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Description
The objective of the project "The power of society!" is to build trust of the society in non-governmental sector and promote public involvement in solving common issues. According to Charities Aid Foundation research “Global Giving index, 10th edition” in the last decade society involvement in charity activities has decreased. Only 32% of people have stated that they would help a stranger, 25% have donated money and only 10% have been involved in voluntary work. At the same time Latvian NGO umbrella organization “Civic Alliance – Latvia” in their research shows that donations are one of three main income sources for NGO`s, but a little bit less than 50% of this amount is attracted by a bit more than 10% of NGO`s. These data shows that NGO`s lack knowledge and skills on how to attract donations.
Project activities are targeted towards increasing private person and company donations to NGO`s thus promoting involvement of society through giving. Project targets to improve NGO`s capacity and performance by offering new knowledge and resources in fundraising and work with donors. At least 20 NGO`s will receive training, at least 10 NGO`s projects will be chosen to attract donations through the platform Ziedot.lv.
Society will be addressed and engaged through a public campaign in order to increase donations (including regular, monthly payments) to NGO sector and improve society involvement in solving common society issues. The campaign will be aimed to reach persons that have never submitted donations through the platform Ziedot.lv. With the campaign one or several issues will be addressed thus engaging public discussion and promoting state and local government involvement and initiating changes in legislative acts.
Summary of project results
According to the Global Giving Index, 10th edition, a study conducted by the Charities Aid Foundation in the UK, charitable giving in Latvia has declined over the past decade.
Creating positive social change is impossible without engaging the wider community. Therefore, it is needed to promote people''s involvement in civic activities and strengthen the capacity of the project promoter as well as promote trust in NGOs.
One of the signs that society is willing to engage beyond what is required by law is a willingness to share its private goods with society - to give of its time or money for the common good.
Activity "Strengthening and cooperation activities of Latvian NGOs" resulted in the implementation of 29 initiatives of NGOs to involve citizens in civic activities - donating, i.e., 29 organizations were supported with funding via donation portal ziedot.lv. Throughout the project, participating NGOs received individual advice and support and to support NGO projects, a special section "People are Power" was created on the Ziedot.lv portal. Also, a free Donation Box Rental Point was set up, where NGOs can receive donation boxes for use to raise donations. 100 donation boxes are available. As part of the activity "Strengthening and cooperation activities of Latvian NGOs", Ziedot.lv implemented an electronic document management system, which strengthened the capacity of Ziedot.lv and facilitated cooperation with NGOs and donors.
The project also implemented a social campaign "Small donations make a big difference" to introduce the habit of making regular donations to solve local problems and to donate to NGO projects. For the social campaign, environmental promotional materials and social media digital materials were created. Audience of the campaign reached 1 673 572 people. The campaign raised the profile of Ziedot.lv and highlighted issues that require public involvement and public donations.
Public participation in donation has increased, and so has the visibility of NGO activities in Latvian society. The project has fostered trust in the non-governmental sector and has involved the society in solving common problems. In the long term, civic participation is strenghtened - the culture of giving in society, and the share of local donations in organizations'' budgets is increased.