USAid: Romania, non profit new frontier

Russia is the most contradictory country of all. Last year Vladimir Putin declared that 2006 should be philanthropy?s year and instead will be remembered as the year that gagged NGOs. Romania turns out to be the most surprising: in 12 months Bucharest not only managed to raise the percentage of taxes donated to the not for profit sector to 2% but also approved a law that guarantees greater transparency in the awarding of public funds and a norm for monitoring and evaluating the provision of social services. The most alarming fact comes from Armenia: only 7.2% of the population said they were aware that NGOs were active in their country, 2.8% less than in 2005.

The picture that emerges from the American development aid agency?s (UsAid) report The 2006 Ngo Sustainability Index is one that depicts Europe as socially fragmented and double speed. This report, that measures the development of civil society in Eastern and Central Europe and Eurasia, is the tenth of its kind. It?s sustainability index is made up of 7 criteria which includes things like the access to financial resources and the true advocacy power held by non profit organisations and is applied to 28 States from Slovenia to Uzbekistan.

What is new in 2006? The non profit sector in Central Europe has experienced the greatest growth, due mainly to the first significant influx of European funding which has allowed organisations to begin to diversify their sources of funding. Poland is a good example of this in practice – 50% of NGOs declared that they have started to receive support from businesses ? as is the Czech Republic where the funds for the third sector now almost exclusively rely on local sources such as private donations, corporate donations and the 1% of income taxes that is also awarded to non profit organisations by the government.

In Eastern Europe, with the exception of Rumania, the only real surprises have been Macedonia and Montenegro. For the first time NGOs participated actively in the drawing up of a cooperation plan between civil society and government for the 5 year period between 2007-2011 at Skopje. The Podgorica government, on the other hand, now has a member who is exclusively dedicated to the relationship with the non profit sector.

What about Eurasia? Compared to the 2005 report only Ukraine managed to gain points on the development and sustainability index, this was especially due to the elimination of the 2% roof that had been set on the tax deductibility of donations to the third sector. This measure has meant that private donations increased by 20% . Kiev has also approved two new amendments on NGO laws that call for the registration of non profit agencies within a single ministry thereby facilitating their access to public funds.