The Institutional Support Program for Partner Organizations (hereinafter referred to as the Program) consists of grant support, as well as training, consulting, and mentoring support from the Foundation’s expert group. The design of the Program will be developed for all partner organizations. By applying for participation in this competition, the organization undertakes to participate in all institutional development activities offered by the Foundation under this Program.

Organizations that have implemented grant projects under East Europe Foundation’s programs in 2018-2024 are invited to participate in the competition. Funding under East Europe Foundation’s acceleration programs is not considered a grant project.

The grant component of the Program is aimed at implementing the following tasks:

1. Ensuring the overcoming of resource shortages, development of new areas of activity, and adaptation to dynamic changes in the context of war.
2. Strengthening the organization’s management systems by improving financial, administrative, communication, and IT capacities to promote sustainability and efficiency.

Within grant projects, partner organizations can plan and budget for the following activities:

1. Developing or revising the organization’s policies and procedures.
2. Improving the technical support of the organization’s administrative and operational functions, including the purchase of the necessary software (licenses) and/or online services, including, but not limited to: 

•   Software licenses (office packages, accounting programs, CRM systems).
•   Online services for data storage and collaboration (cloud storage, communication platforms).
•   Electronic document management and electronic signature systems.
•   Tools for business process automation and data analysis.
•   Cybersecurity solutions.

3. Improving the organization’s communication channels:

•   development/updating of the organization’s branding elements.
•   development/modernization of a website, social media pages and/or other resources,
•   development of a communication strategy,
•   other.

4. Training for the organization’s team on various aspects of project and operational activities in the new environment.
5. Conducting mentoring sessions aimed at developing skills in project management, monitoring and evaluation, and other topics relevant to the organization.
6. Conducting an audit (including aspects of the organization’s management, finances, project activities, etc.)
7. Procurement of services (mobile communications, Internet services, etc.) to support the organization’s work.
8. Purchase of necessary equipment and partial coverage of the salaries of key employees.
9. Taking measures aimed at strengthening the organization’s security situation, (including the purchase of necessary software, equipment, etc., focused on enhancing cybersecurity).
10. Other types of services or activities related to the support of the organization’s activities.

All applications submitted to the competition will be reviewed and evaluated by an expert committee based on the following criteria:

1. Compliance of the planned activity with the terms of the competition and its feasibility.
2. Justification of the need for institutional support in relation to overcoming key challenges faced by civil society, such as lack of resources, development of new areas of activity, and adaptation to dynamic conditions.
3. Results of the organization’s project activities over the past five years. Special attention will be given to activities carried out since the beginning of the full-scale invasion.
4. The quality of the organization’s action plan for the coming year. 
5. Reasonableness of the budget.

Grant amount: from UAH 800,000 to UAH 1,100,000 

Expected duration of projects: 6 to 12 months

Expected start of operations: June-July 2025

It is planned to support: 10 organizations

Who can apply?

Civil society organizations, namely: charitable organizations (non-profit companies, institutions, foundations, etc.), public associations (NGOs, public unions) registered as legal entities in Ukraine and holding the status of a non-profit organization that received funding through the grant mechanism under the programs of East Europe Foundation during 2018-2024 and did not participate in the Institutional Support Program under the previous project “Phoenix: Strong Ukraine in Time of War.” 

The applicant organizations must not be in a state of bankruptcy or legal entity termination at the time of application. Organizations that do not belong to the listed legal forms and have not received grants from East Europe Foundation are not eligible to apply.

Grants cannot be awarded to organizations that, at the time of signing the grant agreement, are registered (have a legal address) in a territory designated as temporarily occupied (included in the list of settlements where the state authorities of Ukraine do not temporarily exercise their powers, as well as settlements located along the contact line).

How to apply?

You can apply only through East Europe Foundation’s Grant Portal.

Please note. For your convenience, you can read, download and fill in the document templates in the Documents section of the Grant Portal, prepare the necessary files for uploading and subsequently transfer the information to the portal. Prepare the organization’s activity plan for the next year in any form, prepare it for uploading to the platform in DOCX, DOC, PDF format when filling out the Application for participation in the competition in the section “Further project development”.

East Europe Foundation reserves the right not to provide funding if the content of the submitted applications does not meet the terms of the competition.

Please note that:

•   the application must be submitted in Ukrainian;
•   the list of expenses that cannot be supported by the Foundation is contained in the project budget template. A separate tab “Instructions for filling out the budget” contains a list of such expenses;
•   the presence of a contribution is not a requirement and does not affect the evaluation of the application;
•   applicants will be notified of the results of their application review on the Grant Portal in the applicant’s account and by e-mail;
•   the decision of the tender committee is final and not subject to review;
•   EEF reserves the right not to comment on the results of the application process.

Application deadline: 15:00, 23 May 2025.

The results of the competition will be announced in June-July 2025.

Questions regarding this call for proposals can be sent to [email protected].