More information
Description
The Bulgarian Helsinki Committee (BHC) has never enjoyed great institutional and financial stability for a number of reasons going back in history. Lack of broad public support together with lack of membership or a measurable, registered group of followers, limits BHC’s institutional stability and the related efficiency of having influence over public policies. At the same time, the organization’s dependence on grants coming from foreign donors makes it financially unstable. This project aims at boosting BHC’s capacity regarding its institutional and financial sustainability by setting up a registered community of individual supporters who will take part in different forms of working for the organization’s causes and who will be individual donors through small personal donations and participation in different forms of fundraising in the country. After they have been selected based on certain criteria, supporters will be registered in a special online platform to take part in BHC’s work. The expected results are: a) an institutional reform: 2000 registered members of a group of supporters, at least one third of whom are young people aged below 35; b) diversified sources of financing and raising funds through individual donations from registered supporters and fund-raising campaigns. The targeted groups are civil society organizations and the media, as they are the main intermediaries to attract followers and the general public will be the end user.
Summary of project results
The main goal of the project was to increase the capacity of the Bulgarian Helsinki Committee (BHC) in terms of its institutional and financial sustainability, by creating a registered community of individual supporters/constituency to participate in various forms of work on the causes of the organization, and to be individual donors through small individual donations and participation in various forms of fundraising in the country. Selected on the basis of certain criteria, the supporters registered in a special online platform for participation in the work of the BHC.
The challenges of the pandemic slowed down some activities, in particular travel for in-person meetings and events, but others were successfully transformed into an online format that helped reach people across the country and beyond. Online recruitment campaigns and individual donation campaigns were conducted through a variety of online platforms and various tools, and the results were disseminated to target groups and the general public through electronic and online media.
The sustainability of the project results stems from the fact that the activities and most of the sub-activities actually continue more and more effectively in the already established base of supporters, the founded partnerships and the developed tools for individual donations. The donation campaigns continue after the project. The base of supporters and their work continues in a growing circle of people, the effective dissemination of human rights messages is promoted by organizations and the media, which in turn will influence policies and institutions more and more.
The registered group of supporters - https://boldbg.net/spisak-na-chlenove-na-bold/.