Could Zuckerberg’s Waterford GAA club donations be a new wave of philanthropy in Ireland?
Ireland is entering an unprecedented transfer of wealth, but experts say more could be done to encourage charitable giving
Mark Zuckerberg, founder and chief executive of Facebook’s parent group Meta. Photograph: Roberto Schmidt/AFP via Getty Images
Paul Colgan
Tue Oct 06 2026 - 13:55 • 5 MIN READ
Before the arrival of the modern welfare state, there was philanthropy.
In the absence of a proper system of income tax to put a safety net under society, it was left to wealthy individuals to plug the gaps in society with some of their riches.
In Ireland, the legacy of the Scottish-American industrialist Andrew Carnegie can still be seen in many public libraries he funded the building of in the early 20th century.
Carnegie was famously driven by a semi-religious notion that the mega-rich should give away their surplus before they die and in the end he donated the equivalent of $6.9 billion (€6.2 billion) to charitable causes.
He lived at a time comparable to our own, where capitalism allowed individuals to amass huge fortunes.
Whether Mark Zuckerberg, founder and chief executive of Facebook’s parent group Meta, will be remembered like Carnegie is open to question but his recent charitable donation of €150,000 to three GAA clubs in Waterford has brought the practice back into focus.
Zuckerberg chose the three clubs closest to Strancally Castle near Youghal, which he purchased in August, and it is thought to be his first philanthropic act in Ireland.
Along with his wife Priscilla Chan, he said: “The GAA is at the heart of communities across Ireland. As new members of the Waterford community, we’re proud to support these local clubs and the important role they play.”
Zuckerberg is not the first high-profile businessperson to make a donation to the GAA.
Strancally Castle Co Waterford
After giving millions of euros to Limerick GAA down through the years, in 2023 the racing magnate JP McManus gave €1 million to every county board in the country.
He had previously donated €100,000 to each in 2018.
But, according to those who advise on philanthropic work, there is now more scope for philanthropy in Ireland than ever before.
“There is €1.43 trillion in household wealth here,” says Éilis Murray, chief executive of Philanthropy Ireland.
“The wealth is there. Now that does not necessarily mean it is going to translate into philanthropy but for the first time we are having a conversation about it.”
Murray says Ireland is going through an unprecedented transfer of intergenerational wealth at the moment, and she and others are advocating that people consider using some of this money for charitable causes.
“In the United States and the UK they have a lot of inherited wealth and philanthropy is part of the DNA there. It is only beginning to emerge in Ireland,” she says.
This is not to say that, outside of inherited wealth, philanthropy has not already played a significant role here, she adds.
“One of the things most of us don’t realise is the amount of philanthropy that is being done and the impact that has on communities the length and breadth of the country,” says Murray.
“The Children’s Rights Alliance was a project initially funded through philanthropy. The legislation that followed all came from that movement and that area of support – by funding the research – it helped identify the issue that needed addressing.
“The same with marriage equality – funding went into identifying ‘what is the issue’?”
Limericks’ Tom Morrissey with JP McManus and the Liam MacCarthy Cup in 2022. Photograph: James Crombie/Inpho
Philanthropy Ireland has been working with businesses too. Last month it helped Dublin-based investment firm Broadlake launch its charitable trust, the Broadlake Foundation.
Its ‘head of impact’ Daragh Anglim says the company believed it could help not-for-profit organisations expand by lending them some business expertise.
“We work with businesses that are in a stage of their development where they’re ready to grow,” he says.
“We thought about how we could match the skills and expertise of our people ... to help them deliver on their mission”.
Anglim says the company has committed €1 million along with 2,000 hours of support.
There are not the same tax incentives associated with philanthropy in Ireland as there might be in other parts of the world. In the case of Zuckerberg and McManus there is no obvious financial incentive behind their contributions here.
In the US, Zuckerberg has had to defend his charitable foundation from claims that the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative could enable him to avoid paying tax.
It was structured upon launch as a limited liability company as opposed to a typical charity or foundation. He transferred 99 per cent of his Facebook shares worth around $45 billion to it in 2015. It was also pointed out at the time that such a structure allowed for greater flexibility when it came to political lobbying.
The Facebook boss has said he and his wife will face capital gains tax on any sale of their shares, and he has foregone tax reliefs available through the traditional US philanthropic models.
At present in Ireland, tax relief on philanthropic donations works to the benefit of the recipient organisations.
This is designed to boost the overall contributions, allowing an approved charity or body to go to Revenue and claim back 31 per cent relief on top of a donation. The individual making the donation cannot avail of the relief.
This means a donation of €1,000 would be topped up with an additional €449 in relief by Revenue.
Niall O’Sullivan runs an independent service called The Philanthropy Adviser. It helps high net-worth individuals and companies consider their charitable options.
He is also a trustee of a group called ‘My Legacy’, which encourages people to leave a charitable gift behind in their will.
Mark Zuckerberg, chief executive of Meta. Photograph: David Zalubowski/AP
He believes there is more that could be done to tap into some of the vast money that now exists here – and there may be a reason why so many large donations – like those of JP McManus and Broadlake – top out at €1 million.
“There are a couple of things that inhibit philanthropy,” he says.
“There’s a cap of €1 million in any given year [in tax relief]. It sounds like a lot, but if you have a net worth of €50 million or €100 million and have made a decision to move into philanthropy, you might give more if there was a better tax incentive in place”.
O’Sullivan says there is lobbying of the Government going on around this at the moment.
“There is a lot of talk about all these wealth managers and estate planners. But when it comes to philanthropy they don’t have a lot to talk about [with clients]. They don’t have many financial instruments to discuss,” he says.
He says that, in the US, philanthropy is much more part of the “psyche” and there are many more options open to wealthy people who want to make donations.
“You wouldn’t need tax breaks in an ideal world, but we do need incentives. Especially now in Ireland where there is such a transfer of generational wealth. We have a real opportunity to embed philanthropy in Ireland.”
