Building capacity to influence public policy

Monika Pisankaneva Association of Community Foundations in Bulgaria

ACFB Members
Six community foundations in small (5,00010,000) to middle-sized (50,000 100,000) Bulgarian towns, operational since 2002 (3 CFs), 2003 (1 CF) and 2004 (2 CFs) Five new community foundations, created in 2005, in middle-sized and big towns (over 100,000) ACFB currently includes CFs from all Bulgarian regions, but they are still young and inexperienced

Current public policy issues

Limited incentives for local donors Lack of understanding on the part of national government of the importance of community foundations in local development Lack of trust in foundations need for more visibility of community foundation work

How ACFB Helps to Address Public Policy Issues

Unites member CFs in building a vision and defining strategic goals Organizes joint actions to increase members visibility (National Christmas Donation Campaign; Benefactor of the Year Contest) Builds partnerships with other philanthropy support organizations Participates in coalitions for influencing legal change Works with national level mass media to popularize the CF concept Plans to work with national government

Building Member Capacity

ACFB initiates member self-assessment and identifies training needs Facilitates exchange of experience and mentoring of younger members by more experienced CFs Organizes and coordinates internal trainings and study trips in other countries Informs members about existing external training opportunities Development Committee consisting of external experts provides advice and assistance Works to develop and popularize CF Standards and monitors member performance towards standards Plans to start twinning programs with CFs in Russia and other countries

Building Member Capacity for Influencing Public Policy

Specific Trainings: Effective Communication Working with Mass Media (Implemented with the participation of local and national-level media) Advocacy and Lobbying Partnership Building (focused on local-level cross-sector partnerships)

Measuring the Effect of Trainings

Setting performance targets Developing action plans during trainings Developing incentives for action plan implementation (for example: CFs which implement their action plans successfully will have access to a study trip abroad) Training follow-up: what has been done in the first month after the training, in three months, in six months Annual organizational self-assessment

Key Issues to Remember

Voluntary participation of members in capacity building activities Learning by doing (Action Plan) and incentives for applying what has been learned Joint work and constant exchange of information among members Never acting alone: partnering with more experienced organizations in advocacy campaigns