We are launching a new Impact Lab programme to support civic organisations

Regional organisations, as well as organisations with nationwide operations, can receive strong support for their activities. We are launching a new Impact Lab programme to support both new and well-established NGOs. Over three years, we will redistribute 2.2 million euros to up to 70 organisations from all over Slovakia thanks to EU support within the Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values (CERV) programme.

Mapping the ecosystem of social innovations confirmed that there are many initiatives in Slovakia with significant innovation potential that can contribute to solving pressing societal problems. However, they often lack sustainability – the problem is the limited capacities of organisations, both financial and personnel, and the lack of know-how or leadership when introducing changes to the system. At the Pontis Foundation, we have been cooperating with non-profit organisations for a long time; we know their needs and the problems they encounter. “We want to help the non-governmental sector grow and spread good and innovative ideas. Therefore, we offer the organisations strong support. Our vision is the development of stable and resilient organisations, as they are an important part of every democratic society,” says Martina Kolesárová, executive director of the Pontis Foundation.

Through this programme, we want to help organisations increase their innovation potential, improve cooperation and strengthen sustainability and resilience.

Support for education, democracy, human rights, and inclusion

Impact Lab is intended for smaller, start-up and established organisations. Smaller or new organisations can receive a grant of a maximum of 20,000 euros, and established non-profit organisations will receive support in the value of a maximum of 60,000 euros. Besides, they will gain access to workshops and webinars on fundraising, impact measurement, financial sustainability, and the creation of business models. The programme also includes mentoring by business, education, and communication experts.

The key themes of the programme are the quality of education, the elimination of injustice (human rights and democracy) and inequality (inclusion). Slovakia belongs to the most vulnerable countries in terms of being subject to disinformation and undemocratic tendencies. For this reason, we consider the development of critical thinking and initiatives to support democratic institutions crucial.

We are a country in which socio-economic status significantly affects not only student performance in schools but also access to digital devices, impacting children’s digital skills. “Any changes in society, positive or negative, are linked to the quality of education and the level of inclusion in education,” adds M. Kolesárová.

How will the programme operate?

• We will support new or smaller organisations in the Incubator.
  Each organisation we select for the Incubator will receive the support of up to 20,000 euros. Besides financial support, the organisation will also receive a capacity-building programme consisting of workshops on financial sustainability, impact measurement, and the overall setting of the organisation’s functioning. The added value is the networking of organisations among themselves and the acquisition of new contacts.
• We will support well-established organisations in the Accelerator.
  Each organisation that advances to the Accelerator will receive the support of up to 60,000 euros. The accelerator is a mentoring-educational programme with a mentor and access to inspiring educational activities. It is primarily focused on setting up a business model, fundraising and impact measurement of the organisation’s activities.

We will announce the call for applications for the Incubator on the 2nd of February 2023. The call for applications into the Accelerator will be announced in early April 2023. More information about Impact Lab is available at www.impactlab.sk.

The Impact Lab programme is co-financed by the European Union within the Impact Acceleration of Slovak CSOs project. The views and opinions expressed are those of the author(s). They do not necessarily reflect the views of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor the European Executive Agency for Education and Culture is accountable for these opinions.