Deadline: 30-Jun-2020
The Active Citizens Fund – National will provide support for activities conducted by organisations throughout Poland, but will focus in particular on supporting activities of less experienced organisations, based outside large cities and in areas where access to aid programmes and infrastructure support is limited, and organisations whose activities are directed towards vulnerable and underserved groups.
In all programme activities, young people will be a major target group. In its activities, the Fund subscribes to the universal values specified in the Treaty of EU: respect for human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality, rule of law, and respect for human rights, including the rights of persons belonging to minorities.
Grants will be awarded for projects aimed to develop the CSO sector and civic movements at nationwide level and in particular regions or. subsectors (“branches”). Activities are not eligible if they focus on improving the standing of individual organisations or narrowly defined interest groups, and the benefits and results of the projects must be available for the broadest possible range of groups in the civic sector.
Funding Information
Grants can be applied for in the call according to the following conditions:
- minimum grant: EUR 25 000;
- maximum grant EUR 125 000;
- implementation period: between 12 and 36 months.
Types of Activities
Types of activities supported:
- Provision of services and organising other activities that support capacity building of CSOs and civic movements, such as providing information, raising awareness, providing consultations and advice, organising internships and sharing know-how, publishing educational materials, and creating and making available infrastructure enabling access to those services (such as websites, platforms, forums, various kinds of shared resources). These activities are intended to improve management of organisations and/or make CSOs more capable of conducting monitoring and advocacy activities. Particular emphasis will be placed on providing support for capacity building in the following areas: raising management standards, communication, finding funding, transparency and accountability of an organisation, monitoring and evaluation, and entering into cooperation and forging partnerships with other organisations and communities. Priority will be given to funding intended for organisations with a low level of know-how, located in areas where there is limited access to services of this kind or where there is a lower level of civic activeness than in other regions, and to organisations that provide support for people who are disadvantaged and face social and economic hardship.
- Monitoring of the law, law enforcement, and public policies established at central, regional, and local level, and at European level as well, that might affect how CSOs and civic movements function (such as tax, personal data protection, right to congregate, accounting, philanthropy, etc.). Monitoring can also be performed for legislative policy and processes, and law enforcement, with respect to particular industries or areas of an organisation’s activity.
- Advocating for rights and interests conducted at central, regional, and local level, and at European level as well, in the form of campaigns and action (including intervention in response to unpredictable, adverse events) or continuous activity that improves the legal, political, economic, and social conditions in which CSOs and civic movements operate (the entire sector or industries in the sector).
- Increasing public awareness of the role and importance of the civic sector and the need to become involved in supporting it through campaigns, action, and other information-related activities, and awareness-raising and promotional activities aimed at building a positive image of the civic sector, increasing the level of public knowledge of CSOs and how they operate, and promoting philanthropy, voluntary work, or other forms of public support for an organisation’s activities. Grants are available for activities at nationwide, regional, or local level, or with respect to industries.
- Research, analyses, opinions, and expert analyses essential for the proper planning and implementation of the activities described in points a-d, so that they are based on fact, scientific knowledge, and expert know-how. The application must state specific recipients/clients/participants and how the provided information, ideas, and content will be put to use. The research and analyses conducted are intended to address identified needs of CSOs or the expectations they have expressed.
Priority will be given to ventures pursued in the form of a partnership, coalition, network and other forms of cooperation between civic organisations and between organisations and business and/or the public sector. The principle that partnerships and cooperation take priority applies to all of the types of activity mentioned above for which funding is available. Regardless of the particular forms that applicants adopt for cooperation, cooperation of that kind is expected to be based on the principles of reciprocity, solidarity, equality, and participatory management.
Period of Implementation
Projects can be implemented for between 12 and 36 months. Implementation of projects can commence on 15 January 2021 at the earliest, and conclude on 29 February 2024 at the latest.
Eligibility Criteria
Grants are available for Polish CSOs: associations, including so called ordinary associations, foundations, social cooperatives, non-profit companies, country housewives’ associations and faith-based organizations, which:
- have been active for a minimum of 12 months (as at the day the application is submitted);
- can submit financial statements (or a summary of revenue and costs) drawn up for the previous year before signing grant contract;
- are independent of local, regional, and central authorities, public entities, political parties and commercial entities;
- do not operate for profit;
- act for public good;
- are guided in their activities by public interest and democratic values, respect human rights;
- are not the subject to a petition for declaration of bankruptcy, are not in a state of liquidation, are not in receivership, do not have suspended operations, or are not the subject to proceedings of a similar nature;
- are not in arrears with public levies due to a tax office or the Social Security Institution;
- do not have a governing body whose members have been convicted for a premeditated offence ex officio or fiscal offence.
For more information, visit https://eeagrants.org/currently-available-funding/pl-activecitizens-national-call-2-sectoral-projects