Community Donation Fund Gabrovo

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• Community Donation Fund Gabrovo
• BULGARIA

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Community Donation Fund Gabrovo
Community Donation Fund Gabrovo was founded in
October 2002 within the USAID funded Bulgaria
Pilot Community Fund and Social Enterprise
Program, implemented by Counterpart
International. The Fund is very successful
example for public-privacy partnership because of
it unites a variety of local donors to support
initiatives that are prioritized by the local
citizens.
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Community Donation Fund Gabrovo
Mission of the organization The Community
Donation Fund Gabrovo works to solve important
community problems with broad civic
participation, accumulation of donations, and
revival of the local charity traditions.
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Community Donation Fund Gabrovo
In 2002 the Steering Committee for the formation
of the Fund organized a number of focus-group
discussions and a Public Forum, attended by 80
key figures from all sectors, to identify and
prioritize key development areas that the
Community Fund will support in the first 3-5
years of its existence.
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Community Donation Fund Gabrovo
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Community Donation Fund Gabrovo

• The priorities identified in this process were
• improving of the living environment
• children and youth
• health-care
• education
• tourism
• preservation of the cultural and historic
  heritage of Gabrovo.

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Community Donation Fund Gabrovo

• The goal of the pilot fundraising campaign of the
  Community Fund was defined also by the
  participants in the Public Forum in 2002. It
  falls within the health-care priority of the
  Fund
• Renovation of the intensive-care unit of the
  regional hospital Tota Venkova and
  reconstruction of the premises for a
  cancer-prevention center.

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Community Donation Fund Gabrovo
The raising of the funds started in December 2002
and by the end of July 2003 the Community Fund
raised BGN 72,500.
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Community Donation Fund Gabrovo
The Municipality of Gabrovo contributed the
amount of BGN 50,000 to help the Community Fund
reach the goal of its pilot fundraising campaign.
The rest of the money came from local businesses
- BGN 15,000, and citizens BGN 7,500. The
Fund won a 11 matching grant from Counterpart
in the amount of BGN 62,320 to reach the total
amount needed for phase 1 of the pilot project
renovation of the intensive-care unit of the
regional hospital, which cost BGN 124,640 (USD
75,539).
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Community Donation Fund Gabrovo
Structure of the Fund
Council of Donors
Board of Trustees
Managing Board
Executive Director
Accounter
Office Assistant
Volunteers
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Community Donation Fund Gabrovo

• Committee for writing projects
• Financial Committee
• PR Committee
• Development Committee
• Voluntary Service Committee

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Community Donation Fund Gabrovo

• Phase I - Renovation of the intensive-care unit
  of the regional hospital Tota Venkova
• Costs BGN 124,640 (USD 75,539)
• Phase II - Reconstruction of the premises for a
  cancer-prevention center
• Costs BGN 102 329 (63 956)
• NGO Web Centre - Creating a web site with
  e-catalog of NGOs in the region of Gabrovo and
  information about the activities in this sector.
• Costs BGN 4,390 (USD 2,724)

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Community Donation Fund Gabrovo

• Gabrovo pilot fundraising campaign, May 2003

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Community Donation Fund Gabrovo

• Lessons learned
• Involving genuine local leaders, and not only
  the formal ones caters to the success of the
  Community Fund
• Support from local government creates trust in
  the program, especially during the initial stages
• Creating a Community Fund is a community
  mobilization process that should build upon
  previous development programs implemented in the
  same community
• The matching grant policy should reflect local
  attitude to external donor programs and stimulate
  charity in the average citizen and businesses.

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Community Donation Fund Gabrovo
EVERY CITY IS A PRODUCT OF ITS CITIZENS