Inaugural TU Dublin GROWTHhub Alumni Ideation Challenge Event with Dublin Simon Community

Published: 1 Jun, 2022

In May, TU Dublin Graduate Business School alumni gathered on the University's flagship campus in Grangegorman to brainstorm fundraising solutions for the Dublin Simon Community.

Led by TU Dublin GROWTHhub, the Dublin Simon Community Alumni Ideation Challenge was the first in what will become a regular feature of the TU Dublin alumni calendar. Across the day, the Graduate Business School alumni explored and designed potential solutions for specific fundraising challenges faced by Dublin Simon Community, particularly in the post-pandemic context where engagement with donors has been impacted.

Glòria Rull, Partnership Lead at GROWTHhub, explains: "The GROWTHhub project supports building entrepreneurial learning across the university. So it was important for us to extend what we do to our alumni. The Alumni Ideation Challenges are a great way to engage with our alumni while at the same time delivering very worthwhile outcomes. TU Dublin has partnered with Dublin Simon Community in various initiatives over many years, and we were delighted they came on board for our first Alumni Ideation Challenge."

Emma Kilkenny, Head of Fundraising & Communications at Dublin Simon Community, explains: "It was a privilege for Dublin Simon Community to be involved in the first ever TU GROWTHhub Ideation Day. It was a really fantastic experience for us to set a challenge for such an experienced and professional group and see how they approached understanding and solving the problem. So many useful and worthwhile ideas and solutions came out of the day that we now hope to research further and implement into our fundraising strategy."

GROWTHhub and Dublin Simon Community plan to build on this initial Alumni Ideation Challenge event with further challenge events into specific Dublin Simon Community needs.

The GROWTHhub project is a collaborative initiative between TU Dublin and South East Technological University and is funded by the Irish Government under the Human Capital Initiative.

Read more about GROWTHhub.