Community foundations emerging in Moldova

Five community foundations have started their activity on June 25 in the morning for the first time in Moldova. The goal of these organisations is to attract funds at local level in order to solve the problems facing the community. Community foundations have so far been registered in Balti, Cahul, Orhei, Soroca and Ungheni. Each of them received on Monday from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) grants worth 2,500 dollars in order to start up. Prior to that, each of the freshly established community foundations drew up strategies to raise funds for the localities they represent. According to a press release from UNDP, the Balti-based community foundation has negotiated with businessmen their direct involvement in carrying out the foundation’s mission. At the same time, the local authorities have agreed to co-finance the organisations participating in grant programme. The Soroca community foundation will collect donations to install public lights and refurbish a portion of Independentei Street, to restore the leisure zone and a playground in Soroca Noua district, as well as to place waste containers and enhance greenspaces in a district of the city. A long-term objective is to collect funds for building a wastewater treatment utility, given that the old one is not working for the last two decades. “Such foundations represent a long-term solution to meet the needs of the communities in Moldova. They will enable local NGOs to access funds for the needs of the community and will serve as a model of overcoming the weak ties between the non-profit sector, the business community and the government by routing community financial resources to partnership”, says Vlad Melnic, PNUD project manager. The initiative of setting up and developing community foundations in Moldova is supported by a consortium of donors: Soros Foundation-Moldova, UNDP Moldova and the Social Investment Fund of Moldova, in partnership with the Ministry of Justice. Contact Centre offers training and technical assistance. The first community foundation was established in Cleveland in 1914. Community foundations provide grants, build endowments and serve a geographically defined community. After the fall of communism, community foundations started to appear in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. They are emerging in Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Croatia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Slovakia and Ukraine.