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About the Foundation

Annual Report 2003

Third Sector Program

The Third Sector Program was launched in January 2003. It constitutes a larger project aimed to support the process of developing and stabilising the civil society in 7 Central and Eastern European countries: Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Poland, Romania, Slovenia, Slovakia, and Hungary. It is initiated and funded by the Trust for Civil Society in Central and Eastern Europe, established by a consortium of six American foundations that had been active in this region.

The aim of the Program is to improve the overall operations of the non-profit sector in Poland by creating a favourable legal and fiscal environment for organisations’ growth, providing assistance in building foundations of their financial stability, and enhancing co-operation between organisations as well as the development of partnership relations with other sectors. The Program is planned for four years and is carried out within the framework of four projects.

Favourable Environment for Non-Governmental Organisations’ Growth

Partner organisations: Institute of Public Affairs, Klon/Jawor Association The exit point for defining all assumptions and guidelines for the sector’s development policy are provided by research of the non-governmental organisations’ condition, and the various aspects of their work in terms of co-operating with the central administration, the local authorities, and/or the volunteer community. Research results are published in dedicated papers, as well as on the www.ngo.pl web portal. All resulting conclusions, fundamental problems, and proposed development areas for the non-governmental sector will be analysed throughout a series of expert seminars, and in a specialist quarterly. The monitoring of legal regulations in the area of non-governmental organisations by our partners will make it possible to determine all required mo-difications to legislation or to direct legal practice.

Partnership for the Third Sector

Partner organisations: Foundation in Support of Local Democracy, SPLOT Network of Information and Support for Non-Governmental Organisations

Our partners – two major nationwide network organisations – analyse all pending agreements with local authorities and other organisations. Against such background, model third sector/local authorities co-operation agreements will be drafted and implemented. Top quality solutions will then be popularised as useful when seeking optimum solutions for subsequent local authorities.

NGOs’ participation in the planning and use of EU funding is to be ensured through the placing of representatives of respective organisations on Regional Monitoring and Steering Committees. Moreover, conferences, workshops and training courses on the methodology and options of applying for EU funds are to be organised.

Advocacy of regional-level interests of organisations and their clients is developed on the basis of supra-sectoral and sectoral federations of organisations, and of regional non-governmental organisations’ forums.

New Models of Civic Initiatives Funding

Partner organisations: Academy for the Development of Philanthropy in Poland, Polish Environmental Partnership Foundation

We support fund-raising and local coalition building methodologies that benefit from the collaborative network of NGOs, local government, business and private donors to form a sustainable funding source for initiatives that respond to local community needs.

Training, consulting and financial support will help strengthen all existent and establish new Community Foundations and Partner Groups (a Community Foundation is a non-governmental organisation which receives local donations and redistributes funds in the form of grants awarded to local initiatives while building an endowment to ensure long term grant making capability; a Partner Group is a coalition of a variety of partners – non-governmental organisations, local businesses, and public institutions representing at least two sectors of public life – working together to implement long-term projects assisting the given region).

We support philanthropy and corporate social involvement by co-funding two key campaigns run by the Academy for the Development of Philanthropy in Poland; the first one promotes attitudes of involvement and corporate social responsibility, and has been built around the Benefactor of the Year Competition; the other is to encourage taxpayers to use the opportunity of allocating 1% of their tax due to support a public benefit organisation.

Institutional Development of Non-Governmental Organisations

With an intent to support the process of building institutional and financial stability of organisations, we held an open grant contest in 2003 for established organisations whose operations are of key importance to social development and to the advancement of the Third Sector. Grants were offered to organisations, whose activities target large recipient groups, resolve problems not tackled by others, introduce model solutions, or are innovative, unique, and stereotype-breaking in nature.

In 2003, seven organisations received technical assistance grants to help them produce full proposals. The institutional grants competition was ultimately resolved in early 2004.

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