b'FALL / WINTERConnect2 0 1 2Dear Friends and Supporters,Your generosity is remarkable and you are really standing up for Ireland when it counts most. Despite difficult circumstances across the world, you are giving at an unprecedented level. As a result, the original goal of ourPromising IrelandCampaign to raise $100 million by December 2013 was exceeded 19 months early. We have nowrevised the goal upwards to $140 million by December 2013 and, because of you, we are confident of getting there. In the last three and a half years, you have generated almost one-third of all income raised by The IrelandFunds since they were founded in 1976. Thank you for this remarkable response in such challenging times.Of course, the most important feature of the Campaign is that over 350 outstanding projects across Irelandand among Irish communities worldwide have benefited so far. In this edition of Connect you will read of such ex-cellent projects such as the Belfast H.E.R.O.S. program and Third Age. These projects and hundreds like them,represent the Irish at their best meeting circumstances at their worst.At this years Ireland Funds Worldwide Conference in June, we connected the two elements that make upthe essence of The Ireland Funds: our donors and the projects they support. Over three days in the glorious surroundings of Castlemartyr in County Cork, over 250 of our leading supporters from 8 countries gathered to seethe impact of their generosity across Ireland and to discuss their priorities for the Fund. We committed ourselves,of course, to not only completing the new Campaign goal but looking beyond it to ensure that The Ireland Fundsplay their full role in supporting Irelands economic recovery. We have launched a number of economic initiatives,including the National Business Plan Competition, the No Mind Left Behind program and the US Northern Ireland Mentorship Program. We look forward to becoming involved in and launching additional projects to helpthe Irish people as they drive the country back to prosperity.Thank you so much for creating opportunities, hope and change across Ireland. Your philanthropy is practical patriotism at its finest.Kind regards,Kieran McLoughlinPresident and CEOThe Worldwide Ireland Fundsconnect2012 | 5'