Фонд Бориса Немцова за Свободу | BNFF
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Пост Жанны Немцовой в связи с 11-летием Фонда Немцова:
As the Boris Nemtsov Foundation turns 11 today, I want to reflect not exactly on our projects, but rather on what I have learned and understood over this long period.
First, it is hard to build a sustainable organisation relying exclusively on grants, whether government-funded or from private donors. The key reason is that they are, most of the time, short-term.
The paradox is that even though civil society should be independent of the state, and for that reason it is often referred to as the third sector, a significant share of its funding comes from governments. The USAID shutdown showed us all the extent of the sector's dependence on government funding globally. I don't want to give my assessment of whether this is good or bad. But it definitely puts organisations in a vulnerable position and might create the wrong incentives, in particular a reluctance to do something or advocate for something that may backfire because it goes against the prevailing policy line.
Second, Europe is generally much more restrictive when it comes to procedures (paperwork, etc) than the US.
Third, innovation is slow. I don't mean tech innovation in this sense, but rather a general change of approaches. It is hard to promote bold, untested ideas or ideas that address future challenges that may or may not materialise.
All of the above restricts the sector's ability to attract and retain talent.
However, working for the Nemtsov Foundation has taught me a lot of new things. I have acquired skills I could not have acquired elsewhere, such as management under critical conditions, implementing projects in a situation of scarce resources, dealing with governments (here I have had both positive and negative experiences), and building very complex projects from scratch.
But most of all, the past several years, which have been the hardest, have taught me to critically assess my own work and the overall situation in the sector.
What I dream of for the Nemtsov Foundation in the years to come is for it to become self-sustainable. And I am putting a lot of effort into making that happen.
And this is also a good moment to thank the many people and organisations that have supported us on this bumpy journey.
As the Boris Nemtsov Foundation turns 11 today, I want to reflect not exactly on our projects, but rather on what I have learned and understood over this long period.
First, it is hard to build a sustainable organisation relying exclusively on grants, whether government-funded or from private donors. The key reason is that they are, most of the time, short-term.
The paradox is that even though civil society should be independent of the state, and for that reason it is often referred to as the third sector, a significant share of its funding comes from governments. The USAID shutdown showed us all the extent of the sector's dependence on government funding globally. I don't want to give my assessment of whether this is good or bad. But it definitely puts organisations in a vulnerable position and might create the wrong incentives, in particular a reluctance to do something or advocate for something that may backfire because it goes against the prevailing policy line.
Second, Europe is generally much more restrictive when it comes to procedures (paperwork, etc) than the US.
Third, innovation is slow. I don't mean tech innovation in this sense, but rather a general change of approaches. It is hard to promote bold, untested ideas or ideas that address future challenges that may or may not materialise.
All of the above restricts the sector's ability to attract and retain talent.
However, working for the Nemtsov Foundation has taught me a lot of new things. I have acquired skills I could not have acquired elsewhere, such as management under critical conditions, implementing projects in a situation of scarce resources, dealing with governments (here I have had both positive and negative experiences), and building very complex projects from scratch.
But most of all, the past several years, which have been the hardest, have taught me to critically assess my own work and the overall situation in the sector.
What I dream of for the Nemtsov Foundation in the years to come is for it to become self-sustainable. And I am putting a lot of effort into making that happen.
And this is also a good moment to thank the many people and organisations that have supported us on this bumpy journey.
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