The purpose of the program is to support non-governmental organizations and community leaders in Poland, especially in small towns and villages, by providing them with information, guidance, and training. This improves management quality in third-sector organizations and strengthens their potential, leading to improved effectiveness of social undertakings.
The program operates along three paths.
The first, “Mutual Information Society” (“MIS@NGO”) – is an information system for civil society organizations, the main component of which is the Non-governmental Organizations Portal ngo.pl – the largest Polish portal about civil society, recognized by almost 80% of NGOs in Poland. Every year about 4 million users avail themselves of ngo.pl resources (4.4 million visits in 2023). At present, the ngo.pl database contains information about 200,000 Polish NGOs. The system also has an Information Center with a free Infoline at 801-646-719 (more than 4,000 consultations annually), plus research papers and publications.
The second path, “EURO-NGO+”, aims to increase NGO capacity for acquiring EU funds. This is the continuation of the 2003-2006 PAFF “EURO-NGO” program which helped Polish non-governmental organizations obtain knowledge about EU funds and raise their competencies, thus enabling them to apply for these grants with greater success. In those and successive years, NGOs received support in partnership building, advocacy, structural fund planning, implementing specific programs, and monitoring fund distribution to socially useful activities. The National Federation of Polish NGOs (OFOP) is responsible for information and advocacy.
The third path, “NGO Training”, has two components. The first, “Financial Management for NGOs” (FIMANGO), consists of providing training, guidance, and publications to persons responsible for financial management in non-profit organizations, mostly those operating outside major metropolitan areas. Nearly 6,600 representatives of almost 4,450 organizations across Poland participated in this training in the years 2000–2024. Training sessions were provided by the Civil Society Development Foundation.
The second component, launched in 2013, is a comprehensive educational offer for NGO managers, consisting of the “PROMENGO” training program, the “Kursodrom” e-learning platform that has been used by more than 9,000 persons, and workshops in NGO management whose important role is the Fundraising Education Program addressed to people who are focused on obtaining funds for non-profit organizations. The Third Sector quarterly completes the offer. It is a scientific publication wholly dedicated to research and analysis of issues pertinent to the development of NGOs in Poland. This part is implemented by the Academy of Civic Organizations Foundation, created by PAFF.
For many years, PAFF co-organized the annual Polish meeting of rural organizations in Maróz, which was attended by several hundreds of representatives of organizations from various Polish regions. The present format of the initiative has undergone some change. It is now targeting village governors and it cooperates with the Rural Development Foundation.
PAFF also supports regular research on the overall condition of non-profit organizations in Poland.
PAFF has disbursed $17,538,213, including $521,778 for the current edition.
