Building organisational capacity for sustainable LGBTI organisations Dr. Jennifer Clarke, Capacity Building Programme Coordinator

1. Invest in transparency Research has shown that the no. 1 barrier to donations to NGOs is a lack of transparency. Most people state that they would give more if they know how their money was helping: Source: Charities Aid Foundation, 2015

In some countries it is very easy for potential donors to check out an NGO’s financial information through online databases – in the UK there is that of the Charity Commission and in the USA there is the GuideStar site. In countries where there is no such database, it is up to individual NGOs to be transparent about their finances. This may take some effort or a change of approach to begin with, but experience shows that an investment in transparency is very worthwhile in terms of being able to attract funding

2. Maintain the relationship with your donors Technology and social media are creating new opportunities for NGOs to create and maintain the engagement of their supporters: Sources: 2013 eNon-Profit Benchmarks Survey, nonprofits/#sthash.3NV6qFwb.dpuf

Technology is are also changing the expectations of donors, who expect to be kept updated. Recent research into successful crowdfunding projects gives important insights: Source: Xu et al 2014 (see:

3. Stay accountable to your constituencies The struggle to find funding and be accountable to donors is so great that there is a risk that organisations may overlook the importance of staying accountable to their constituencies, their members and target groups. Yet it is precisely the ability to listen to, understand and advocate on behalf of their constituencies that make NGOs unique and set them apart from state and other actors. Recent research that has explored the factors that help NGOs survive through hard times identified that an importance factor is for NGOs to stay focused on their mission and not to lose their grassroots connections. Source: Milbourne (2013) Voluntary Sector in Transition: Hard Times or New Opportunities? Bristol: Policy Press

4. Joint forces, build coalitions The history of human rights and LGBT rights movements – and indeed the history and accomplishments of ILGA itself - are testimony to the power of coalitions for creating sustainable changes. As ILGA states on its website ‘change is driven more effectively once we unite’. As funding becomes harder to secure, it is easy for NGOs to see other organisations as rivals and to avoid partnerships and coalitions. In practice, though collaborations make NGOs more attractive to institutional donors. A new tool that CNVOS developed in cooperation with European Network of National Civil Society Organisations to find NGO partners around Europe either for concrete project partnership or general international cooperation:

5. Know yourself “γν ῶ θι σεαυτόν” Self-evaluation and self-knowledge is a vital starting point for any form of capacity building – and an invaluable tool for achieving all of the points already mentioned. The EEA NGO programme developed a self evaluation tool for organisations called the ‘Capacity building Matrix’. In Greece, we developed this further and developed a tool called the ‘Capacity map’ as a user friendly tool to help organisations. Getting into the habit of assessing your organisation against international benchmarks and good practices will help you not only identify the areas in which there is potential for improvement – but it will also help you understand and communicate your ‘strong points’.

To be continued… We are currently in the middle of implementing our capacity building programme and we are still learning from the experience – so we look forward to being able to share more tips and lessons learned with you soon!