During the two-day seminar, participants discussed what research should be used to look at the state of philanthropy and fundraising in former eastern bloc countries and explored examples of successful campaigns to raise funds for non-obvious objectives, such as supporting minorities or defending the rule of law. They also discussed whether, and what experiences are worth learning from, when it comes to the developed UK fundraising market. 

An important part of the educational event was the space for sharing experiences. During group work, alternative scenarios for the development of fundraising in our part of Europe were built. The biggest threats and barriers to the development of philanthropy were also considered, as well as what advocacy actions should be taken to respond to them. There were also discussions on the quality of services offered to organisations in fundraising training and consultancy. 

Speeches recorded during the seminar: Richard Docwray from ChangeStar agency (UK), Eduard Marček from Slovak Fundraising Centre, Marina Škrabalo from Croatian organisation Solidarna, Giedrė Šopaitė-Šilinskienė from Lithuanian agency Fundraising@LT, Zoran Grozdanova from the Croatian Centre for Dialogue Culture, Jan Gregoraz from the Czech organisation Svět Neziskovek and Marianna Wartecka from the Ocalenie Foundation, will be published on the e-learning platform FAOO kursodrom. pl and on the organisation’s YouTube channel. 

CEE Fundraising 2023: Sharing Experience – Expert seminar on fundraising capacity building was organised by the Academy of Civic Organisations Foundation in cooperation with Croatian organisations SMART and Solidarna, as a so-called regional initiative under the Active Citizens Fund -National Programme. The meeting was held in the Jerzy Turowicz Conference Room, at the headquarters of the Batory Foundation.