BCIF :: About Us :: BCIF Programs

BCIF Programs

Through the processes of granting donations and education, BCIF encourages people to think about their principal problems, and to solve them in the best manner possible, keeping in mind available resources. Depending on program in question and problems that need to be solved, financial aid ranges from 1,000 up to 15,000 euros.

The activities of BCIF are realized through three different programs. They are: Grant programs, Development programs and Development of local philanthropy. Along with these programs, BCIF is constantly active in international cooperation with current and potential partners.

Through Grant programs BCIF encourages civil societies and informal groups in Serbia which trigger creative and efficient problem solving, which involve citizens in problem solving and use local resources and potentials. Basic ways of implementing donation programs are civil activism (Active communities, Centrifuge and We are in program), services (Social transition) and Participation in decision making (Advocacy).

Development programs include strengthening the capacities of local organizations with the networking component, connecting of similar organizations, the exchange of their experiences and mutual action planning, with a goal to help local problems and voices be heard on the national level. BCIF’s developmental programs are The Green List of Serbia and Decentralization.

Since 2004 we initiated the Philanthropy program that encourages cooperation between nonprofit organizations and companies and citizens, with the aim of ever-increasing reliance on local financial sources. The program includes topics of corporate and individual philanthropy, fundraising in local communities, working on the draft version of Law on Foundations, as well as granting the prestigious VIRTUS prize for corporate philanthropy in Serbia.

The procedure of granting donations

BCIF has distinct rules and procedures for granting donations. Throughout the whole process, our office staff helps groups and organizations improve their proposals, while helping members of the board to fully comprehend the essence of those proposals in the context of local circumstances. Project proposals are reviewed on several levels:

- Firstly at BCIF’s office;

- Then by local counselors;

- And, finally, by the members of the Board for granting donations, which are assembled specially for every program.

Note: The procedures for granting donations for each program may be found on their respective pages.

We are governed by the following principles in our work:

Availability: Information on programs is carried through cooperation with local partners and/or municipal authorities. Both registered and informal groups may apply for financial aid, while project proposals may be written in Serbian, Roma, and Hungarian and Albanian language. Furthermore, during the application process we help those groups to develop their ideas, and to transform those ideas in a project proposal.

Support and presence on the spot: We try to provide all the recipients of our grants with help and support in conquering the challenges during the realization of projects. We communicate with our recipients incessantly, and we visit them regularly. We particularly pay attention to getting to smaller, rural and more remote communities.

Transparency and Open-mindedness: We have clear procedures which include three levels of reviewing project proposals, including a web of regional counselors. All applicants receive a feedback on the status of their project proposals, regardless of the fact whether support has been granted to them, or not.

Bearing in mind the limited sources we have at our disposal, we strive to choose the projects which may accomplish long-term positive changes and trigger new ones, or implement new models and become an example of the good praxis. In this way the value of the sources invested is multiplied and upgraded.