FDC Group sponsors schools through biodiversity education partnership

FDC Group has partnered with Biodiversity in Schools to sponsor 13 schools nationwide, giving the accountancy and agri consultancy firm a structured community engagement channel across the rural client base it serves. Employees across FDC's 53 offices were invited to nominate a local school, with 13 selected at random from 76 nominations. Each selected school received a 12-month programme of resources including pollinator and tree-planting kits, outdoor learning materials and access to the Nature Hero Award. Sponsorship value was not disclosed.

FDC Group is a Cork-headquartered accountancy, tax and agri consultancy firm ranked among Ireland's top 10 accountancy practices, operating more than 50 offices and employing over 580 staff serving farmers, SMEs and agribusinesses nationwide. The company does not publicly disclose turnover.

Biodiversity in Schools is an independent nature education organisation based on the Longford-Cavan border, describing itself as Ireland's largest biodiversity education body for young people with an annual student reach of more than 450,000. The organisation is funded through corporate CSR and sustainability partnerships rather than public grants.

The partnership sits within a wider CSR/ESG sponsorship model in which Biodiversity in Schools connects corporate sustainability budgets directly to individual schools rather than to national campaigns, giving sponsoring firms a locally visible, community-level return rather than brand exposure at scale.

For FDC Group, whose client base and office network are concentrated in rural Ireland, the tie-up reinforces a long-stated rural community focus and gives its staff, rather than a marketing department, a direct role in selecting which schools benefit.

For the sponsorship sector, corporate partners such as FDC Group provide funding continuity for a model built on repeat, named partnerships, following comparable sponsorships with firms including SIRO and Glenveagh. Founder Mark Nolan has said the approach lets sponsoring companies direct support to specific local communities rather than to national-level campaigns.

The deal illustrates a distinct sponsorship category to sport or entertainment: education- and community-focused CSR partnerships that professional services firms use to demonstrate local relevance to a dispersed, rural client base, rather than mass-market brand visibility.

Source: Irish Examiner / SIRO / Biodiversity in Schools