The Trust for Civil Society in Central & Eastern Europe (CEE Trust) Announces an Open Call for Proposals in Bulgaria

The Trust for Civil Society in Central & Eastern Europe (CEE Trust) Announces an Open Call for Proposals in Bulgaria

The CEE Trust is inviting interested and qualified non-profit, non-governmental organizations, expert groups and, activists to submit Full proposals for projects that will contribute to achieve the CEE Trust mission.

The aim of the program is to increase participation of citizens and non-governmental organizations in public life and promote the attitude of civic responsibility for the quality of Bulgarian democracy.

We will award grants to non-governmental organizations that engage in the initiatives that concern following issues:

• Public policies – development of propositions of systemic solutions that help to modernize different spheres of social and political life;
• Civic participation – involving citizens in the free access to public information, transparency in governing, enabling free and easy access to public information, providing transparency of public procedures through civic new media initiatives
• Civic scrutiny – monitoring functioning of public institutions and their compliance with good governance, in particular monitoring activities related to the legislative process in the country, consultative mechanisms in policy strategies development and implementation.
  

The CEE Trust is going to award up to six grants. Please note that the CEE Trust does not support social service provision, direct income generating activities and endowments.

Who can apply

Our call for proposals is mainly addressed to those nongovernmental organizations that are conducting its activities in the form of a foundation or an association. Other entities and informal groups can be awarded a grant only as an exception (in case the activities they are planning prove to be extremely important for the main goals of our program to be reached, and these activities are not conducted by a foundation or an association).

We expect the potential applicants to:

• present projects closely related to one of their core activities;
• use previously established links and networks with similar organizations in the CEE Trust region in order to multiply the effect of their activities if needed;
• conduct their business pursuant to the regulations provided in their bylaws, observing the law and preserving the public interest, without supporting any political or corporate issues.

What might be the duration the amount of the potential grant and what expenses might be covered by the grant

Duration, final amounts of potential grants and expenses that might be covered by the grant are not determined by the CEE Trust. They shall depend on the character and the length of the planned activities. The grant might be awarded to support either a short-term (several months) or a long-term (up to 2 years) project.

The CEE Trust will provide grants up to 100 000 USD. We do not require any additional cash or in kind contribution from the applicants or other donors.

Any reasonable expenses required in order to complete the project might be covered by the funds from our grant (there is no list of "qualified expenses"). We do not require any cash contributions from the applicants. 

All grants are paid in advance, usually upon the receipt of a countersigned copy of a grant letter. In case of larger amounts awarded for projects to be implemented within a longer period of time, the funds might be paid in instalments, pursuant to the schedule provided in the grant letter.

What is the grant-making procedure

The grant-making procedure shall be completed within the following scheme:

The applicants file their proposals using the following forms (Project Application Form, Full Proposal Form, Financial Proposal Form). Each organization is allowed to apply with one proposal only. The CEE Trust staff, supported by experts, evaluates the proposals and chooses organizations, that shall be invited to the final talks about their applications.

The following criteria are taken into account, while evaluating the proposals:

• is the presented idea of the planned activities consistent with the goals and the scope of our program;
• is the idea of the planned activities reasonable, coherent and logical;
• are the presented idea and the suggested methods in any way outstanding, compared to other activities in the same field;
• is the need for the project well-grounded;
• are the planned activities, schedule and budget well considered, well-founded and suitable for the expected results;
• does the applicant have the resources to professionally complete the project; are people implementing the project suitably qualified for the job;
• does the project fall within one of the applicant's core activities; does the organization follow the high standards and the transparency rules in their activities.
  

The decision on grants to be awarded shall be made by the CEE Trust itself. The decision shall be considered final and no complaints will be accepted. The CEE Trust does not provide specific evaluations to the applicants whose Proposals are rejected.

The CEE Trust reserves the right to accept or reject any or all applications and will notify all applicants of the outcome of the assessment.

Deadlines

Proposals and Project Application Form must be submitted electronically (via e-mail only) by but not later than February 29, 2012, 17:00h Bulgarian time, to the following address: bugaria.applications@ceetrust.org

The applicants may send their written questions to the same address not later that February 10, 2012.

To see the Application Guidelines click here. The applications MUST be submitted in English.