Civic Coalitions

contact: coalitions@batory.org.pl
Sylwia Sobiepan, phone: |48 22| 536 02 70

Application guidelines

Grants eligibility

Formal or informal coalitions (meaning: alliances, associations, federations, networks, platforms, umbrella organizations, unions of associations, working groups etc.) from any of Visegrad countries (the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia) operating on the national and/or international arena are invited to apply for support.

The applicants should have at least two years experience of cooperation in the sphere of the coalition’s current interests and should demonstrate that they:

undertake efforts to articulate civil society interests on the basis of broad citizen involvement
have clear vision what they want to achieve in the public sphere
are involved in the pursuit of the common good (as opposed to narrowly defined interests of individual organizations)
have established and observe democratic procedures in the coalition’s workings
have created space for internal dialogue and members’ involvement.

Informal coalitions should have their internal by-laws written and adopted and should authorize one organization to apply for a grant on behalf of a group.

Coalitions which activities may be linked to discrimination, terrorism, ethnic hatred, partisan or religious initiatives, political party interests are not eligible to apply for grant.

Number, volume and duration of grants

In the second round of the program we intent to select ca 10 coalitions (2-3 in each Visegrad country) and offer them a maximum 3-year core support grants of an average value of EUR 15,000 per year.

Grants are awarded for one year (2011) and can be renewed for next one or two years upon approval of annual progress reports and action plans for next year.

Use of grants

Within this program we offer core support grants which means that any justified activities can be financed by the grant under the condition of observing the necessary lobbying restrictions (see below). Grants can be spent e.g. for:

improvement of internal structure and standards of operation (communication, administration, membership base, governance, code of conduct, by-laws, financial resource etc.);
acquisition of knowledge and expertise (travels, study visits, training, research, needs assessment etc.);
organization and/or participation in consultation processes;
awareness raising campaigns influencing policy-makers and public opinion;
supplementary funding to grants received from other sources for implementation of projects;
admin and personnel costs.

Lobbying restrictions

Grants cannot be spent on the activities related to lobbying defined as an attempt to influence legislation through communications with: (1) any member or staff of a legislative body or (2) any government official or employee (other than a member or employee of a legislative body) who may participate in formulating legislation, but only if the principal purpose of the communication is to influence legislation. Direct lobbying also includes attempts to influence the general public on a measure that is the subject of a ballot initiative, referendum or similar process; in that case, the general public is deemed to be the “legislator”. Involvement in consultation processes as civic partners and providing opinion on the written invitation of the legislators is not considered lobbying.

Depending on their charitable/nonprofit status, coalitions that carry out activities related to lobbying as defined in the paragraph above may apply for grants, but they must make sure that these activities are financed from other sources.

If needed, further explanation on lobbying restrictions will be provided to selected applicants before signing grant agreement.

Procedure of awarding grants

Grants will be awarded in an open grant competition. Applications will be reviewed by the program coordinator in cooperation with external experts from each Visegrad country. Additionally, C.S. Mott Foundation representative will examine the assessed proposals for legal compliance with lobbying restriction requirements. During the assessment process selected applicants might be asked for additional information. The final decision on awarding grants will be made by the Board of Directors of the Batory Foundation on the basis of recommendations of the program coordinator and experts.

After decision of the grant award a coalition or its leading organization should send a complete proposal, signed by the person authorized to represent the applicant, together with all attachments by post or in a pdf. format by email. Grants will be transferred after signing grant agreements specifying i.a. terms of their use and reporting requirements.

We do no exclude possibility of accepting unsolicited proposals for campaigns in issues that require urgent action or issues we find important.

Assessment criteria

Relevance of the coalition up-to-date operations and plans for the future to the program aims and local context.
Weight of problems/issues tackled by the coalitions. (Priority will be given to coalitions that address issues of burning importance for a broad group of population, issues where the concerned parties have serious difficulties to have their voices heard in the public arena, issues that are not taken up by other players or are underrepresented in the activities of other coalitions.)
Quality and potential to enhance internal structure and standards of operation (procedures, communication, members involvement), also stage of coalition’s development and possible impact of grant on its growth.
Differentiated sources of funding, realistic and justified budgets.
Clarity, logic and conciseness of application.

Timetable

The applications should be submitted by October 1st, 2010.

Applicants will be notified about the grant decisions by January 31st, 2011.

Applications’ submission

Applications should be prepared in English according to the Application Form and should not be longer than 3000 words. Applications must be accompanied by the following documents:

Statute and by-laws in English. In case of informal coalitions which do not have statutes only by-laws are required.
Last year narrative report in English. If it’s not available in English, it can be sent in vernacular together with an English summary.
List of current coalition’s members
Last year financial report plus two tables (all in English):
- presenting last year main categories of expenditures in EUR;
- presenting last year sources of income in EUR (including in-kind contributions).

In case of informal coalitions, which are not obliged to prepare financial reports only two above mentioned tables are required. The application and required documents should be sent as attachments via e-mail to the following address: coalitions@batory.org.pl. In the subject of the message please give applicant’s name and country.

Application form