On Monday, March 11, 2013. Fund for Active Citizenship (fAKT) organized a presentation of the results of a research on the attitudes of citizens in relation to philanthropy, which was conducted in November and December 2012. due to support of Charles Stewart Mott Foundation and the Rockefeller Brothers Fund.

The public opinion survey was conducted by De Facto Consultancy from Podgorica, with the aim of collecting data on citizens’ attitudes and measuring the potential for doing and giving for the common good, and practices that exists in Montenegro in this regard. The study was conducted through a face-to-face survey with a sample of 1000 respondents, in order to give a representative picture of the attitudes of the citizens of Montenegro.

The research has provided a very rich fund of information on various aspects of philanthropic activities in Montenegro. Standard questions and scales have been used in order to ensure comparability of data, not only in terms of Montenegro, but also with the other countries of the region and the world.

The report highlighted a number of interesting data and guidelines for future activities. We believe that at the very least, it should be emphasized a few:

• People are generally very poorly informed about philanthropy as a phenomenon; the benefits for the society from philanthropic activities and concrete actions. For this reason, it follows one of the biggest problems – lack of trust.
• Lack of trust, together with poor economic situation and general lack of awareness on the need for such activities are key factors for not giving, and not participating in actions for the common good.
• Actions for the common good people mostly associate with humanitarian activities and they prefer giving when it comes to people in vulnerable situations.
• However, the percentage of those who participate in actions, of any nature, for more than once a year is below one third of the population.
• The research has identified a relatively high percentage of those who are willing to participate in actions for the common good under certain conditions (47%), which indicates that they should be encouraged, especially by working on the issues that can be influenced – awareness of the importance of philanthropic actions and strengthen of confidence.
• The research also measured Montenegro giving index for 2012, based on the methodology of Charities Aid Fundation World Giving Index, and it showed score of 20 points, which is +4 points compared to the 2011 WGI  report, when index for Montenegro was 16.

You can find the presentation with key findings here.