No. 16

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What sort of financing does the development of a civic society require?

  • Urmo Kübar

    head of the Network of Estonian Nonprofit Organizations

  • Agu Laius

    project manager, the Network of Estonian Nonprofit Organizations´ Civic Society Endowment

The Civic Society Endowment to be created on the basis of the initiative of voluntary associations will fill an important gap in the state financing of Estonian civic society, which to this point has not been very systematic.

This endowment will be established in the legal form of a foundation and according to current plan, its activity will be headed by a ten-member council including, besides the Minister of Regional Affairs and representatives from the Ministry of the Interior and the Ministry of Finance, 1-2 members of the Riigikogu and 4-5 representatives from associations in various fields.Based on the goal and the focus, the Civic Society Endowment will be both a grant-making and operational foundation. Experiences with similar foundations in other states point to a number of dangers which may keep the new foundation from realizing its potential. Among other things, it should be borne in mind that the Civic Society Endowment would not become a state financing monopoly, which rather than accelerating the development of civil society could in fact turn out to curtail the process.

Full article in Estonian

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