Regional event: “Lessons Learned from Organisational Grants”

On Tuesday 22 October 2024, the event “Lessons Learned from Organisational Grants” took place in Athens. This is a regional activity of the Active citizens fund programme of Greece in partnership with Active citizens fund – National Programme, Poland.

Organisational grants to support the development of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) are a new type of funding adopted by the Active citizens fund programme, under the EEA Grants 2014-2021 funding mechanism. At international level, organisational grants have been growing in recent years as a tool of essential financial support, enabling CSOs to fulfil their mission more effectively. These grants differ significantly from traditional project funding, requiring new approaches from donors, fund operators and the organisations themselves, and come with new challenges and opportunities.

The aim of the event was networking and sharing experiences among fund operators who have already offered or are interested in offering organisational grants to CSOs, in order to share and record valuable lessons learned from their experiences. More specifically, the event focused on the importance of organizational grants in supporting the mission and operations of organizations, sharing ideas from both successful and challenging experiences, promoting collaboration and knowledge exchange, and exploring best practices, tools and resources to maximize the impact of these grants.

The event, which was attended by representatives from 9 countries, the Royal Norwegian Embassy in Athens and the Financial Mechanism Office, highlighted the importance of transnational cooperation and knowledge exchange, providing participants with new perspectives on organisational grants and their contribution to the sustainability of organisations.

The programme of the event is available here.