Fundraising by Moldovan Civil Society Organizations from Domestic Sources: Opportunities and Perspectives

In order to reach its objectives, any organization needs financial, material, human, and time resources. Moreover, in order to ensure the permanent work of an organization, a stable source of funding for a longer period of time is necessary. Unlike public institutions that are funded from the budget or from for-profit business entities, non-profit organizations have to seek funds for their activities. The Civil Society Development Strategy for 2012-2015 provides as main goal the promotion and strengthening of the financial sustainability of the civil society, which results in establishing adequate mechanisms for assuring their financial viability. The Strategy provides as objectives: encourage the participation of citizens and of the private sector to support the civil society by establishing a tax support framework more favorable to the civil society through percentage philanthropy and tax benefits for economic activities; strengthen the access to social contracting (develop an adequate normative framework and strengthen the LPA and CPA in this sense); create mechanisms for having the civil society supported by the state; capitalize the national accounting and financial reporting standards; and enhance the efficiency of the donation deduction mechanism and extend this mechanism onto individuals. The Study "Fundraising from Domestic Sources: Opportunities and Perspectives" was conducted between May and September 2015 in partnership with ECNL and included a review of the legal basis that regulates fundraising, examples of fundraising (case studies) from domestic sources, an online survey, and individual interviews. The Study aims to determine the opportunities and perspectives on developing fundraising from domestic sources in Moldova. The analysis of the domestic fundraising is not accidental, as most of the studies, including the online survey, conducted while developing the study, confirmed that the main source of funding for the Moldovan CSOs are foreign foundations and organizations. Eighty-three percent of organizations have confirmed this. If foreign donors cut down their funding, domestic sources may become one of the main sources for securing the financial sustainability of CSOs and may lead to developing the relations and cooperation between the associative sector and the society. At the same time, one must note that many foreign donors make considerable efforts to encourage diversification of funding sources for CSOs; they organize various training courses and invest in strengthening their institutional capacities. The Study provides information and practical tips on fundraising from domestic sources as well as suggestions on related advocacy. The research was based on the findings of an online Google-based questionnaire, with questions asked of Moldova CSOs. The survey is based exclusively on the statements made by the respondents–leaders of Moldovan nongovernmental organizations. The analysis of the legal framework started with the survey results and mainly aims at describing in short the legal framework but also the possible tools to be used by CSOs for fundraising from domestic sources. To ensure a comprehensive analysis of the legal mechanisms, the authors held interviews with representatives of public institutions, civic associations, accounting specialists, and persons responsible for fundraising from various CSOs. The Study showed a continuous trend of CSO high dependence on external funding sources (83%). However, despite their major dependence on foreign sources, CSOs increasingly focus on diversifying the funding sources. First of all, the role of the services provided by CSOs in the structure of their budgets must be noted. According to the survey, 27% of organizations indicated this source of funding as being a very important one to them. CSOs also indicated individual donations (20%) and donations made by the private sector (20%) as important sources of funding. At the same time, potential sources of funding, such as endowment or loans, are absolutely unused by and irrelevant to Moldovan CSOs. With regard to fundraising methods, Moldovan organizations remain very conservative. The majority (70%) prefer writing projects and participating in various grant competitions. This is due to the fact that this method is the most accessible one to CSOs and does not require many resources. In general, according to the online survey, the majority of CSOs consider that fundraising from domestic sources is a very important activity for their organization.