In December 2012 started a regional project titled “SIGN sustainability” implemented by SIGN (Southeast Europe Indigenous Grantmakers Network), a network of local foundations and donor organizations from South East Europe. The project is funded by the European Union through the Instrument for Pre-accession Assistance (IPA) Civil Society Facility (CSF) and co-financed by the Balkan Trust for Democracy.

The overall objective of the action is to increase sustainability and impact of civil society in Western Balkans in giving citizens a voice and influence over public sector reform processes. Specific objectives of the action are to contribute to development of more enabling environment for philanthropy development, corporate social responsibility (CSR) and civic activism and inter-sectoral dialog at regional and national level and to achieve greater citizen participation in decision-making on issues of public concern by improving transparency and accountability.

Special attention in the framework of “Sign for Sustainability” will be dedicated to creating a proposal for changes in the legal framework that will encourage giving by companies and individuals, the adoption of specific standards of transparency in fundraising, promotion of national and regional cooperation in local philanthropy development as well as establishment of the first regional Sustainability Academy, which will also provide financial support to organizations that successfully raise funds from local sources.

SIGN network members who are also partners in the project “Sign for Sustainability” are: Balkan Community Initiatives Fund – BCIF (Serbia), Community Development Foundation Mozaik (BiH), Fund for Active Citizenship – fAKT (Montenegro), Center for Institutional Development – CIRa (Macedonia) and the Forum for Civic Initiatives – FIQ (Kosovo). Project partner is also VIA Foundation (Czech Republic), while associate to the project is the National Foundation for Civil Society Development (Croatia).

Sustainability Academy is a training program through which civil society organizations will gain the skills essential to their sustainability. The Academy will provide organizations knowledge that is essential to the process of fundraising in the community, with a clear idea that the strategic orientation and planning are closely associated with fundraising.

The Call is open until 1 July 2013th (until 17:00).

You can find the Call for application here.