Europe Foundation is pleased to invite Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), registered and operating in Georgia, to submit inquiries or full proposals through the Foundation’s Open Door Grant making Mechanism.
Europe Foundation’s Open Door grant making provides CSOs with one of the very few opportunities to be proactive in identifying and addressing local needs, developing fresh solutions and ideas to existing challenges.
Open Door grant making allows the Foundation to receive a wide variety of unsolicited proposals on a continual basis. It has proven to be an effective means to support new and innovative pilot projects, or projects with time-sensitive needs, provided that they envision achievement of lasting positive changes through participatory civic monitoring and advocacy actions. Over the years, Open Door grant projects supported by the Foundation have successfully promoted good governance and civic engagement, while at the same time contributing to institutional strengthening of the grantee organizations.
Open Door Grant making Mechanism is open for all types of CSOs and their projects that foster civic engagement and have the potential to be replicated either in geographic terms or across various issue areas.
Funding Information
The analysis of projects funded by the Foundation in previous years showed that the majority of project budgets varied from GEL 50,000 to GEL 65,000, a range that enabled grantees to successfully achieve project goals and objectives. The Foundation recommends the applicants to take into account this condition when preparing project proposals.
Institutional Capacity Development of Civil Society Actors
As part of Europe Foundation’s approach to develop institutional capacity of partner civil society organizations, some of the applicants can be selected to take advantage of the Foundation’s Organizational Development (OD) initiative, through which they will receive a more focused advice on how best to improve their own institutional capacity in the following six areas: board governance, program management, financial management, human resource management, communications, and fund development. The interested applicants are encouraged to note their interest in this opportunity and, if selected, be ready to undergo additional procedures to receive OD support.
Ineligible Funding
Europe Foundation cannot support:
Projects of humanitarian nature;
A particular political party (however, it may fund the work that includes all parties on issues like electoral processes if activities are transparent and fair);
Activities related to lobbying for partisan purposes (except of the advocacy for issues that bring about public and social good);
Religious activities;
Capital construction projects for commercial purposes;
Court cases and disputes of a grantee, unless they are related directly to the primary objectives of the project;
Military projects of any kind;
Funding for: micro-credit, small business loans, start-up capital for entrepreneurs;
Non-applied academic research;
Proprietary market research;
Scholarships or travel grants for academic study;
Purchase of medical equipment.
Selection Criteria
Grants will be awarded to projects demonstrating the following:
Degree of compliance with the objectives and conditions of Open Door Grant making Mechanism;
Effectiveness of project methodology, including a results-oriented, feasible, and needs based action plan ensuring wide participation of citizens in identification and addressing of salient local issues;
Scope of project impact;
Engagement of relevant stakeholders in achievement of project objectives;
Sound analysis of internal and external risks and efficient methods of risks mitigation;
Proper analysis of gender and minority considerations, to ensure equal participation and access of men and women, as well as representatives of different minority groups to project activities and products to influence decision-making processes;
Organization’s capacity to implement a project as demonstrated by:
relevant qualifications of the involved personnel and/or experts,
past experience of project implementation in relevant issue areas, and
capacity to manage a grant;
Cost-effectiveness of the project;
Sustainability of a project (please note that sustainability can refer to activities, structures, knowledge, and outcomes that result from project implementation).
