‘A business is about more than making money’  

The diverse activities of Tarasis Enterprises, the brainchild of businesswoman Mairead Mackle, are all linked by the thread of social impact. With that in mind, it is not surprising that the company, which has operated across Ireland for 30 years, boasts a healthcare business, housing business, support services business and entrepreneurial programme – as well as Kingsbury wagyu beef and investments – also has a charitable foundation. 

“A business that makes nothing but money is a poor business,” says Mairead. “It’s a Henry Ford statement that I often use and I fully agree with it. Yes, our enterprises are commercial but we also have a culture that is about caring for people. This is important to us and it is this culture that gave rise to our charitable foundation, iCare.”

All iCare salaries were and continue to be paid by Tarasis.

Mairead explains that it was back in 2011 that she started to think about formalising the enterprise’s caring culture to have a broader positive impact. “We have been running a successful business since 1995 and we were very socially driven, probably just because of our personal and professional backgrounds. In 2011, I went to India to study corporate social responsibility, because I felt the business could be more than just about profit.”

Community links

“It’s probably influenced by the mother in me [Mairead is a mother of seven] . . . and as an organisation, we are very linked to our community and the people we care for through our enterprises. We have a big impact on people’s lives in this way and when I came back from that trip I realised we could do so much more with our business. We decided that setting up iCare was the way to go. We could fundraise and contribute from all of our different divisions.”

“When Janine (McNally, Tarasis Executive Office Manager), Caroline (Rafferty, Tarasis MD) and I set it up at the start, we decided every penny we would raise through fundraising would go straight into people’s hands. All salaries were and continue to be paid by Tarasis,” explains Mairead.

Commercial enterprises that set up their own formal charity or foundation have a long history in the USA and have become more popular in the UK and Ireland over the recent decades. Foundations are noted as playing an important role in assisting vulnerable and marginalised groups. For Tarasis and iCare this means supporting local communities through a number of initiatives that develop based on grassroots needs and ideas from team members. 

Our Santa’s Gate Lodge welcomed teenagers who had never visited a Santa before.

“When we were doing up a gate lodge that was a listed building, we decided to use the space for the charity events and we had all the community involved – schools, football clubs, everything. It was not just about raising money ourselves, but about bringing all the communities together to raise funds and to educate and show young people how they could be involved in volunteering.”

Santa’s Gate Lodge

She smiles remembering one of the projects in particular. “We brought Santa to the community. Our Santa’s Gate Lodge welcomed teenagers who had never visited a Santa before,” she says. It is one of the many initiatives that demonstrate the ‘on the ground’ impact of iCare across Northern Ireland and, from this year, across the island of Ireland. 

Mairead also shares another of the iCare initiatives which directly influenced members of the community as well as mobilising the Tarasis staff across the many divisions. “iCare Wishes saw staff from our operational regions – there were 15 at that stage – selecting a local person or a cause that they would like to fundraise for and who could be granted an iCare Wish. Many times, it would result in us providing a piece of equipment for somebody with a physical disability or maybe a young person who maybe needed a special wheelchair . . . and it developed from there.” 

iCare’s many initiatives continue today across Ireland, bringing support to communities through their own activities and fundraising, as well as through other local businesses who donate directly to iCare, knowing the charity’s team is experienced in distributing donations and funds in the best way.

The charity is proud to have positively impacted over 20,000 lives and the focus is now on the annual Christmas Campaign which involves fundraising and gathering gift donations across Ireland to support those who are in need this Christmas. Women’s Aid and Aoibhneas are two of the charities iCare will be supporting this season. “As well as managing a cross-Border drive for donations to support these charities with financial aid, vouchers and gifts, we also collaborate with other companies for the campaign,” explains Tarasis Executive Office Manager and iCare co-founder Janine McNally.

“Many companies do not know how to support community causes and vulnerable communities in the best way so we make it easy for them to do this. Tarasis absorbs all the operational costs and iCare makes it easy for companies to come on board and to ‘give back’ in an easy and effective way. The companies that partner with us know we will ensure their donation is delivered to those who need it, ensuring a positive impact. We are seeking for new companies to collaborate with us this winter and we encourage anyone interested to get in touch with us at icarecharity.com,” she says.  Last Christmas, as well as multiple gifts and direct financial support, iCare distributed 400 vouchers to people across the country.

Personal fulfilment

Research shows that one of the benefits of having a foundation or charitable arm for a company is the positive effect it has on staff. This is evident in the impact of iCare on Tarasis staff – for a values and purpose-driven staff, being involved in iCare brings a sense of personal and professional fulfilment and motivation, explains Janine. For her, giving back to the community is an important element of her career.

Our community outreach means we support older people who have no-one else close to them.

“It is simply part of our culture – through iCare we can impact the lives of others who are in need. For example, our community outreach means we support older people who have no one else close to them – to do this as part of my work is very important and important for other members of the Tarasis team,” she shares.

At Tarasis it is obvious that iCare is driven by a sense of personal responsibility and the values of its leader, Mairead. “We have a responsibility to support those more vulnerable than ourselves. When you run an organisation, you have the opportunity to lead, to show that support and to lead your team in a way that ensures they can support others. Our leadership team supports our approach to this and therefore it ripples across the enterprise, so we have a real impact with iCare, an impact that reaches people across the country.”

To find out more about iCare, you can visit icarecharity.com.