Charities SORP

Tony Ward

About The Wheel

The Wheel is Ireland’s national association of community and voluntary organisations, charities and social enterprises. We are a registered charity in Ireland and are unique in our role as a ‘one-stop-shop’ for anything related to the charity and nonprofit sector. We currently have over 1,700 members and a further reach through our programmes with an additional 3,000 charities and nonprofits. The Wheel has over 220 members with income in excess of €1m and a further 100+ with income of over €5m per annum.

Our Vision is to see a thriving community and voluntary sector at the heart of a fair and just Ireland. We represent, support and connect nonprofit organisations, from the smallest community and voluntary groups to the largest charities and social enterprises. We champion the sector by being its representative voice and we provide practical advice and training to help organisations be more impactful. Our core work includes public policy and advocacy, networking, training and development, information and advice provision and a range of specific programme delivery.

As a result of having a diverse, actively engaged and growing membership, The Wheel continues to be a strong, inclusive and influential voice for the sector in Ireland.

About Tony Ward

Tony Ward is Director of Finance at The Wheel, a position he has held since June 2016. Tony completed his B. Comm. In University College Dublin in 1985 and qualified as a chartered accountant in 1989. During the 1990s he worked in practice including Deloitte for two years and from 1997 to 2012 worked in a variety of roles in the private sector including an EU funded programme and a number of business start ups.

From 2012 to 2016 Tony was Head of Fundraising at Fighting Blindness, an Irish charity raising €2m per annum to promote research into conditions causing blindness and support people affected by sight loss which gave him a unique perspective into the operational needs of larger, fundraising charities.

Involvement in charity and nonprofit sector

Tony has had extensive involvement with the charity and nonprofit sector both as an employee and board member. As a board member/trustee over the past 20 years tony has held positions on the boards of Fighting Blindness, NCBI, Vison Sports Ireland (chair from 2003 – 2006) and Sighsavers Ireland.

Tony is co-chair of Chartered Accountants Ireland charity and not-for-profit special interest group (2017 – present) which provides a network and leadership forum for chartered accountants working or volunteering in the sector.

Through his involvement with charities at both executive and non-executive levels Tony has significant insight into the challenges facing charities and the need for good governance and transparent reporting.