29/03/2013
On March 29th 2013 in Struga an informative seminar was organized by the Macedonian office of TACSO in cooperation with Konekt and funded by the European Union. A delegation from the Association of Persons with Physical Disability – MOBILITY Bitola, the President Niko Jankov, Fanche Georgievska and Sotir Jonovski from Bitola and Koco Nastevski from Resen participated the event. The theme was "Collaboration and mobilizing resources from the business sector", procedures for realization of tax exemptions for donations or sponsorship. The seminar was organized in two parts, morning and afternoon, with break for lunch. The opening presentation was made by the TACSO representative - Suncica Sazdovska, and successfully led by the Konekt CEO - Nikica Kusinikova. They presented the main aims which were followed by discussion on identifying the initial issues. In continuance followed the discussion of the importance of fundraising, the potential for mobilization of resources, and the state of corporate philanthropy. Representatives from our team actively participated in the discussion. After the break, the discussion continued on the subject of the experiences of Macedonian civil society organizations in the collection of funds from the business sector, their perception of the CSOs, key elements for successful fundraising and responds through discussion on specific issues related to resource mobilization. The law on donations and sponsorships was reviewed as well as part of the survey on implementation of the same from 2007 to 2011.
In concluding remarks, our team had a remarkable discussion. Our perception is that the current approach to this issue was correct, and this type of seminar will only enrich our knowledge on this subject and the right steps to getting the resources that would help the realization of the program and statutory goals through projects.
