Education and sports NGOs top voluntary organisations list

Voluntary organisations working in the fields of education and sport made up the largest cohort of registered NGOs, an overview of the sector shows.

In 2021, there were 791 voluntary organisations linked to education and sport, making up 28.4% of all NGOs enrolled with the Voluntary Organisations Commissioner. Of these, 348 were sports-related.

The data comes from the VO commissioner’s annual report for 2021, tabled in parliament recently.

The second largest cohort with 630 organisations is made up of voluntary groups that work in the social and community fields. These make up 22.7% of all NGOs.

This is followed by NGOs that work in culture, arts and national heritage, which total 528, or, 19%. Of these, 87 are band clubs.

There are 241 enrolled voluntary organisations, or 8.7%, that work in philanthropy and 89 that promote human rights.

Environment and animal welfare NGOs constitute 4.2% of the total. There are 116 NGOs within this sector, of which 44 deal with animal welfare.

The annual report shows that last year applications for enrolment with the VO commissioner slightly decreased but there was an increase in NGOs that applied to be enlisted in the second registry.

During 2021, a total of 206 new applications - 196 for full enrolment and 10 for enlistment - were submitted compared to 211 a year earlier.

The office cancelled 13 applications after the voluntary groups failed to submit further documents as required by law. Three have since reapplied for enrolment after they submitted the correct information.