The Foundation was established in November 2017, as a company limited by guarantee with 4 founding members. The company has 5 directors – Tony Gannon, Clare Gannon, Michael Swift, Claire Gately, and Peter Carney.
The Foundation obtained charitable status from the Charities Regulator in May 2018.
Two of the directors gained their development experience through their directorship of another charity, Small Foundation, that has focused on developing entrepreneurial opportunities for subsistence farmers in Africa.
Tony Gannon, Director, Long Term Foundation
Tony is Co-Founder of Long-Term Foundation, est. 2017. (LTF) supports initiatives seeking to improve long term solutions to food security & nutrition, increase access to international markets & improve access to finance for small business development in Sub-Saharan Africa.
LTF’s main focus is on Small holder Farmers & Agricultural Small and Medium Enterprises who engage with them. It seeks to achieve these goals by providing direct lending to Sub-Saharan small businesses at interest rates that don’t distort the local market but where funding is unavailable from local institutions.
Tony’s voluntary involvement in social issues started as a member of the Society of St Vincent de Paul over 40 years ago, working on social justice programs in Dublin’s inner city. He’s also a board member of Small Foundation since its inception in 2007, supporting development in Sub-Saharan Africa. Small Foundation focusses on innovative scalable solutions to famine and hunger.
Tony Co-Founded and is CIO of Abbey Capital Ltd, an international managed futures alternative investment company since 2000.
Claire Gately, Director, Long Term Foundation
Claire Gately co-founded the Foundation in 2017 with Tony and is involved on a day to day basis in the management of its activities. Her role involves building and implementing the foundation’s strategy, and developing and managing relationships with foundations, NGOs, credit providers and borrowers & grantees. She carries out due diligence on partners, travelling to East Africa on a regular basis to visit and strengthen relationships and to build pipeline.
She studied business and finance, and started her career in banking in the early 90s. She joined Abbey Capital in 2000 with responsibility for regulation, legal and compliance, and was appointed a Director in 2002. Claire is still involved with Abbey, on a non-executive basis, as their Chair, and she holds other non executive directorships in the Investment Management sector.
Clare Gannon, non-executive Director
Clare Gannon has a background in nutrition and education and is committed to improving the lives of children in sub-Saharan Africa. She has been involved in several visits to Ethiopia to review the situation on the ground.
Michael Swift, non-executive Director
Mick is Chair of Cystinosis Foundation Ireland, a charity that supports research into a rare metabolic disorder, and was involved in helping homeless people in Dublin for many years.
In 2007 he joined the board of Small Foundation at its inception and he has supported development in Ethiopia for a number of years.
His career is in global financial markets and he is CEO of Abbey Capital.
Peter Carney, Director & Treasurer
Peter joined the Long Term Foundation’s board in November 2018. Peter has 20-years’ experience in financial services and is currently the COO of Abbey Capital. Peter is an active participant in local community-based events and activities. He supports local sports clubs and charities in both Dublin and Mayo.
The Foundation receives pro-bono support from the Investment Group that funds its mission, including voluntary work (covering finance, legal, marketing, IT and compliance) by members of staff at Abbey Capital Limited.