The event, the second to focus on fundraising capacity building, was organized by the Academy of Civic Organizations Foundation (FAOO) in collaboration with the Slovak Fundraising Centre, and with the financial support of the Active Citizens Fund, funded by Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway.

Three key themes

25 attendees, from Poland, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Lithuania, Slovakia, Sweden, and the UK, gathered over two days on November 7 and 8. Following the first expert seminar in 2023, this time sessions took place around three key themes: AI Insights: Unlocking New Dimensions in Fundraising; Grassroots Fundraising & Mobilisation: Building Trust and Independence; and Philanthropy in Uncertain Times.

Day 1 focus: growing fundraising income; AI benefits & risks; grassroots fundraising & mobilisation

The learning journey began with a session entitled: Great Fundraising: What Does It Take to Double, Triple or Even Quadruple Your Fundraising Income, presented by Prof. Adrian Sargeant and Dr Jen Chang from the UK’s Institute for Sustainable Philanthropy.

The second part of the day focused on AI, including how it can provide deeper information about donors and help fundraisers better understand their motivations. How AI may personalize the donor experience and help to optimize fundraising campaigns was also discussed, along with the risks it brings into fundraising. Illuminating talks were given by Kateřina Švidrnochová, Masaryk University – Brno on Fundraising in the AI Era: Strategies, Tools, and Case Studies, and Piotr Bilik, Stowarzyszenie Otwarte Klatki on AI in Action: Enhancing Fundraising Efforts to Improve the Lives of Factory Farmed Animals.

In the afternoon, discussions turned to the topic of grassroots fundraising and mobilisation, looking at best practices and strategies for mobilizing the public and fostering grassroots fundraising as a response to non-transparent public funding practices or whims of the rich.  Whether mass mobilization can bring money that matters was also discussed, along with whether grassroots fundraising contributes to the independence of the civic sector.

Konstantina Papadimitriou from Inuksuk Consulting presented on Solidarity Trips: Engaging Donors Through Volunteer Experiences; Zuzana Suchová & Ivan Zaťko from Donio Slovensko on Raising Voices: Crowdfunding for Democracy, Rule of Law, and Independent Media in Slovakia; and Björn Lampe, from Denmark’s betterplace.org spoke on How to Raise 1.5 Million EUR in 48 Hours: the Potential for Grassroots Fundraising in the Creator Economy.

The first day ended with a panel discussion, providing both panellists and audience with the opportunity to share ideas, hopes and concerns about the future of philanthropy.

Day 2 focus: exploring the challenges faced by organizations supporting nonprofits

Day two focused on challenges faced by specialists who support nonprofit organizations in their fundraising capacity building, and explored strategies and tactics for surviving, developing, and thriving. Those attending explored critical questions related to professional development in an interactive session, including how to effectively keep pace with the evolving needs of clients (nonprofit organizations) and respond to them.

Participants also had a chance to identify and articulate their own educational needs to help them find the best way to enhance their competencies, and ultimately be ready for the future.

The final session saw the event close with a discussion on key findings and recommendations.

Commenting on the event, FAOO’s Andrzej Pietrucha said:

Photos by Marek Rozwadowski

A new report by the organisation notes that new Prime Minister Robert Fico said, on entering Government in late October, that he would end “the era of reign of political NGOs”. Another new member of parliament frequently alleges that CSOs are embezzling public money to finance specific political parties, while an official Government declaration has stated that foreign-funded CSOs are attempting to influence democracy.

The report also says that Fico has indicated that he intends to “introduce a law creating a ‘foreign agent’ label that organisations which receive foreign funding would have to use in public”. The ECNL warns that this could make corporate donors nervous and liable to withdraw funding. In addition, there have been threats to withdraw public funding from certain groups, through statements which appear designed to undermine public trust.

This environment puts a huge strain on the “understaffed and underfunded” sector, it says, placing a “heavy burden” on the mental health of CSO employees.

As Fundraising Europe recently reported, a total of 12 European countries have had their CIVICUS Monitor rating for civic space downgraded since 2018, with Germany recently rated ‘narrowed’ rather than open. ECNL says that developments in Slovakia “are part of a broader trend”, commenting:

“The trend of stigmatising civil society through the ‘foreign agent’ narrative has been growing in Europe… While the European Court of Justice ruled against the Hungarian transparency law, the Georgian government was forced to retract the law after mass protests. In Bosnia and Herzegovina, CSOs are targeted through a foreign agent law proposed in Republika Srpska.”

However, the ECNL report says that CSOs in Slovakia have been successful in a campaign opposing a change to tax laws, which could have negatively impacted their finances.

The sector has also gathered more than 37,000 signatures for an open letter to the European Commission opposing numerous proposed reforms, leading to the Commission advising the Government not to proceed.

The ECNL report, which was co-founded by the European Union, says:

“The situation in Slovakia is therefore not unique. There are lessons Slovak CSOs can take from other contexts, and how Slovak CSOs respond to the situation can also serve to inspire others. It is important to act to protect civil society before the situation deteriorates.”

Picture by ivabalk on Pixabay

Eduard Marček chair of the Slovak Fundraising Centre says:

“Being a leader in the non-profit world is a huge responsibility and it is important that the sector provides support for people in these roles and helps encourage tomorrow’s generation of leaders. 

“With this survey, we hope to identify the most prominent challenges and concerns of those in leadership posts, so that we can better address them as a profession and expand our development provision to meet those needs.”

For the past four years, the Slovak and Czech Fundraising Centres have worked to bring leadership expertise from the international non-profit world to charity leaders across Central and Eastern Europe with its CEE Leaders of Tomorrow development programme.

To participate in the survey, click here.

