Blog

Our Volunteers Rise to the Challenge

MICHAEL DELANEY, Treasurer of the School of Philosophy & Economic Science, provides a summary of the organisation behind the day to day running of the School. It is an organisation run almost entirely on voluntary service, to make Practical Philosophy available throughout the country to as many as want it.

The School of Philosophy & Economic Science is a not-for-profit organisation with a charitable designation. It operates as an unincorporated Association, which has a membership that meets annually at an AGM, where they are updated on the affairs and finances of the organisation. This is also a forum to discuss matters of importance to the operation and development of the School.

The leader of the School is Dr David Horan. The day to day running of the School is the responsibility of the Executive Committee. The members at the AGM elect members of the Executive. They also elect the Principal, who is the senior executive of the organisation (presently Rosemary Fitzpatrick), and the Treasurer.

The School does not operate as a business, aiming to generate profits, but is a philosophical society. It is a not-for-profit organisation and is in the charity sector, which is governed by the Charities Regulator. Our Registered Charity Number is 20009236.

The finances of the School are managed by the Treasurer. The School is in the fortunate situation of being debt free and is in a good position to deal with the financial challenges of Covid-19. However, this will not be easy. We have substantially reduced our fees to encourage as many as possible to join the online offerings and keep with the philosophy courses. To offset this we have taken measures to cut costs and avoid making losses.

WISER

All of this is underpinned by the extraordinary level of voluntary service provided by all tutors and those working on the administration of the School. This is the basis on which the Executive is working hard on your behalf to maintain the offerings of Philosophical Discourse, Meditation, Economics, Plato etc.

We do not know how it will be like on the other side of the pandemic, but we do hope that the School and all in it will be better, wiser, happier and stronger from what comes from the application of Practical Philosophy, especially in the face of adversity.