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Annual Report 2005

Third Sector Program

The Third Sector Program has been carried out by the Foundation since January 2003. It constitutes a larger project, 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, with an aim to support the process of developing and stabilizing the civil society in 7 Central and Eastern European countries: Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Poland, Romania, Slovenia, Slovakia, and Hungary. The aim of the Program is to improve the overall operations of the non-profit sector in Poland by creating a favorable legal and fiscal environment for organizations’ growth, providing assistance in building foundations of their financial stability, and enhancing cooperation among organizations as well as their cooperation with other sectors. The Program, planned for four years, is run in partnership with selected organizations, which received grants for their projects.

Favorable Environment for Non-Governmental Organizations’ Growth

Partner organisations: Institute of Public Affairs, Klon/Jawor Association, Working Community of Associations of Social Organizations (WRZOS)

In 2005, activities undertaken by our partners served the following program objectives: to create a mechanism of acquiring and disseminating knowledge concerning the third sector, analyze its condition and indicate directions for its development, as well as increase the influence of organizations on legislation concerning their activity.

The KLON/JAWOR Association focused on the analysis and dissemination of research on the sector conducted in 2004. This included brochures published in the series 3W: It’s Better to Know More, special editions of the gazeta.ngo.pl as well as information published on the www.ngo.pl portal. The research also helped to prepare the Ministry of Social Policy report on the implementation of the Public Benefit Activity Act in 2004–2005 and the creation of the government document Strategy of Support of Civil Society which became part of the National Development Plan for the years 2007–2013. Moreover, the Association conducted an annual poll on volunteerism and individual philanthropy on the representative group of Poles. Research results with commentaries are available on website: badania.ngo.pl.

The Institute of Public Affairs continued monitoring laws concerning tax and registration issues, the Public Benefit Activity and Volunteerism Act and other regulations which influence social organizations’ activity. Monitoring results are available at www.isp.org.pl/kompas. It also organized 5 expert seminars on issues of import for the further development of the third sector: obtaining public benefit activity status by commercial law companies, social economy, the draft bill of the Minister of Social Policy on the model offer for the realization of a public task, and the interpretation of selected regulations of the Privacy Act. During the seminars academics from various professional fields and NGO and local government experts shared their views based on knowledge and experience in NGO and public administration sectors. Two issues of the Third Sector magazine were published in 2005: one devoted to social economy, the other to inter-sector cooperation. The Institute also began the first of three planned strategic litigations. It helped the Lower Silesian NEMO Foundation, which challenged the decision of the Minister of the Environment stating that, according to the law, the foundation is not a social organization. The Institute will strive to change interpretation of the law to grant foundations social organization status and make them eligible to participate in administrative proceedings with the rights of a legal party.

The Program’s third partner – Working Community of Associations of Social Organizations WRZOS conducted a 6-month pilot advocacy project in 2005: VAT and Non-Governmental Organizations which helped to develop a joint position of NGO community on issues concerning VAT for non-governmental organizations.

Partnership for the Third Sector

Partner organizations: Foundation in Support of Local Democracy and SPLOT Network of Information and Support for Non-Governmental Organizations

In 2005, both partner organizations completed their biennial projects aimed at strengthening NGOs and local governments cooperation on regional and local levels, ensuring NGOs’ presence in the promotion and distribution of structural funds, improving NGOs’ practical knowledge concerning the mechanism of obtaining EU funds, and professionalizing their activities in establishing NGO representative bodies.

As part of activities aimed at strengthening and professionalizing NGO and local government cooperation, the Foundation in Support of Local Democracy conducted inventory and quality analysis of existing agreements (study entitled Cooperation Barometer 2003); created and published a series of 4 manuals for organizations and local governments concerning cooperation of local governments and NGOs and on the functioning of Public Benefit Activity and Volunteerism Act; organized 16 regional conferences and 35 workshops directed at developing cooperation charters and annual cooperation programs. Meanwhile, SPLOT helped draft 51 resolutions on cooperation programs, published 4 brochures in the series It’s Better to Know More on cooperation between NGOs and volunteers, public administration and local governments. It also conducted activities in 3 provinces aimed at concluding agreements on NGO-local government cooperation at the provincial level.

Activities conducted by the Foundation in Support of Local Democracy aimed to increase the role of NGOs in the processes of planning and implementing programs financed from structural funds included: organization of trainings, consultations and conferences for NGOs and local governments in various regions of Poland, as well as developing a consultation system for organizations engaged in regional steering and monitoring committees.

As a result of the activities aimed to support the federalization processes to create NGO representative bodies, 3 regional inter-branch and 14 branch representations were established, 12 of which drafted standards for services offered by member organizations. These efforts were coordinated by SPLOT centers. In order to raise third sector advocacy capabilities, the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights received a grant to conduct a series of monitoring and advocacy trainings for the organizations involved in the federalization process.

New Models of Funding Civic Initiatives

Partner organizations: Academy for the Development of Philanthropy in Poland and Polish Environmental Partnership Foundation

Both of our partner organizations continued projects launched in 2003, developing and strengthening two models of funding civic initiatives: community foundations – local non-governmental organizations which raise money in their communities to fund local initiatives while building an endowment to ensure their long term grant making capability; and partnership groups – coalitions of NGOs, local enterprises and public institutions (local governments, cultural centers, museums, nature reserves, etc.) for development of regions with common traditions, similar economic and social conditions. The support offered by our partners for 20 local funds and 17 partner groups included: grants, trainings, advocacy activities and various forms of experience sharing. Both groups developed network structures that enable them to learn from each other’s experience, undertake joint actions and maintain high standards of grant making and partnership.

Further, the Academy for the Development of Philanthropy conducted a promotional and information campaign regarding the ability of designating 1% of personal income tax for public benefit organizations and organized the 7th edition of the Benefactor of the Year competition, aimed at promoting attitudes of involvement and corporate social responsibility.

Institutional Development of Non-Governmental Organizations

Our aim is to support the process of building financial and institutional stability of selected organizations the activity of which has a key impact for social and third sector development. The Institutional Development of NGOs was the sole element of the program to be realized as an open competition targeting strong, stable and experienced organizations. Our offer included two types of grants: capital grants (up to PLN 1 200 000) – for the establishment of endowments, and strategic grants (up to PLN 400 000) – for institutional development (improving staff qualifications, increasing material assets, preparing organizations to undertake new program activities or activities intended to attain financial independence) and creation of financial reserves. In 2005, we disbursed successive installments of 6 strategic grants and 6 capital grants awarded two years prior.

In 2005, 16 out of 18 of our institutional grantees profited from the organizational audits conducted by Ryszard Stocki Associates company including: staff management, strategic and marketing management, social activity, finance. Our grantee group also began to work on establishing a common investment mechanism for NGOs. A special commission, consisting of organization representatives and experts, examined 14 financial institutions and selected the offer of OPERA Fund Management that sets up a specialized investment fund for the organizations. At the outset of November, the final version of the fund statute was agreed on by the group of stakeholders and an application for establishment of the fund was submitted to the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The Program was financed from grant by Trust for Civil Society in Central and Eastern Europe.

Program costs

Grants

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