Electronic Resources: Civil Society

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E-mail Lists
Arnova-L An electronic listserv, NOT specific to the NIS, but to non-profit and voluntary work in general. Designed to be a forum for researcher on nonprofit organizations, voluntary action, and philanthropy.

CivilSoc CSI's electronic mailing list of news and resources, electronic and print, of interest to individuals and organizations engaged in civil society institution-building projects in the NIS.

Democracy_News News of conferences, Web sites, publications, book reviews and other resources related to democracy-building efforts around the world.

Friends Friends is a “digested” list, which means messages posted to the list are combined into one file which is distributed to subscribers once every two or three weeks. 

Georgia's NGO Sector News Bulletin provides information on NGO development in Georgia.

ISTR-L An e-mail list sponsored by the International Society for Third-Sector Research (ISTR).

RFE/RL (Un)Civil Societies An excellent weekly collection of news briefs from RFE/RL about freedom of the press, religion, and other civil society issues in Eastern Europe and Eurasia.  

Watchlist is a new, weekly online bulletin from Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty which reports on events affecting civil
societies in Eastern Europe and Eurasia.

Web Sites
"Action Without Borders" Directory to Nonprofits on the Web Information about noncommercial organizations around the world. Has a way for NGO's to search for partners which work in similar spheres.

American International Development Organizations Two lists of links to Web sites of the largest American organizations which work in the field of international development and humanitarian assistance.

The Bee a monthly calendar review of the activities of nongovernmental, noncommercial organizations in St. Petersburg now on the WWW or via E-mail.

Books for Russian NGOs Fourteen books produced during the course of the USAID-funded Civic Initiatives Program, including Taxation and Accounting for Noncommercial Organizations in Russia and Marketing Research: A Social Marketing Tool for Public Organizations. The books are in Russian and the files are zipped.

Centers for Pluralism Newsletter The on-line version of a newsletter published by a NGO based in Ryazan, Russia. Contains information about 49 NGOs operating in post-Soviet countries. Also available in print form.

Charity Know How There is much useful information at this site. In particular, see the Contact Finder Service, in English and Russian. Contact Finder “offers a step-by-step guide to seeking appropriate partners, looking at why partnerships should be considered in the first place, the types of partners that should be sought and how they can be identified.”

CharityNet CharityNet is an “international service, providing information and signposts from across the world.” From the home page, click on the “World” for specific country information and programs that “bring civil society into view.” The site is the creation of the Charities Aid Foundation, whose own site is well worth a visit (www.cafonline.org). CharityNet includes a list of links to more than 2,000 NGOs and foundations around the world and a searchable database of 90,000 NGOs in Great Britain with contact information.

Civil Society and Governance Programme The programme is a three-year research project of the Institute for Development Studies at the University of Sussex which will analyze the character of civil society in 22 countries. The research will focus on the role of civil society in tackling poverty and promoting greater equality. The Web site includes a database of online articles about civil society and an interesting list of links to Web sites around the world which focus on civil society issues.

Civnet Civnet is a large collection of resources related to civic education. It is sponsored in part by the United States Information Agency. Among the highlights is a bi-monthly journal with articles which examine civil society in theory and practice within a range of cultural contexts. The "Resources" section includes civic education bibliographies, lesson plans, and even a couple of text books. There is also a listing of civic education organizations around the world.

Coalition for Global Solidarity and Social Development, developed to be a valuable resource and tool for civil society organizations and governments, includes links to news groups and media institutions around the world, as well as information on training programs and development courses, and articles by scholars and practitioners.

Czech Information Center for Foundations and Other Not-for-Profit Organizations The site includes a searchable database of Czech NGOs.

DemocracyNet DemocracyNet is an on-line library of democracy development resources. It includes a well-organized list of annotated links to organizations active in such fields as human rights, election observation, conflict resolution, and a searchable database of more than 4,000 projects.

Directory of Public Internet Resources includes links to Russian sites of nonprofit organizations and public associations, resource and support centers, grantmaking foundations, media and informational agencies, conferences, public actions and campaigns, databases, electronic libraries, mail lists, content projects, and distant learning systems. In Russian.

Doors to Democracy An online survey of "Current Trends and Practices in Public Participation in Environmental Decisionmaking in Central and Eastern Europe" published by the Regional Environmental Center (REC) in Hungary in 1998.

German Charities Institute Information, including addresses, on more than 5,000 non-profit organizations in Germany.

GuideStar GuideStar is a searchable database of more than 700,000 nonprofit organizations in the United States. 

ID21 Hosted by the Institute of Development Studies, ID21, or Information for Development in the 21st Century is a searchable online collection of short, one-page (500-word) digests of the latest social and economic research studies across 30 key topic fields.

Idealist  Idealist is a searchable directory of 20,000 NGOs in 150 countries.  The vast majority are in the United States, but a search for “Russia” turned up a list of over 100 organizations.  For each entry there is a brief description, contact information and link to a website if applicable.  There is also a listing of volunteer opportunities.

International Institute for Democracy  The IID conducts training programs, holds conferences, issues publications and maintains this website, which contains a number of useful resources on everything from techniques of monitoring elections to information technology as an instrument of public administration.

