INTERNATIONAL CO-OPERATION

The objective followed by pro bono organisations world-wide is that of offering assistance to those in need, fulfilling human needs (not only the basic ones), and embarking on any work serving the purpose of human welfare. Polish non-governmental organisations differ from those operating in the western world, as during the fifty years of the People?s Republic of Poland local-level civic activity was very much limited and subordinate to the state administration. The nineties offered non-governmental organisations a time for experimenting and seeking the correct path enabling the process of reconstructing a civic society in Poland, whereas the best and probably the safest method ensuring a release of civic activity is the tapping of reliable models established by those with extensive experience in charity work. This is why the Academy for the Development of Philanthropy in Poland are striving to maintain broad contact with pro bono organisations operating throughout the world. The West helps us to shed any remnants of state structure domination, while the East offers bonds of history and cultural similarities; this is why we need each other to be able to work to the purpose of overcoming any lag in non-governmental activity.

Co-operating with the West

The Academy co-operate with numerous organisations from the United States, Canada, and Western Europe. Jointly with the Association for the Non-Governmental Initiatives Forum, the Association of Pro Bono Organisations? Task Forces (Zwiazek Wspolnot Roboczych Organizacji Socjalnych), and the German Parity Union (Zwiazek Parytetowy) we implemented the Regional Partnership Project (Projekt Partnerstwa Regionalnego). The Project was launched to the purpose of preparing a regional seminar for representatives of local authorities, non-governmental organisations, and the business sector to discuss options for co-operation to the benefit of local and regional communities. Within the framework of the Project, a two-day training course was organised in Cracow, followed by a two-day seminar, in the course of which a discussion concerning co-operation opportunities for the three sectors was accompanied by a presentation of the best co-operation examples in Germany, Hungary, and the United States.Jointly with the Ashoka Innovators for the Public Foundation, we prepared and held a study concerning the condition of the non-governmental sector in Poland, encompassing the legal framework of non-governmental organisations? work as well as collective data concerning activities of Polish non-governmental organisations, areas of their operation, internal diversification of the sector, training requirements, and support offered by the Polish society to non-profit organisations` work.

Members of our Team participate in international conferences and establish contacts with representatives of foreign non-governmental organisations (we attended meetings organised in Western Europe ? i.e. in Tours, Dresden, Berlin, Brunswick, and Milan). The Academy are a member of the Transatlantic Community Foundation Network, and in September 2000 hosted a meeting of a TCFN working group in Warsaw. An Academy representative is working for the committee of the International Scholarship Programme of the Transatlantic Community Foundation Fellowship co-ordinated by the King Baudouin Foundation.Assisted by the Association of Community Trusts and Foundations in London, we organised several-day study tours to Great Britain for representatives of Polish Community Foundations; similar study tours to the United States were supported by the Donors Forum of Ohio, Columbus.

In the years 1998-2001, our guest list featured the following, among others:

::Peter Hero, Silicon Valley Community Foundation, USA
::Donnell Marsereau, Council of Michigan Foundations, USA
::Nancy Muirhead, Rockefeller Brothers Fund, USA
::Ed Guajardo Lucedo, The Colombo Colorado Trust, USA
::Heerad Sabeti, Muralis, USA
::Eleanor L. Brilliant, The State University of New Jersey Rutgers, USA
::Dwayne Linville, Ford Foundation, USA,
::Mary W. Leventhal, George Mason University, USA
::Sidney A. Chernenkoff, USAID, USA
::Marcia Avner, Minnesota Council of Nonprofits, USA
::Helen Monroe, Heather Weidman, Jenny Kloer, and Hugh Dempsey of the Monroe Group, USA
::Susan Luenberger, Community Foundation of Collier County, USA

::Daniel Hall, the Northern Foundation, USA
::Leon E. Irish, International Center for Not-for-Profit Law, USA
::Jon Blyth, C.S. Mott Foundation, USA ? Prague office
::Walter Veirs, C.S. Mott Foundation, USA ? Prague office
::Tamas Scsaurszki, C.S. Mott Foundation, USA ? Prague office
::Suzanne Feurt, CPI, EFC, Belgium
::Luis Amorim, CPI, EFC, Belgium
::Ken Philips, NGO Futures Perspectives ONG, Switzerland
::David Halley, European Development at Business in the Community, United Kingdom
::Karen Culver, United Kingdom
::Reinhard Nehring, Ministry of Labour, Women, Health, and Social Welfare of Saxony, Germany
::Krzysztof Balon, Co-ordination and Counselling Unit of German-Polish Social Co-operation DPV e.V., Germany

We co-operate with the Kharkiv Institute for Local Community Development of Kharkiv in central-eastern Ukraine as part of the Local Partnership Project. The Project provides for an exchange of experience as concerns local activation projects and programmes. Within the framework of the Project, two training courses were delivered by Polish experts in Kharkiv before year-end 2000. The course were attended by representatives of non-governmental organisations, local authorities, and the business sector from eastern Ukraine. Furthermore, we organised a study tour for 19 representatives of the Ukraine, 2 representatives of Russian organisations, and 2 representatives of Moldavian non-governmental organisations, who visited Warsaw, Biłgoraj, Kielce, Lidzbark Warmiński, and Nidzica, meeting representatives of local authorities, the business sector, and non-governmental organisations, Community Foundations included. We also offer assistance in the works of the Advisory Board of Slovak Community Foundations working to the purpose of forming community foundations in Slovakia.

