Donors report a series of successes and challenges in their past support. However, despite these achievements, donors feel that there are still many needs, which have not been met.
6.4.1 K
EYS
UCCESSES OFP
ASTD
ONORS
UPPORTo Donors believe that their programs have brought some direct changes and improvements in the quality of life for Romanian society as a whole and disadvantaged groups in particular. Donors report positive changes particularly in the quality of life for children, young people, the elderly and minorities.
o Also – donors say – support from the donor community has fostered
the creation of innovative models, a wide pool of skilled people with initiative and an activation of the community spirit. Small grants programs and pilot programs in particular have contributed to innovation.
…large grants would not go to these ideas because they are high risk; thus, NGOs can pilot ideas and then go to larger donors. (Private Donor)
o Donor support has contributed to the development of NGOs through
financial support to core costs and through both financial and non- financial development support. Thus – donors report – their programs have supported NGO infrastructure, have increased the project planning and management knowledge, skills and experience and have passed on to NGOs a set of management procedures. This support has allowed NGOs to achieve concrete results and sustain their activities.
We supported small refurbishments, office equipment and furniture, databases. So, we can say that we funded from establishment and start up to the comfort at workplace. (Development Agency)
o Donor support is also thought to have contributed to increased NGO communication and partnerships with government and public
institutions, as well as building national and regional networks between NGOs.
Partnerships with local NGOs are not strange anymore to public authorities, they have understood that this is an exercise in solving community problems together, and the public authorities are open to this… (Public Foundation)
6.4.2 K
EYC
HALLENGES OFP
ASTS
UPPORTDonors have highlighted a series of gaps and overlaps in past donor support. These can be found at different levels:
o Distribution of support by fields over time: as support for one specific field was not constant, specific fields can be either under- or over- supported at different times.
o Regional distribution of support: covering all regions of the country is
considered to have been a challenge due to the uneven distribution of NGOs and limited donor human resources for effective the
identification of new grantees.
o Distribution by type of organization or project: donors have identified possible overlaps in supporting the same organizations, the so-called “usual suspects” or the same types of projects.
o Distribution of support by type: a focus on projects has led to only limited support of core costs for organizations and activities which are not clearly linked to one project. The gaps identified in terms of past or current donor support are: the low level of support for core costs of the organizations and organizational development and a lack of funds for project preparation etc.
There was a demand from large donors to cover core support and the donors did not understand that in time: they funded a project manager, but not an accountant, a playground, but not the organization’s office. (Private Donor)
Most donors want to give funds for sensational activities with impressive results. Very few donors are willing to give money for a preparatory meeting for a project. They would rather support the project. (Development Agency)
Donors identify also other challenges:
o Promotion of NGO cooperation: in spite of reported successes, an
important number of donors consider that there is still room for creating a better climate for cooperation among NGOs and for structures for this cooperation to be developed.
o Finding NGOs with a good social base has proved difficult for a number of donors. Also, the implementation capacity of NGOs was considered by some of the donors to be a major challenge. For specific issues or at some moments identifying NGOs to absorb available resources was difficult.
o Time frame of support: as substantial results are achieved long-term, a
number of donors point out that the time frame of the support is, by comparison, too small.
o Ensuring constant support for the organizations: changes in levels of funding have created an unstable environment, which is not conducive to the stability and development of organizations.
6.5 CHAPTER’S SUMMARY OF FINDINGS AND CONCLUSIONS
Donor support has made an important contribution to addressing urgent needs and to the development of the NGO sector. While it is hard to estimate if the amount of support is enough to cover needs, there is a perception shared by a number of donors that the Romanian NGO sector has benefited from less support than other countries in the region.Besides the amount of support, the effectiveness of this support is extremely important to ensure that needs are met. Key factors for effectiveness of support are the maintenance of a relatively constant level of support and relatively constant priorities that can ensure long-term results.
Past donor support for NGOs has been subject to strategy changes. These changes are thought to relate to continuous changes in the operational context, the effectiveness of prior strategies and approaches or to internal donor
changes. Donors have identified a series of phases and trends in past strategies. Support strategies have been subject to a constant search for the most effective approaches for addressing civil society and other key issues in Romania. This resulted in an evolution of support strategies from reactive to proactive
strategies and from a sole reliance on an NGO development model to increased attention for community development models to complement the first. Donors identify three phases in support for NGOs – a phase of emergency and widespread support in the beginning of 1990s, followed by a consolidation phase with support for the development of organizations and human resources. The third phase is considered to have gaps in the funding of the NGO sector and an increased orientation on priority issues.
The trends and phases perceived by donors are largely supported by the quantitative information. This shows a generally ascending curve in the support granted to NGOs, with a relative decrease in the period of 1998-1999 and a number of changes in the distribution of support.
A growing number of donors and the increased diversity of the donor community have contributed to the maintenance of a relatively constant level of funds available, even if funding from a number of sources has varied in size. An important trend is the increase of the average size of grants and sharp decrease in the number of grants awarded annually. Data covering support for 2001 indicate that this trend is accelerating.
Although there are still differences in the regional distribution of grants, an increased regional balance of support can be noted in the recent years. The fields of support on which a large number of donors were active tended to have a constant or increasing amount of support in recent years, while fields in which fewer donors were active tended to have more variable support.
6.6 ACTION POINTS/RECOMMENDATIONS
Donors may consider the following points:Provide long-term support programs and organizations to allow for continuity, stability and strategic focus.
Continue to provide support for the development of new initiatives as there is a constant need for new NGOs and approaches, while still providing support for the consolidation of existing NGOs.
Design strategies to ensure funding continuity as a key aspect of sustainability of results and retaining professionals in the sector.
Support the development of organizational capacity through core funding and support for organizational development.
Improve donor communication and cooperation to promote a better balance of: project support and organizational support; seed grants and consolidation funds, pilot initiatives and long term programs, regional and field distribution.