The register, launched on 1 January 2019, will enable more comprehensive data on non-governmental non-profit organisations to be collected. It was proposed last year by the country’s Interior Minister Denisa Saková and created under the NGO Registry Act, which was passed in Parliament on 23 October.

The Ministry had put forward the bill as a solution to the lack of information that had been available on the country’s NGOs. Previously there had been limited legal requirements to record data on non-profit organisations. This register is publicly available, and collects a wide range of information, from basic contact information to legal status, and information on an organisation’s founders, aims, size, and dates of operation.

The Ministry said that the register would serve as a “unified and data-consistent source of information on civil associations, labour organisations, employer organisations, organisations with an international element, non-profit organisations that provide public services, foundations and non-investment funds”.

The Slovak Fundraising Centre has said that it sees the new Act as a positive move but questions the depth of information required on individuals.

Eduard Marček, chair of the Centre commented:

“This is a good step forward as it will make more data on Slovak NGOs available to the public and thus bring more transparency to the NGO sector, in a similar way to the country’s commercial Code, which provides the business community with data on companies. However, it is possible that some of the data required, such as birthdays and personal identification numbers, may step over the GDPR privacy level, so it will be up to NGOs or other entities to take action against the regulator if they find the requirements are too intrusive.”

The register is compulsory for all NGOs, and organisations now have six months to submit any missing information to the Interior Ministry free of charge. After the end of June this year, any changes will incur a fee, while only those organisations that have supplied all the necessary information will be eligible to apply for public funds and subsidies, as well as funding from the country’s percentage income tax system, which allows some corporations to designate a percentage of their income tax for charitable purposes.

The CEE Fundraising Conference will take place in Bratislava, Slovakia on 9-11 October 2018, looking at the theme of fundraising in a world of big data. Speakers will include Nick Allen from Open America, Stephen George from Good Leaders, Eva E. Aldrich from CFRE International, and Katalin Kovácsné Béres from SOS Children’s Village International.

Masterclass topics include making mobile work for fundraising, transforming your legacy programme, big data, and engaging boards in fundraising.

In addition, the 12-month transformative leadership development programme CEE Leaders of Tomorrow starts on 30 September. The programme begins with an orientation session and a four-day intensive experiential learning workshop held near Bratislava. Participants then progress through their own individualised leadership programme with the help and support of dedicated mentors including Canada’s Tony Myers. The programme culminates in a leadership summit, conducted one year after the initial training.

More details are available at www.ceeleadership.org, and registration is open until 31 July 2018.

Developed by the Centres in collaboration with Kay Sprinkel Grace (USA) and Tony Myers (CAN), the 12-month programme aims to address a critical need in leadership development. Through experiential learning and teaching from experts it focuses on development of personal, organisational, community and professional leadership qualities. It also offers participants the opportunity to explore their own leadership style and principles. An important part of the programme will also be leadership in fundraising.

CEE Leaders of Tomorrow 2017 will begin with an orientation session and a four-day intensive experiential learning workshop delivered by Kay and Tony together with Jan Kroupa and Jana Ledvinová (CZE) and Eduard Marček (SVK). It will be held in the vicinity of Bratislava, Slovakia, and this year takes place from 22-27 October 2017.

The participants will then progress through their own individualised leadership programme with the support of dedicated mentors. Each participant will develop a personal leadership development plan to help them reach the next level of achievement whether they are aspiring to be leaders or have already attained a leadership role. The culmination of the programme includes a leadership summit, which is conducted one year after the initial leadership training.

Previous participants have described the programme as the ‘most amazing and life changing experience ever’, as a great restart and as the best investment they could have made.

More information is available at: www.ceeleadership.org.

Developed by the Centres in collaboration with a number of fundraising experts from around the world, the programme aims to address a critical need in leadership development. Over the course of 12 months, it focuses on development of personal, organisational, community and professional leadership qualities, sharing proven leadership approaches, including the best thinking and teaching from experts. It also offers participants the opportunity to explore their own leadership beliefs, principles and practices.

CEE Leaders of Tomorrow 2016 will begin with an orientation session and a four-day intensive experiential learning workshop delivered by the USA’s Kay Sprinkel Grace, Tony Myers from Canada, Jan Kroupa and Jana Ledvinová from the Czech Republic, and Eduard Marček from Slovakia. It will be held in the vicinity of Bratislava, Slovakia, and this year takes place from 23-28 October.

The participants will then progress through their own individualised leadership programme with the support of dedicated mentors. Each participant will develop a personal leadership plan to help them reach the next level of achievement whether they are aspiring to be leaders or have already attained a leadership role. The culmination of the programme includes a leadership summit, which is conducted one year after the initial leadership training.

Last year’s participants described the programme as:

“The most amazing experience ever! Great restart! A programme that I feel will bring a lasting change to my life. It was really a life changing experience.”

More information is available at: www.ceeleadership.org.

The conference takes place between 12-14 October in Bratislava, Slovakia, and will look at questions including: What are the roads to fundraising success? Where do we get funds for investment? Who do we partner with to create synergies in fundraising?

This year’s speaker line-up includes Kay Sprinkel Grace (USA), Jan Uekermann (Switzerland), Betsy Akin (USA), Jolan van Herwaarden (Netherlands), Jillian Stewart (USA), Arko Hoondert (Netherlands), Trisha Tanner (USA/Hungary), Juraj Rizman (Slovakia), Marianna Zappi (UK), Sarah Enderby (UK), Camelia Mates (Romania), Emily Bracken (Spain), and Ana Koeshall (Serbia).

There will also be a number of masterclasses covering topics including successful peer-to-peer fundraising, how to maximise impact by engaging volunteers, and how to start up a major gift programme.

Further information is available at www.ceefundraising.org, and an early bird discount is available on bookings until 31 August.

Last year, more than 150 people from 15 countries attended the conference.