporters, community partners, Trustees and friends of the Trust. We are grateful to Hannah Carney and Chris Dunne for leading this event and to the donors and supporters whose contributions helped make the film possible. Production began during 2025 and concluded in early 2026. Through Trust in Action, the Trust hopes to share the learning emerging from Hope & Ambition and encourage wider discussion about the potential for more trusting, flexible and collaborative approaches to funding in Ireland.
The Trust also continued to develop relationships with organisations interested in more flexible and trust-based approaches to funding social inclusion. A significant development in 2025 was the strengthening of our relationship with Dublin City Council reflecting a shared interest in how different approaches to funding can better support organisations and communities working to address social exclusion. The engagement resulted in a commitment from Dublin City Council to provide unrestricted funding of €40,000 to the Trust.
Discovering Trustworthy Ways of Working @ Mount Street Club Trust
The Trust’s exploration of trust-based philanthropy also informs how it thinks about its own ways of working. During 2025, Trustees continued to consider how trust, critical inquiry, transparency, collaboration and shared responsibility can be reflected internally while ensuring effective governance, stewardship and accountability.
Alongside its governance responsibilities, Trustees gave significant consideration during 2025 to the Trust’s longer-term direction and how best to use its experiences over almost 100 years and remaining resources. This informed the strategic priorities agreed during the year, including a growing emphasis on sharing the learning and legacy emerging from Hope & Ambition and the Trust’s experience of trust-based philanthropy. The Trust continued to explore opportunities for additional funding and partnerships to support this work and extend its impact.
The Trust continued to meet its responsibilities in accordance with the Charities Governance Code. Risk management received particular attention, with the establishment of a Risk Sub-Committee and preparation of a draft Risk Review. Initial work also began on induction resources for new Trustees. The Trust continued its participation in the Charities Investment Fund, while keeping informed of the ongoing review of the Fund.
Late 2025 and early 2026 brought the departure of Trustees Sarah Perrem, Paul Donovan, Shola Adekunle and Thomas McCann from the Board. The Trust is deeply grateful for the generosity, commitment and experience they brought during an important period in its development, including establishing and steering Hope & Ambition into its current phase. The Trust was also pleased to welcome Joanne Redmond as Trustee, bringing legal expertise to the Board.
For a small Trust, this represented a significant body of work alongside the ongoing oversight of Hope & Ambition and the Trust’s financial, regulatory and administrative responsibilities, helping to ensure it has the governance and capacity to support its ambitions effectively.