More and more Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), and alongside social enterprises, with different goals, motivations, structure and geographical coverage are aiming at filling state gaps and addressing various, at times pressing and imminent, societal challenges. The financial and the refugee crisis have urged CSOs to develop innovative ways in order to survive and to seek alternative sources of funding (e.g. Foundations, Companies, etc.) while they have forced them to improve their services in order to meet the increasing needs (provide humanitarian aid, psycho-social and legal support, etc.) of the vulnerable and disadvantaged groups. Therefore, non-profits had to adapt to the new challenges, improve their operations and at the same time turn their focus on issues such as their funding and sustainability. Recognizing these needs, some new actors have emerged and aimed at assisting CSOs to overcome their difficulties. These actors can be non-profit organizations, Foundations, Universities and other entities which offer services (such as capacity building, consulting, educational programs, surveys, premises etc.) to CSOs in order to help them strengthen their skills and increase their impact. These practices could have a positive impact on other non-profits from other countries by addressing common gaps. However, other non-profits do not have access to this knowledge and these practices, as there is no framework that would stimulate contacts and interactions between organizations involved in education and training of civil society. In effect, such actors work much in isolation with other relevant initiatives across Europe, leading to limited, if any, ideas and experience sharing. Without a doubt, sharing and implementing best practices have many benefits for relevant organizations. Among these benefits are better quality and increased quantity of services, improved use of resources as well as cost and time-saving. The urgency and importance of such development is reinforced by the fact that these types of initiatives can operate as impact multipliers when their operations are enhanced: through their operations more and more CSOs can be reached and supported thus creating significant added value by any exposure to best practices, not confined in the initial beneficiaries per se. This project aims at bringing together seven (7) organizations from 6 different program countries (Greece, Cyprus, Italy, Bulgaria, Estonia, Serbia) and 1 partner country (Israel) who support civil society and are experts in a particular field (e.g. fundraising, networking, advocacy, volunteer management, social entrepreneurship, etc.) in order to identify best practices and share their experience. Furthermore, an open learning environment for all stakeholders will be created where each partner will share best practices and strategies. By having access to this environment, organizations will be able to interact and understand how other actors have dealt with similar situations and challenges and will be able to make better and informed decisions more promptly. Therefore, they will be able to improve their efficiency and implement outstanding practices. Finally, all partners, as well as their beneficiaries (civil society organizations), will have the chance to elevate their work, advance their performance and enhance their social impact. The target group of the project will be non-profit organizations and entities operating in EU countries that empower civil society through capacity building, educational programs, and other services. The project will last 22 months and will be implemented via the following set of actions: - Mapping of best practices - 3 Transnational Project Meetings - 3 Learning/Teaching/Training Activities on the following thematic areas: Social Entrepreneurship, Impact Assessment, Nonprofit Fundraising Sources, Proposal writing, Project management, Building financial sustainability, Creating a Business Plan, Networking, Developing an advocacy strategy. The results expected are the following: • Mapping of good practices, successful strategies, and methods from 7 different countries • Exchange good practices, tools and programs tested from the organizations participating in the project • Enhance the skills of 21 people (working in the partnering organizations) who will participate in the three Learning/Teaching/Training Activities • Bring together and reinforce the collaboration among the 7 partner organizations operating in different countries • Generate innovative ideas and create new tools that could be useful for the organizations • More than 4.000 members of civil society organizations supported by the partners will improve their skills and services • More than 9.500 newsletter subscribers will receive the final report of the project with good practices and methods • More than 33.100 followers on Social Media will have access to the final report
Throught the implementation of this projects, partners managed - to exchange good practices, experience and successful strategies, - to provide training and enhance the skills of organizations which empower civil society organizations in order to improve their services, - to disseminate the results at transnational level (to partners' staff, members, beneficiaries and networks), - to enhance the collaboration of partners that operate in different countries. More specifically, the project activities led to the achievement of the project objectives are the following: - Mapping of good practices: this activity was implemented by all partners through questionnaires in order to collect good practices and successful strategies from 7 different countries. By collecting the practices we were able to create the educational material which was presented during the LTT activities. - two (2) Transnational Project Meetings: Project meetings was implemented in 2 different countries in order to discuss the project's progress, risks and next activities, as well as to invest time in understanding how to better support the community of CSOs - Furthermore, there were three (3) virtual meetings (through zoom) in order to ensure the smooth operation of the project. - Three (3) Learning Teaching Training Activities: During these training activities, participants were trained in various fields (Fundraising Sources, Proposal planning & writing – Project budgeting – Project timeline, Project Management, Building financial sustainability, Starting business projects with social impact, Creating a Business Plan, Networking, Developing an advocacy strategy, etc.) and share their experience in programs and methods (educational programs, workshops, events, surveys, etc.) they implement for empowering and supporting civil society organizations. By receiving training Participants gained significant knowledge and skills that helped them improve their services to CSOs in their countries. - Dissemination of the project: Network of Estonian Non-profit Organizations (NENO) was responsible for the dissemination of the project. Information about the project were published in the project's social media. All partners contributed to the dissemination of the project through their own social media and newsletters, as well as forwarding the Study of best practices to their respective network of organisations.
More and more Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), and alongside social enterprises, with different goals, motivations, structure and geographical coverage are aiming at filling state gaps and addressing various, at times pressing and imminent, societal challenges. The financial and the refugee crisis have urged CSOs to develop innovative ways in order to survive and to seek alternative sources of funding (e.g. Foundations, Companies, etc.) while they have forced them to improve their services in order to meet the increasing needs (provide humanitarian aid, psycho-social and legal support, etc.) of the vulnerable and disadvantaged groups. Therefore, non-profits had to adapt to the new challenges, improve their operations and at the same time turn their focus on issues such as their funding and sustainability. Recognizing these needs, some new actors have emerged and aimed at assisting CSOs to overcome their difficulties. These actors can be non-profit organizations, Foundations, Universities and other entities which offer services (such as capacity building, consulting, educational programs, surveys, premises etc.) to CSOs in order to help them strengthen their skills and increase their impact. These practices could have a positive impact on other non-profits from other countries by addressing common gaps. However, other non-profits do not have access to this knowledge and these practices, as there is no framework that would stimulate contacts and interactions between organizations involved in education and training of civil society. In effect, such actors work much in isolation with other relevant initiatives across Europe, leading to limited, if any, ideas and experience sharing. Without a doubt, sharing and implementing best practices have many benefits for relevant organizations. Among these benefits are better quality and increased quantity of services, improved use of resources as well as cost and time-saving. The urgency and importance of such development is reinforced by the fact that these types of initiatives can operate as impact multipliers when their operations are enhanced: through their operations more and more CSOs can be reached and supported thus creating significant added value by any exposure to best practices, not confined in the initial beneficiaries per se. This project brought together seven (7) organizations from 6 different program countries (Greece, Cyprus, Italy, Bulgaria, Estonia, Serbia) and 1 partner country (Israel) who support civil society and are experts in a particular field (e.g. fundraising, networking, advocacy, volunteer management, social entrepreneurship, etc.) to identify best practices and share their experience. Furthermore, an open learning environment was created for all stakeholders where each partner will share best practices and strategies. By having access to this environment, organizations will be able to interact and understand how other actors have dealt with similar situations and challenges and will be able to make better and informed decisions more promptly. Therefore, this project has improved their efficiency and quality of implemention of their practices. Finally, all partners, as well as their beneficiaries (civil society organizations), had the chance to elevate their work, advance their performance and enhance their social impact.