Internet NonProfit Center The center is a project of The Evergreen State Society of Seattle, Washington. This website offers information for and about nonprofit organizations in the U.S.  Three sections are especially useful. The Locator assists with clarifying the legal name and exact location of any nonprofit registered with federal authorities. The Nonprofit FAQ ("Frequently Asked Questions") presents information on five major topics of interest to leaders and managers of nonprofit organizations: Organization, Management, Regulation, Resources, and Development. (Under Organization, there is information for organizations “Outside the U.S.”) The Library offers longer essays and analysis of the nonprofit sector from a variety of points of view

ISAR: Initiative for Social Action and Renewal in Eurasia ISAR’s headquarters are in Washington, DC and it has offices in seven cities in the former Soviet Union. Its work is “guided by the belief that meeting current social and ecological challenges depends on more equitable distribution of resources, open access to information and greater cooperation among groups and individuals.” ISAR’s quarterly magazine, Give & Take, a  “journal on civil society development in Eurasia,” is archived at the website, along with a lot of other interesting, pro-activism documents.

Issues of Democracy A quarterly electronic journal published by the United States Information Agency (USIA) which addresses such topics as "Advocacy in America" and "Law Enforcement in a Free Society." The journal is available in English and Russian. Other electronic journals available from this site (in English and Russian) include: U.S. Society & Values and Economic Perspectives.

Journal of Democracy A scholarly journal published by the National Endowment for Democracy and Johns Hopkins University Press.  Most issues contain contributions by four or five scholars on a particular topic, such as “Eastern Europe a Decade Later” or “Debating Democracy Assistance.”

Legal Regulation of the Activity of Noncommercial Organizations in Kazakhstan An online manual concerning legal matters for NGOs in Kazakhstan, in Russian.

Literature of the Nonprofit Sector A searchable online database of 18,000 bibliographic citations, 11,000 of which have descriptive abstracts.  Updated regularly.

Moscow Libertarium One of the oldest World Wide Web projects in Russia–it started in 1994–this site is a resource center for libertarian issues. In 1998 the maintainers started to collect documents on the proposal by the FSB (formerly the KGB) to monitor Internet traffic in Russia, which is known by its acronym SORM.

NGO Cafe An excellent collection of links and documents by and for NGOs around the world maintained by Hari Srinivas in Japan. The site includes a selection of articles about how NGOs can use the Internet and a list of links to NGO directories around the world titled "NGO Bungee Jumps."

NGO Global Network Best resource is their "Discussion Group Area" where one can join discussions on UN related topics, NGO Communication and Advancement, Development and Future Visions.

NGONet An excellent collection of resources for and about NGOs in Eastern Europe. The site is maintained by Freedom House as part of its USAID-sponsored Democracy Network project to support the development of non-governmental organizations in Central and Eastern Europe. Of special interest are back issues of the NGO News newsletter, which focuses on such topics as "NGOs and the Corporate Community" and "Media Relations for NGOs."  For an extensive, annotated set of links to civic organizations in Eastern Europe and Western organizations which work to promote civil society in the region go to www.ngonet.org/ngolocat.htm.

Nonprofit Links at the University of Michigan A very good, select list of links to organizations and resources related to the nonprofit sector and management of NGOs in the U.S.

Nonprofit Online News News stories about how U.S. NGOs are utilizing the Internet.  The news service is also available in a free weekly email edition--signup at the website.

North Caucasus NGO Monitor A publication of Nonviolence International- Newly Independent States intended to promote the development of civil society in the North Caucasus and to provide information on the activities of NGOs and activists in the area. 

OpenWeb OpenWeb is a project sponsored by IREX in Moscow to teach NGOs how to create Web pages. The site hosts home pages for more than 20 organizations.

Peace Magazine supports the promotion of peace and advocating human rights. This online version includes an archive of issues since 1994.

Polish NGO Page Non-governmental Organizations Data Bank was created in 1990 with statistics, links and publications on or by Polish NGOs.

Polish Non-Profit Center An excellent gateway to the non-profit sector in Poland. It includes a searchable database of NGOs and links to other Polish non-profit resources. Most of the site is in Polish, but there is an in-depth 1997 survey of Poland's third sector in English.

Ryazan Online An extensive listing of NGOs in Ryazan, Russia.

Siberian Civic Initiatives Support Center has expanded its English language web-site to include translations of selected articles from the quarterly bulletin "The Effect of Being". Articles deal with such issues as successful mechanisms for encouraging transparency in local government spending through competition and efforts towards stimulating a culture of business philanthropy.

Taxation and Bookkeeping for Russian NGOs Complete book is on-line, in Russian. Need Windows/1251 fonts.

Think Tanks in Central and Eastern Europe: A Comprehensive Directory Now in its second edition, the directory includes dozens of think tanks in Eastern Europe, plus some Eurasian countries, including Belarus and Ukraine.  The extensive annotations include contact information and project descriptions.  The directory is published by Freedom House and is available in Adobe Acrobat format from the NGONet website (see above).

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