Catalyst Balkans Blog

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Big Data, Little Data

“Nonprofits in the future will be defined by how they use their data for public good while protecting the personal privacy rights of all who contribute that data.” – Lucy Bernholz, Philanthropy and the Social Economy: Blueprint 2013
In last week’s post, I began to make the case for why pursuing a strategy of compiling and gathering all available public data on philanthropic activities is an important element of expanding the practice and culture of giving in the Balkans.

May 30, 2013

What Can Data Do For The Sector?

As many of you who know me can attest to, over the last several years, I have gotten quite excited and passionate about the use of data and technology for doing good.
Alex and I have had the chance to lay out for some of you a vision we have of collecting, analyzing and using data for improving and expanding philanthropy in the Balkans. This vision is beginning to be realized through the initial steps of the Catalyst initiative (about which we will dedicate many future posts)…

May 22, 2013

Part 4 of 3 series: What to Focus On for the Continued Development of the Philanthropy in 2013

Admittedly being late in publishing, we present the final (this time for real :)) piece of collated thoughts of our virtual panel of foundation professionals. While the previous three pieces dealt with what did and didn’t happen in 2012, this blog is about what should be the focus to support the development of philanthropy in 2013?

According to our colleagues, there are five distinctive areas in which we as a sector need to push stronger this year:

May 16, 2013

Big Brother, a guerilla performance, a new heart…or shaming Serbia into giving

Last Monday, my FB account was overwhelmed by a shared YouTube video of Sergej Trifunovic’s (a well-known and somewhat controversial Serbian actor) speech that he gave on VIP Big Brother.  

Sergej, who was invited to appear as a guest in the studio during the ongoing BB show used his interview time for something that was pretty much a guerilla performance. Instead of talking about BB and its celebrity contestants, he used his time to scold the whole of Serbia for spending money on SMSes for voting on BB and asked that instead people donate money for a new heart for little Tijana Ognjanovic…and boy, was he rough!!!

April 9, 2013

Part 3 of 3 in the series: So, what did we expect to happen and what actually happened in 2012?

Wrapping up our three-part series on what happened in the world of philanthropy during 2012 through the eyes of key leaders of foundations throughout the Balkans, we review the last 4 predictions that were made at the beginning of last year and hear how each was or was not fulfilled.
As always, we welcome your comments or counterpoints to the views expressed by our esteemed colleagues in the field…

April 7, 2013

So, what did we expect to happen and what actually happened in 2012? – Part II

Continuing our exploration of what actually happened in 2012, we present here four more predictions made for 2012 and assessments on how they’ve turned out:
2012 Prediction 4: New mechanisms and tools will be developed so as to make giving easier. General increase of e-transactions will influence increase of e-philanthropy (online giving); other tools and mechanisms will also develop including payroll giving and monthly pledges. Promotion of crowdsourcing and crowdfunding mechanisms will increase.
Partially fulfilled. While there has been measurable progress in developing new mechanisms and tools throughout most of the countries, it seems that adoption of the new tools is not yet part of the regular fundraising activities of the organizations.

March 31, 2013

PhilanthropyPosts with you again: So, what did we expect to happen and what actually happened in 2012?

The new round of PP blogs is starting (a bit late admittedly) with a look back at 2012: what we expected to happen in the philanthropy field and what actually happened?

Just to remind you, towards the end of 2011, PP asked a number of friends and active practitioners of philanthropy in the region to provide their views on what could be expected for 2012.

With 2012 now complete and a good part of the new year still ahead of us, PP once again asked those same friends and practitioners to reflect on the 2012 predictions and give us insight into which predictions came true and why some predictions may not have been fulfilled. They were also asked to provide a set of goals / priorities upon which we might jointly concentrate on in 2013 in order to further the development of philanthropy in the region.

March 20, 2013

U glavama donatora (deo IV): portret donatora – Ladislav Kosar

Već neko vreme pratim Philanthropy Posts i ono što me istinski zanima su članci o novim donatorima u našem regionu. To su uspešni ljudi koju su se obogatili i odlučili da deo zarađenog novca ulože u filantropiju. Naravno, nije svako Bil Gejts, ali mi je drago što mogu da kažem da čak i u Slovačkoj čujemo sve više priča o ljudima koji se od poslovne okreću ka socijalnoj sferi i opštoj dobrobiti. Želela bih da sa vama podelim neke od njihovih priča.

Priča koja sledi je o veoma veštom i stručnom poslovnom čoveku, koji je pronašao zadovoljstvo i sreću pomažući deci iz domova za nezbrinutu decu. Verujem da ovaj primer može, takođe, da bude nadahnuće za nove donatore iz Centralne Evrope. 

Ladislav Kosar diplomirao je na Pravnom fakultetu Univerziteta Komenijus. Njegove studije u Holandiji, Mađarskoj i Americi mahom su bile usredsređene na međunarodno pravo, intelektualnu svojinu i tržišta kapitala. Studirao je pravo i političke nauke kao dodatak studijama odnosa u javnom i privatnom sektoru na Harvardu. Tokom rada u Nemačkoj banci u Londonu, Frankfurtu i Tokiju specijalizovao se za preuzimanje preduzeća, procenu imovine i investiciono bankarstvo. Kratko nakon povratka u Slovačku 2004 osnovao je kompaniju VENVIVIS koja se bavi investiranjem udruženog kapitala u inovativne kompanije u Silicijumskoj dolini i Slovačkoj. U 2006 osnovao je udruženje građana Provida, a 2010 i fondaciju.     

November 6, 2012

Negovanje lokalnih donatora: kako iskusni stonoteniser može da postane novi Novak Đoković?

U novembru 2010 grupa predstavnika nevladinih organizacija zapadnog Balkana, koje podržavaju razvoj lokalne filantropije, okupila se da razgovara o strategijama za dalji razvoj filantropije u našim državama. Nastojeći da objasnim na kakve prepreke prepreke nailaze neprofitne organizacije prilikom organizacije lokalnih aktivnosti za prikupljanje sredstava, upotrebio sam analogiju – dobar stonoteniser koji pokušava da igra tenis. Biti dobar i iskusan u igranju stonog tenisa – kao što su neprofitne organizacije u pisanju projekata, održavanju dobrih odnosa sa donatorima i implementaciji projekata koje su finansirale međunarodne donatorske agencije – ne kvalifikuje nas automatski za Noletove naslednike u tenisu – što znači imati dobre strategije lokalnog prikupljanja sredstava i taktiku.

November 6, 2012