The objective of the FIMANGO Local Advisors School is to improve skills of the Act Locally Center representatives in the area of financial management and then involve them in the advisors’ network that will consult and train members of local NGOs. The first session was held in Warsaw, on April 6-8.
The first edition of the FIMANGO Local Advisors School – the initiative based on the resources of two PAFF programs – “Support for NGOs” – Financial Management for NGOs (FIMANGO) and “Act Locally” – was launched in April.
The objective of the FIMANGO Local Advisors School is to improve skills of the Act Locally Center representatives in the area of financial management and then involve them in the advisors’ network that will consult and train members of local NGOs.
The School offers an extensive series of workshops and training sessions, internships with experienced advisors, individual expert support for each participant and access to legal applications, tools and publications.
The School’s pilot edition is based on two paths – the accounting as well as the legal and financial ones, which are participated by 24 representatives of the following Act Locally Centers: the Child Association, the ARTS Art, Adventure and Enjoyment Foundation, the Stobrawa Valley Local Activity Group Association, the Światowid Association, the Agricultural Enterprise Promotion and Support Center, the Partnership for Barycza Valley Association, the Żywiec Region Development Foundation, the STOPA Ełk Association of Active People, the Solidary in Partnership Association, the Generations Foundation, the Snow Mountain Massif Local Fund, the Dębica Business Club Association, the Local Activity Group Foundation – Necklace of the North, the Center for Social Development, Youth Stimulation and Development Foundation, the Partnership for Barycza Valleys Association, the W.A.R.K.A. Association, the Gate to Marsh Local Activity Group, the Social Creativity Incubator Association, the Orawa Development Association.
The first meeting of financial and legal path of FIMANGO Local Advisors School took place in Warsaw on April 6-8. The participants learned about the program structure, shared their experience in consulting and then were trained in important regulations and legal aspects of fundraising.
The School graduates will qualify to become the “FIMANGO” Program licensed partners as well as they will enjoy substantive support of consultants from the Civil Society Development Foundation, which is the Manager of the PAFF’s “Support for NGOs” Program – Financial Management for NGOs (FIMANGO). Each of the alumni will provide at least 64 hours of free local consulting.
The FIMANGO Local Advisors School is an initiative joining the resources of two programs of the Polish-American Freedom Foundation, namely “Support for NGOs” – Financial Management for NGOs (FIMANGO), whose Manager is the Civil Society Development Foundation, and “Act Locally” managed by the Academy for the Development of Philanthropy in Poland.
The aim of the “Support for NGOs” Program is to secure the institutional support in the form of access to information, consultancy and training for NGOs and local leaders in villages and small towns. The program comprises the Mutual Information Society information system addressed to non-governmental organizations whose main element is the www.ngo.pl portal; information, expert and advocacy activities – the EURO-NGO+; and Financial Management for NGOs (FIMANGO) including training, consultancy and publications for people in charge of finances in the third sector. It also comprises a complex educational offer for NGO managers implemented by the Academy of Civic Organizations Foundation (PROMENGO, KURSODROM).
The objective of the “Act Locally” Program, launched in 2000, is to support and stimulate local communities in villages and small towns by lending support to civil initiatives that help solve local problems, foster developmental aspirations, and build social capital. Through the network of 67 Act Locally Centers operating in the area of almost 620 communes, the grant competitions are held whose beneficiaries are NGOs and informal groups. They allow to co-finance initiatives that help meet residents’ needs. To date almost 8,000 such initiatives have been implemented.
