The non-governmental sector has been extremely dynamic over the past ten years, according to representatives of the civil society, but the most important problem faced by non-governmental organisations is the lack of financial instruments necessary to develop specific activities.
The main causes that led to this situation are both the absence of fund raising experience and the reluctance of Romanian and foreign companies when it comes to offer sponsorship.
According to Ancuta Vamesu, executive secretary at the Foundation for Civil Society Development (FDSC), non-government organisations "can hardly survive," many of them using voluntaries and "accidental, improvised sources." Sponsorship is very poor and is generally provided by small Romanian firms.
Large Romanian or multinational companies more often than not have investment programmes for specific domains, according to each company's policy, Vamesu adds.
As to support granted by local and central administration, the FDSC representative says that non-government organisations are coping with very serious financial problems, which makes them unable to find supplementary resources aimed at the civil society.
According to a catalogue of the non-governmental institutions published by FDSC, only 6,000 organisations of the 30,000 legally registered over the past ten years are "active" in Romania.
Cristian Parvulescu, the chairman of the "Pro Democratia" Association, an organisation that has gotten involved in several campaigns meant to stimulate the citizens' civic spirit, believes that "we are far from witnessing the Western dynamics but also from the situation before 1989."
According to Parvulescu, the non-governmental sector is underfinanced. Though NGOs benefit from significant PHARE funds or from financing provided by foreign partners, mainly Americans, these sums are not sufficient, Parvulescu adds.
Ancuta Vamesu says that fund raising activities bring too little money, that can hardly cover the expenses allotted to organising the respective event.
On the other hand, NGO representatives have benefited from training courses focused on information management and fund raising. One of the institutions organising such courses is CENTRAS, which also provides those interested with data bases and financing guides.
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