Deadline: 16-Jun-25
The OSF Foundation, in cooperation with partners and with the support of the European Union from the Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values (CERV) programme, is launching a grant call for the Stronger Roots Programme.
The call will support civil society organisations and their networks from the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary and Poland in two separate pillars.
The Stronger Roots program aims to increase the resilience of civil society organizations and their networks, strengthen their social capital, and contribute to their greater connection to society.
The program builds the capacity of civil society organizations through a combination of financial and expert support and mutual sharing of experiences. The program also supports the active participation of people in issues of public interest that civil society organizations address.
Objectives
Building a Community of Supporters: In this call, they will support individual civil society organizations in building a community of supporters (e.g. supporters, donors, volunteers, and activists). Their goal is that as a result, the organizations will become stronger and more sustainable, and that they will start to engage more people in their activities, who will help them promote their goals and solve the issues they are working on.
Transversal Network Cooperation: The aim of this call is to strengthen cooperation between networks of civil society organizations and diverse actors.
Categories
Building a Community of Supporters: Organizations can apply for support to create or strengthen their community of supporters, donors, volunteers or partners (in accordance with the concept of building a community of supporters, also known as social base building).
Transversal Network Cooperation: Networks (platforms, associations, umbrella organizations, etc.) can apply for support to reach out to diverse actors and start new cooperation with them or strengthen existing relationships (in line with the concept of transversal cooperation).
Funding Information
Building a Community of Supporters:
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- In this call, they plan to distribute an amount of EUR 2,205,000 and support 13–20 projects.
- Applicants can submit one application per organisation and request a grant of a minimum of EUR 20,000 and a maximum of EUR 40,000 per project. Co-financing of the project is not required.
Transversal Network Cooperation:
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- In this call, they plan to distribute a total amount of EUR 700,000 and support 4-10 projects.
- Applicants can submit one application per network and receive a grant of a minimum of EUR 20,000 and a maximum of EUR 35,000 per project. Co-financing of the project is not required.
Duration
- The mandatory project duration is 18 months.
Program Specifications
Building a Community of Supporters: They expect representatives of the supported organizations to participate in the following activities:
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- regular individual mentoring (1.5 hours per month)
- individual professional consultations (20 hours within the 18-month project duration at least 4 group workshops, both in person and online, in areas related to with community building (each usually lasting 2–6 hours)
- at least 4 meetings, both in person and online, to share experiences (each usually lasting 2–4 hours)
- an international workshop in Slovakia for all supported organizations from Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia at the mid-point of the projects (2 days)
- final conference in the Czech Republic for all supported organizations from Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia (2 days).
Transversal Network Cooperation: They expect representatives of the supported networks to participate in the following activities:
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- regular interviews (1 hour online/offline meeting, once every 3 months),
- kick-off meeting (personal/online meeting at the beginning of projects, 3–4 hours),
- 6 experience-sharing meetings or training seminars (usually 3-4 hours each, some of them combined into two-day international meetings),
- individual expert consultations tailored to each of the supported networks depending on their specific needs (up to 10 hours within the project),
- international workshop in Slovakia for all supported organizations/networks,
- a final conference in Prague for all supported organizations and networks.
Eligibility Criteria
Building a Community of Supporters: In the Czech Republic, this call is addressed to individual civil society organizations operating at local, regional and/or national level in one of the following priority areas:
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- Support for democracy and the rule of law
- Education
- Human rights and inclusion
- Environmental protection
The organization must also meet the following conditions:
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- is based in the Czech Republic;
- are non-governmental, non-profit organizations that are legal entities registered in the Czech Republic and are defined by law as an association, institute, public benefit corporation, foundation or endowment fund;
- were registered at least 2 years before the application deadline.
Transversal Network Cooperation: In the Czech Republic, this call is open to various forms of networks (e.g. civil society platforms, associations, umbrella organizations, coalitions, long-term working groups, etc.) operating in the civil society sector in any thematic area:
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- (education, human rights, social services, environmental protection, community development, health, etc.)
- and may have varying degrees of geographical coverage (operating at local, regional and/or national level) and which:
- is based in the Czech Republic,
- are non-governmental, non-profit organizations that are legal entities registered in the Czech Republic and are defined by law as an association, institute, public benefit corporation,
- interest group of legal entities, foundation or endowment fund, or – if the network does not have legal personality – its registered member organization may act as the applicant organization,
- are registered or have existed for at least 6 months (if the network does not have legal personality – its registered member organization must be registered for at least 1 year before the application deadline.
- have at least 7 member civil society organizations in the country.
For more information, visit OSF Foundation.