International Conference on Public Financing of NGOs
International Conference on Public Financing of NGOs
Bucharest, Romania
13-14 September 2007
Hotel Majestic
Draft Agenda
DAY 19:30 – 10:00 Welcome and introduction
§ Calin Popescu Tariceanu – Prime Minister of Romania Government (tbc)
§ Bogdan Olteanu – Chamber of Deputy President
§ Ruxandra Datcu – USAID representative (tbc)
§ Jan Karpowicz - Chief of Party, Romania Civil Society Strengthening Program (tbc)
§ Nilda Bullain - Executive Director, European Center for Not-for-Profit Law (ECNL)
§ Ionuţ Sibian – Executive director, Civil Society Development Foundation, Romania (CSDF)
10:00 – 11:15 Setting the context – Public financing of NGOs in Europe and Romania
Moderator: Alina Inayeh, German Marshal Fund
§ European models, principles and practices of public funding of NGOs
Overview of the main European models of government-NGO relationship; the common principles of public funding; the main forms, mechanisms and practices of financing NGOs in Europe.
Speaker: Nilda Bullain, ECNL
§ Partnership at work – Example of the UK Compact
Speaker: Nolan Quigley, NCVO
§ Presentation of results of research by CSDF regarding legal framework and practice of governmental financing of NGOs in Romania
Speaker: Octavian Rusu, CSDF
Q&A, discussion
11:15 – 11:45 Coffee Break
11: 45 – 13:00 Successes and challenges of the new EU member states in public funding – round-table discussion (Speakers with relevant expertise from each country)
Moderator: Katerina Hadzi-Miceva, ECNL
§ Hungary: Márkus Eszter, National Development Agency
§ Poland: Grzegorz Makowski, Institute of Public Affairs (IPA)
§ Bulgaria: Luben Panov, Bulgarian Center for Not-for-Profit Law (BCNL)
§ Romania: Mirel Talos, Councilor of Romanian Government Prime Minister (tbc)
§ Czech Republic: Marek Gajdos, Civil Society Development Foundation
§ Slovakia: Martina Kubanova, Slovak Governance Institute?
§ Estonia: Urmo Kübar, NENO Estonia?
13:00 – 14:30 Lunch
14:30 – 16:00 Parallel Workshop Sessions
1. Governmental funding for civil society development (mechanisms supporting the civil society sector as a whole)
What is the rationale for supporting civil society as a whole? How to devise a strategy for support? What is the best mechanism for a comprehensive approach to supporting the development of civil society? Building on experiences of governmental institutions for civil society support, panel members will share the results and difficulties of such support.
Panel participants/resource people:
Croatia: Cvjetana Plavsa-Matic, National Foundation for Civil Society Development, Croatia
Estonia: Urmo Kübar, NENO Estonia?
UK: Nolan Quigley, NCVO
Romania: Narcis Munteanu, Councilor of Chamber of Deputy President (tbc)
Romania: Razvan Cotovelea, General Director, Agency for Structural Instruments Coordination (tbc)
Facilitator: Katerina Hadzi-Miceva, ECNL
2. Practice of grant-making by ministries and government agencies
This session would go into the details / nuts and bolts of governmental grant-making. It would explore issues with grant-tendering, deadlines, administrative procedures, transparency, use of IT, reporting and evaluation etc. What is to be considered good practice? What can be improved?
Panel participants / resource people:
Romania: Valentin Burada, CSDF
Romania: Andreea Grecu, Director National Cultural Fund
Slovakia: Martina Kubanova, Slovak Governance Institute?
Croatia: Igor Vidacek, Head of Office, Government Office for Cooperation with NGOs?
Facilitator: Nilda Bullain, ECNL
3. Issues in contracting with NGOs
What is the difference between procurement and contracting with NGOs for service provision? What kind of services are NGOs usually contracted for and why not others? What are the key issues in financing such contracts (e.g. issue of full cost recovery etc.)? What is the potential of contracting for Romania and other new EU member states?
Panel participants/resource people:
Romania: Gabriela Alexandrescu, Save the Children Romania (tbc)
Romania: Theodora Bertzi, Secretar of State – Ministry of Labour, Family and Equal Opportunities (tbc)
Hungary: Margit Kinyik, Socio-East Association
Bulgaria: Luben Panov, BCNL
Poland: Grzegorz Makowski, IPA
Facilitator: Mihaela Lambru
4. EU funding for NGOs
This session will explore the specificities of EU funding channeled through domestic mechanisms. It will look at the issues of NGO participation in the programming and monitoring phases (like monitoring committees); funding procedures and factors helping or hindering NGOs in making use of the Structural Funds (e.g. eligibility criteria, pre or post-financing, co-funding etc.). We can also try to see if EU funding practice is different from other funding in the countries, and if yes, why and how.
Panel participants/resource people:
Romania: Lavinia Andrei, President of Terra Milenium, III
Romania: Cristina Iova, General Director – Management Authority for Special Operational Program for Human Resources Development (tbc)
Czech Republic: Marek Gajdos, Civil Society Development Foundation
Hungary: Eszter Markus, National Development Agency
Romania: Mircea Toma, Executive director – Media Monitoring Agency (tbc)
Facilitator: Ionut Sibian, CSDF Romania
16:00 – 16:30 Coffee Break
16:30 – 17:30 Plenary discussion
In this plenary we will discuss learning points from the breakout sessions and share recommendations from the CSDF research.
Facilitator: ECNL / WL representative
DAY 29:00 – 10:00 Indirect support to NGOs – tax benefits and the public benefit status
Moderator: Ancuţa Vamesu, World Learning
§ Overview of indirect funding of NGOs – Nilda Bullain, ECNL
§ Applicability of charity (PBO) status – Ben Evans, Charity Commission International Programme (CC IP, UK)
§ Legal overview of indirect support for NGOs in Romania – Irina Vilcu, CSDF
§ Presenting draft law regarding Public benefit status in Roamania – Octavian Rusu, CSDF
Followed by Q&A and discussion
10:00 – 10:30 Coffee Break
10:30 – 12:30 Parallel workshop sessions
1. Public benefit status
Panel participants/resource people:
Poland: Grzegorz Makowski, IPA
Bulgaria: Luben Panov, BCNL
UK: Ben Evans, CC IP
Romania: Gabriela Achihai, FSC Bacau
Facilitator: Octavian Rusu, CSDF Romania
2. Percentage laws – what are the learning points?
Panel participants/resource people:
Hungary: Eszter Markus, National Development Agency
Slovakia: Martina Kubanova, Slovak Governance Institute?
Romania: Catălin Gheorghe, ARC Romania (tbc)
Facilitator: Katerina Hadzi-Miceva, ECNL
3. Tax exemptions on economic activities, incl. investment income etc.
Training session for NGO representatives organized with the support of Eva Varga and Ana Negrila from NESsT
12:30 – 13:30 Closing plenary
This would include a report from the workshops and overall conclusions and next steps.
Facilitator: ECNL representative
13:30 – 15:00 Lunch and departures
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