The issue of financial sustainability is an issue that is on the agenda of everyone who is somewhat specialized in civil society but has become a burden that they cannot cope with. Civil society should not depend on the fund. Let the civil socialist become massive with their own unique problem determination. Let him appear like a hero, reach thousands with a small move. Let him drag the masses behind him, collect donations from them. Let him find the money to support himself with these donations and let him do the project work to expand his idea. In the meantime, he should never get tired, everyone should be all ears to him, he should always keep people who dream of his dreams around him. Let the project be a secondary resource. But he should not earn that much money, so his name should not be involved in corruption. Always be in balance. Absolutely perfect utopia! But my 5 years of experience at YADA (About Life) Foundation and 3 years of experience at Havle Women’s Association remind me almost every month how impossible this is.

As I pointed out in the previous article, how can we think that civil society, which has become so ‘guilty’ and has to make short moves in its narrowing field, will ensure its financial sustainability through mass donation methods? Even many organizations that would seem relatively ‘less political’ are suddenly associated with a political actor, become infamous, and then face extinction. Institutions that are struggling to survive with foreign funds are also trying to struggle with the fact that these funds are called ‘traitors’ due to the bad reputation of these funds.

Here, instead of serving the idea of the illegitimacy of the fund, it is necessary to produce alternative ways or, if so, to ‘save the funds’ from the institutions. Civil society experts need to develop alternatives to an idea that doesn’t fit with Turkish society, such as a donation. Normally, such an article ends here, of course, with the transfer of responsibility to someone else… But I have a humble suggestion.

In many of the studies we have done at YADA, we have seen that civil society does not sufficiently evaluate the potential it has with its unique expertise. The access of an association dealing with a common disease to information and medicines or foods, the research skills of an association that produces information, the potential of institutions that construct and provide training to fill the existing gap in this regard. This and many similar opportunities can actually be converted into money and can be turned into a financial resource by providing services to the private sector and local governments, public institutions and international organizations through the economic enterprises of existing non-governmental organizations. It can transform in many different instances. One of the most unique examples here is the Value for Equality social initiative, which grew out of AÇEV (Mother & Child Education Foundation). What if we multiplied such examples, if we didn’t fall to the point of seeing making money as distant because we don’t fit our ‘heroic’ behaviors, and if we didn’t have to worry about money while striving for the future we dreamed of? What would it be like?

The post What Is This Foreign Fund Issue? 1: Civil Socialist as a Hero appeared first on Sivil Sayfalar.

For example, there is a hole in the sidewalk on the street we live in. Everyone is aware and suffering. But they prefer to pass by. A visually impaired person lives on the street. One day, he has a big accident because of this pit, and this incident triggers a few people in the neighborhood now. They apply to the municipality to close this pit, but they can’t get any results because the municipality has a financial problem in this regard. Then, by collecting signatures on the street, they get people’s opinions and make more noise. The municipality cannot remain indifferent to this issue, and it seeks funds. It sees an international funding agency open a funding application on access and infrastructure. It applies to the fund and its application is positive. Thanks to the support provided, this pit is closed and several different problematic areas in the neighborhood are corrected.

Here, of course, I wrote a very simple and cartoon scenario. But actually, what we call civil society and what it does is as simple as that. The issue of getting support from foreign fund institutions is just as simple and legitimate. Ideally, civil society seeks funds for the financial support it needs to solve the problem it has identified. Fund organizations that have an idea in their agenda to support such an issue, on the other hand, provide this support to them. In this sense, there can be nothing as legitimate as receiving foreign funds.

Apart from this, there are ‘signboard NGOs’ that are project-centered and write projects according to the fund.

It is impossible to ignore them. But it is not appropriate to take the punishment for their crimes from the civil society working in various parts of Turkey and working on different issues, trying to solve something. If there is a problem here, it must be the problem of the funding institutions. Funding agencies should review their evaluation criteria and explain that they do not fund work that has no impact. When civil society sees such institutions within itself, it can take a step towards starting a process. In short, we should not expect everything from the ‘state’ (!) It is very dangerous for the future of civil society that the demands that may cause the existing mechanisms and structures to work better, but which may cause them to be cut off, find a legitimate basis for themselves. What needs to be done to try to build this future together? We can take a step to think about this together. 

(1) I mean activism in every word of civil society here. They represent something similar to me. For my article on my belief that civil society should not be a concept at a distance from activism, check this out.

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