We talked about our work and shared experience in the forming and operating local philanthropic organisations with groups from Lithuania, Byelorussia, Russia, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Bulgaria, and Croatia.In the course of the Community Foundations, Community Philanthropy seminar on Community Foundations in Lithuania, a representative of the Academy gave a presentation on Polish philanthropic organisations, offering details concerning the procedures of forming such institutions. Furthermore, we attended conferences in Bratislava, Tallinn, Moscow, and Prague.The Academy are also active in the Polish-Ukrainian Programme of Knowledge and Experience Exchange operated by the Foundation for Social and Economic Initiatives (Fundacja Inicjatyw Społeczno-Ekonomicznych).

In the years 1998-2001, our office was visited by numerous representatives of organisations and local authorities from Central and Eastern Europe, including the following:

::Asta M. Zinbo, Regional Networking Program, Hungary

::Mariana Torok, Nonprofit Information and Training Centre, Hungary

::Frenyo Andrea, BB Vallalkozasfejleszlo Alapitvany, Hungary

::Daniel Csanady, Extenzio Consulting Partnership, Hungary

::Robert Vlasic, Nadacia pre obciansku spolocnost, Slovakia

::Jana Kadlecova, The Sasakawa Peace Foundation, Slovakia

::Alicia Shybitskaya, United Way Belarus, Byelorussia

::Tetjana Kmitz, Freedom House, Ukraine

::Irina Lawroskaja, United Way - Ukraine, Ukraine

::Vlodymyr Sventitskiy, Ukraine

::Jordan de Meo, Associazione culturale di amiciazia, Italia-Bulgaria "Adriana" Onlus, Bulgaria

::Unginius Savickas, Kaunas Nongovernmental Organisations Support Centre, Lithuania

In order to enable the establishing of direct relationships between Polish and foreign non-governmental organisations it shall be necessary to prepare representatives of Polish organisations for such co-operation, both in terms of technology (equipping them with proper computer hardware with simple and rapid Internet access) and language (English language courses for managers or representatives of LPO Councils offered on site, e.g. by volunteer native speakers); this is why the Academy intend to shoulder the task of co-ordinating the process at its early stages.
We also see ourselves as an entity responsible for seeking out useful and inspiring materials describing interesting experience and efficient practices, to then distribute them to Polish and foreign local philanthropic organisations. The Academy intend to offer assistance in the area of organising study tours for Polish and foreign representatives of local philanthropic organisations, and facilitate the process of information exchanging in any areas concerning philanthropic work, local coalition building, and fundraising in Poland and in the United States. Another element of such exchange shall be that of organising training courses by foreign partners for the LPO Network, and of implementing joint Polish-foreign programmes. Albeit at the initial stage we intend to try and twin local philanthropic organisations from Poland and the United States, our future plans include the development and stimulation of direct contacts between Polish and European philanthropic organisations.
Furthermore, the Academy have been invited to participate in an international research exercise organised by the Community Foundations of Canada - WINGS, with a membership of organisations supporting the development of Community Foundations and philanthropic organisations world-wide. The purpose of the study is to describe the models of supporting Community Foundation development in different countries. As part of the research exercise, the Academy shall be describing their methodology of supporting the process of forming and developing community foundations in Poland. A yet another task for the years to come shall be that of Academy participation in works to form a representation of Polish non-governmental organisations in Brussels, co-ordinated by the Stefan Batory Foundation.
Moreover, we intend to continue the process of exchanging information with the Ukraine within the Local Development Academy project, as well as with other organisations from Central and Eastern Europe, to the purpose of improving any operational methods applied.

Polish and foreign partners who have declared initial support in the process of building international bonds and seeking out local partners currently include the following: AED in Washington, the Association of Community Trusts and Foundations in London, the California Community Foundation, the Community Foundations of Canada, the Council of Michigan Foundations, the Donors Forum of Ohio, the Grantmakers Forum of Ohio, the Foundation for Social and Economic Initiatives, the Foundation for Children?s Welfare Stamps, IDEE, the Kharkiv Institute for Local Community Development in Kharkiv, Nadacia pre obciansku spolocnost, the German Parity Union, the Silicon Valley Community Foundation, the Association for the Non-Governmental Initiatives Forum, and the Association of Pro Bono Organisations? Task Forces.Foreign co-operation, including participation in conferences and seminar, enjoyed support of the following organisations and institutions: the Embassy of the United States in Poland, the Bertelsmann Foundation, the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, the Leopold Kronenberg Banking Foundation, the Stefan Batory Foundation, the German Marshall Fund of the United States, PAUCI, and USAID.

We wish to offer cordial thanks to all.