SocialTies is focused on giving community groups, schools and grassroots organisations the digital infrastructure to connect, grow, and take ownership of their space online.
Three-time All-Ireland winner Walter Walsh has launched SocialTies, a free digital platform designed to help community groups and grassroots organisations manage their communications and operations in one unified space.
The Dublin-based platform addresses the common challenge faced by community groups who currently rely on multiple disconnected tools including group chats, outdated websites, and scattered emails to manage their daily operations.
“Too many community platforms fail because they rely on goodwill, not good models”
“We built SocialTies because communities deserve better,” said Walter Walsh, CEO and Co-Founder of SocialTies. “For too long, they’ve been expected to make do with outdated websites, scattered group chats, and platforms that were never built for them. This isn’t about adding more noise, it’s about giving community groups, schools and grassroots organisations the digital infrastructure to connect, grow, and take ownership of their space online.”
The grassroots ties that bind
The platform consolidates fixtures, results, messaging, ticketing, news, and content into a single branded environment. SocialTies operates on a Community Shared Advertising Model, where the platform remains free for both individual users and organisations, with revenue generated through targeted advertising to local audiences.
“Too many community platforms fail because they rely on goodwill, not good models,” said Brendan Kavanagh, Co-Founder of SocialTies. “With SocialTies, we set out to create something that’s commercially robust and genuinely useful – it is a platform where local advertisers can reach engaged audiences in a meaningful way, while directly funding the communities they care about. It’s digital advertising that delivers real ROI.”
Under this model, 50% of all advertising revenue is returned directly to the organisations and communities using the platform.
The first implementation of this approach is Kilkenny Cats Social, developed in partnership with Kilkenny GAA, where half of all ad revenue supports grassroots development and major projects including the county’s new Centre of Excellence.
“Kilkenny has given me so much, on and off the pitch, so launching our flagship product here means a huge amount to me,” Walsh said. “We built Kilkenny Cats Social to reflect everything this county stands for: pride, purpose, and community. I’m proud that we’re starting in Kilkenny, and even prouder that every tap, every ad, and every message on the platform gives something back to the place that shaped me.”
The Kilkenny Cats Social pilot demonstrates how the platform can be customised to reflect the identity and structure of different organisations while maintaining the core functionality that brings community communications and operations together in one place.
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