Description
A major challenge of Lithuanian NGOs is accessing funding. This is becoming increasingly difficult when foreign donors withdraw funding while philanthropy traditions are still at embryonic stage and few domestic funding sources have developed. Ability of the Lithuanian civil society to contribute to democratic and social development of the country and to promote human rights and sustainable development is under threat. The aim of the project is to improve leading Lithuanian NGOs‘ financial sustainability by using best-practice diversified fund-raising methods to access a variety of financial sources. Project promoter shall produce a detailed programme and curriculum for the capacity building and select NGOs to participate. The participants’ knowledge on financial sustainability, and possible income generation and fund-raising activities shall be significantly enhanced. At the end the participating NGOs will been given feedback on their own institution’s draft strategy for income generation and fund-raising, follow-up consultation shall also be provided. Target group: NGOs operating in primary areas of support of the NGO Programme Lithuania.
Summary of project results
A major challenge of Lithuanian NGOs is accessing funding. Often issues related to fundraising outweigh all other troubles and challenges in NGO activity, such as lack of professional capacity, insufficient visibility or little cooperation with other NGOs, state and municipal institutions. Absence of philanthropy traditions among businesses operating in Lithuania also doesn’t make the fundraising task any easier – only several foreign capital companies include support to civil society organizations or communities into their corporate policies. State funding is very scarce and accessible only to NGOs operating in certain areas, i.e. emotional support for children, youth, women, some social services to families at risk, while for the majority of NGOs operating in other areas projects of up to 6000 EUR value are offered and only for short term initiatives. The outcome of this situation is that the majority of NGOs mostly depend on foreign funding and often have to compete with NGOs from the entire Europe. Ability of the Lithuanian civil society to contribute to the democratic and social development of the country and to promote human rights and sustainable development is consequently under threat. The abovementioned situation encouraged NGO Programme Fund Operator to initiate a pre-defined project that could build the capacity of NGOs to be more self-sustainable and able to fundraise. The project was aimed at improving leading financial sustainability of Lithuanian NGOs by using best-practice diversified fund-raising methods to access a variety of financial sources. Project promoter – NGO Good Will Projects – have suggested and completed various tasks and activities to achieve this goal: a) 17 NGOs (out of 49) selected for participation in the project activities; b) detailed programme and curriculum for the capacity building prepared and coordinated with FO; c) 2 fundraising theory and practice seminars conducted; d) project participants allowed to test their fundraising skills at the largest donation platform aukok.lt; e) workshop on development of fundraising strategies conducted. f) individual consultations on development of fundraising strategies provided to each participant; g) following the needs of participants, additional 2 seminars conducted (“Advertising in social media” and “Pitch training for NGOs); h) on request of the participants, additional strategic management training session carried out.
Summary of bilateral results