Knowledge and Experience

The question we were seeking to answer with this program was "How to build sustainability of local NGOs?"

Through this program we wanted to assist in sustainability practices of local organizations, and collect and analyze the experiences of organizations which achieved sustainability.

In this program we worked on a complex training and consultation program presenting various ways of building sustainability within local organizations. It was based on the experience of local NGOs, particularly the community foundations. We also included such topics as building local coalitions, donor relations, grant and scholarship programs, fund management and fundraising. We used simple and friendly training methods: short lectures, workshops, and visual material. We provided the Polish NGOs, local authorities, and entrepreneurs with the collected know-how.

Accomplishments:

• we conducted interviews with local leaders and completed a comprehensive analysis of the achievements and good practices of the selected NGOs

• we established a detailed framework of the areas and fields of the training program

• we selected the authors for the training program (external experts and the Academy"s employees) and conducted working meetings with all authors of the program

• we developed an initial version of the training materials and established the rules for the organization and editing of the whole training program in terms of substance and form

• we consulted our actions and training materials by e-mail and in working meetings with the Advisory Team for the project

• we signed letters of intent regarding cooperation with the Office for Servicing the Movement of Social Initiatives, the Foundation of Social-Economic Initiatives, and the Foundation for the Development of the Civic Society

• additionally, we received a donation from the Canada Fund for Local Initiatives and published a publication on raising funds at the local level

The series of 4 publications is available in the Library (polish version)