Many environmental groups are giving more attention to fund raising: obtaining grants, contracts, or large corporate contributions. For many Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) in the former Soviet Union and Central Europe, often the search for large sums of money takes them to American or Western European funding sources.

While this type of fund raising is critical to the short term survival of NGOs, too much dependence on it can pose a number of problems. Over the next decade, NGOs must develop new and broader bases of financial support. One possibility is to develop philanthropic (charitable) institutions within each nation. Another way is to revive some traditional methods of self-funding, such as membership dues. A third option is to become entrepreneurial, to offer a service or product, and use the profits for NGO work.

These "fund raising" options and their consequences are examined in this issue. In addition, we describe a new approach, the Virtual Foundation which uses the Internet to connect potential donors with NGOs who seek support for specific projects.

What is Philanthropy, and Why Is It Important?
Philanthropy is an ancient word dating back to the Greeks. Philanthropy (phil, love + anthropos, man) literally means love for mankind. More generally it has come to mean acts which are performed, voluntarily, to improve the welfare of one's fellow human beings. To the ancient Greeks, philanthropy was an essential ingredient of community life; political participation and contributions to the community were considered to be the highest forms of "the good."

Today, the term "philanthropy" refers to a wide variety of charitable works. These include contributions of money or time devoted to improving the quality of life for others, and contributing to private or public sector programs in fields such as health, education, environment and the arts. Volunteers at a hospital, people who contribute money to support local NGO recycling efforts, or those who donate art work to museums, are all practicing philanthropy.

Why Should Philanthropy Be Developed in Central Europe and the former Soviet Union?
Without cultivating an ethic of philanthropy within their own societies , NGOs can find themselves caught in a continuous cycle of dependence. They are dependent upon foreign sources of funding, their demands, whims, and interruptions. Alternatively, they risk dependence upon the support of the state, and the economic and political swings which affect state programs. In either case, over dependence on large amounts of funding from sources external to the NGO and its community can distort the development of the organization. By responding to "top down" and outside pressures and agendas in order to get money to sustain itself, an NGO can easily lose its focus on improving conditions within, and being responsible to, the members of its own community and society.

In order to secure long term and stable funding, NGOs must support the development of indigenous philanthropic institutions within their own nations, among their own people. Nevertheless, Americans who suggest this to Russians and Central Europeans frequently hear that "it is impossible to get people to donate money in these hard times" , "People today are too hard-working to have time or energy for volunteer efforts", or "it is simply not a custom here." This cynicism is connected to the shift of many NGOs from broad based public support to dependence upon foreign funding sources. Organizations which in the late 1980's were composed entirely of members who paid dues or volunteered their time, have become narrower professional organizations today.

By shifting away from economic dependence upon their popular base, NGOs have temporarily increased their funding, but they have subjected themselves to a number of related risks. On the one hand, they are now risking permanently losing contact with their members; without popular support, and without a sense of ownership of the organization, one time members are less likely to provide the active political base upon which much of the power of an NGO depends. A few leaders, however knowledgeable and well connected, will not be able to sustain bold actions or to speak authoritatively without broad-based public support. Thus, when foreign funding ends, many NGOs will find themselves cut off from their original social and funding roots.

Indigenous philanthropy is a great and untapped potential source of support for NGOs in many emerging democracies. Unfortunately, until now this potential has been very seriously underestimated. There are several reasons for this, which can be explained through different viewpoints about philanthropy which exist throughout the former Soviet world today.

(1) Viewed through the residue of Marxist teachings which linger in countries with a Soviet history, philanthropy in the bourgeois capitalist world was a tool of manipulation, alms given by the exploiters to the exploited in order to reduce their discontent. By attempting to discredit the role of the individual philanthropist, many socialist nations also stifled local initiatives in the interest of expanding the all-encompassing role of the State.

(2) Viewed from an extreme nationalist perspective, international philanthropy is a tool of foreign cultural domination, a subtle technique for introducing alien ideology.

(3) Most NGO leaders tend to view philanthropy only from the narrow perspective of grant recipients: a wealthy foreign foundation provides funds on a yearly basis. Nearly everything beyond the grant application process is shrouded in mystery. This unfortunately contributes to a feeling of passivity or dependence - the exact opposites of what philanthropy at its best should be encouraging.

For more information about this Newsletter or about ECOLOGIA, return to the Newsletter Index
This page is accessible from the CCSI Home Page: http://www.friends-partners.org/~ccsi/.