Another joyful ceremony took place on January 31 at Sofia University: under the motto “Get ready to succeed”, 50 students from 15 universities received a scholarship of 1000 leva that will help them for a school year. To be selected, the students had to be both very bright (the minimum required was a score of 4.75 out of 6) and socially disadvantaged – meaning they mostly came from children’s institutions, some of them orphans, others with only one parent. The programme was initiated by the Bulgarian Charities Aid Foundation in co-operation with the Orphan Foundation and the International Women’s Club of Sofia. Other NGOs and corporate donors participated in the programme, making it a perfect example of successful partnership: Intracom Bulgaria, Kamor Foundation, NetInfo, Interpartners, Care Foundation. Without this help, these children would simply not have been able to go to college, and their future for the years to come very much depends on the continuing generosity of donors. If you wish to contribute to this cause, please consult www.kampaniata.org.

Some more on the Bulgarian Charities Aid Foundation

The BCAF is a member of the CAF International Network. Its aim is to encourage local philanthropy in Bulgaria by acting as a bridge between donors and recipients. NGOs in Bulgaria, as was recently pointed out by the weekly Kapital, suffer from mistrust by the general public as to the use of their funds, lack of professionalism and experience, as well as from the announced withdrawal of foreign donors now that the country is a member of the European Union. In the face of these challenges, the BCAF contributes to strengthen local NGOs by introducing and encouraging:

Training, for example in the field of fund-raising;

Innovative ways of giving: payroll giving – for the time being, 1400 employees of 77 companies participate in this programme; the average monthly gift is seven leva (“What’s important,” says Penka Tsvetkova, executive director of BCAF, “is the number of people who give something, no matter how small.”); online giving is also being introduced, and percentage philanthropy – e.g., the reallocation to NGOs of a certain percentage of your tax income – is being worked on;

Corporate giving. This is relatively new in Bulgaria, and the BCAF still works on persuading companies that their image actually benefits from philanthropy; it also works with the government to develop a supportive legal framework, for example in the form of tax deductions;

Giving by Bulgarians living abroad.

“What we bring our donors,” says Tsvetkova, “is the assurance that we will find a reliable partner for the cause they wish to support, a tax receipt which is recognised by the Bulgarian Government, and a follow-up on the use of the funds.” For the time being, the BCAF has a list of 20 causes supported by donors, the most important of them being scholarships and medical operations for children. The BCAF is a member of the American Chamber of Commerce and of the Bulgarian Business Leaders’ Forum.
www.bcaf.bg