By Marija Mitrović, Director Philanthropy and Partnerships, Trag Foundation

Ever since the Milosevic regime, civil society has been seen as a threat in Serbia. It still happens today, but after 24 years in the field I can see how organizations have overcome a lot of challenges and remained committed to their communities. No one wanted them to succeed, neither then nor now, but despite this, they did. This is more than resilience. It is a huge stubbornness to help those in need. 

Nowadays, I can easily say that Serbs recognize the value that organizations that may have to deal with people with disabilities or other vulnerable groups bring, where they operate. And the crises caused by the pandemic have shown people the vitality and importance of the sector. As has happened in many countries, I think organizations have been much more agile and responsive than any other system, which may have been better equipped or had more decision-making power.

But this came along with a lot of hard lessons for the civilian sector. Organizations have begun to realize how unreliable their external funding is. Donor strategies may change overnight and run out of funding for their core programmes. 

This has made them show interest in mobilizing local resources, although for now they are doing so for very concrete initiatives.

Organisations in Serbia have not reached the stage where they are raising funds for their own operations. They don't even do it continuously and very few have a dedicated person who handles it.

The problem is that the situation does not seem to be improving. For local community organizations, we have become the funders because foreign donors who used to directly support small organizations have left or are planning to support organizations in other countries. Many medium- or small-level organisations face incredible obstacles because they do not have the capacity to directly address the funding schemes offered by the EU or USAID. And government funds are not reliable or predictable that an organization can devise a plan for its survival.

Organizations need to change their way of thinking, and they need to understand that once they start fundraising, this activity must become part of their structure. Fundraising is not something you do sporadically, but something to which you dedicate people and turn it into one of your priorities. Such thinking is built over time, but for an organization that has one or two employees, it is very difficult.

We've been pretty disrupted by COVID, because that's caused another huge polarization in society. First, the economic gap is now greater than it was before. Second, people are now divided between those for and against vaccines.

The COVID crisis has distracted people from a lot of issues that are still very important, such as pollution and climate change. And I feel like we've taken a step back when it comes to the well-being of our communities. 

I'm optimistic when I look at the local movements, because I see that there is a wave of change starting from the local communities. Working in Serbia and the Western Balkans with initiative groups interested in creating community foundations, I can see that there is a lot of enthusiasm and a lot of people who really care about their home and community.

This is our chance to bring about a change of mindset in the community and help people not feel powerless about everything around them. Moreover, this is our opportunity to stop the brain drain taking place all over the Western Balkans.

Community foundations are an excellent response to the needs that exist at the local level and can help local businesses invest their CSR budget in significant projects. This type of organization has the knowledge that a company lacks and can ensure the development of our cities and homes.

We don't know what the future could bring us. The fact that a future accession to the EU is out of the question has demoralised a lot of people, the latest actions of our government make us wonder if our country does not adopt the Russian scenario, and the situation in the Balkans is once again volatile.

But people have a strong need to feel safe and work for their children and family. This need will fuel our local philanthropy and help us maintain and develop the civilian sector.