138 organizations from 46 towns and villages applied for Phase II of the Mission: Possible of the Bulgarian Fund for Women (BFW) open call, part of the BIRDS in BG project, to strengthen the strategic development and increase the sustainability of civil society in the country.  

After successfully passing Phase I, 150 organizations were invited to participate in the second stage of the open call. In it, they had the opportunity to develop a detailed long-term organizational development strategy, including a Theory of Change, a projected budget and fundraizing plans, capacity building, a risk self-assessment and more. 

The full list of organizations that applied to Phase II can be found HERE (in Bulgarian). If you do not see your organization’s name on the list and you submitted your application before the deadline, please contact us immediately at ask@bgfundforwomen.org.

After checking the administrative compliance, each application will be assigned to an evaluation committee consisting of two experts working independently of each other. The arithmetic mean of the two evaluation reports of the members of the evaluation committee evaluating a proposal will form the final score of an application. In the event of a discrepancy of more than 30% between the scores of the two experts, the application will be examined by a third evaluator and the average of the two closest scores will be used to rank it. Full details of the evaluation process are published in the Application Guidelines (in Bulgarian) (page 13).

Important selection criteria for Phase II organizations will include:  

• priority work on topics that are not visible enough and that are undervalued and/or contested; 
• a link between the desired change and the main activities/strategies planned to achieve it;  
• the extent to which the planned work takes into account the equality perspective and EU values;  
• degree of intersectionality of the planned activities; 
• degree of active involvement of the target group in the implementation of the planned activities; 
• financial feasibility; 
• fundraising strategy and diversification of financial resources;  
• control and risk management;  
• potential for systemic change;  
• strategic plans for capacity building; 
• role in building movements, collaborations and partnerships.  

A detailed description of all the criteria for Phase II can be found here (page 16).

Deadlines in Phase II of the program:

• evaluation of applications until November 20, 2023; 
• signing contracts and transfer of funds by December 1, 2023. 

All selected candidates in Phase II will be notified in the system and on the associated email and announced on BFW’s website by 20.11.2023.

“Mission: Possible” program aims to contribute to the building of an inclusive, sustainable and pro-democratic civil society in Bulgaria by providing financial support to civil society organizations whose main mission and activities are to protect, promote and raise awareness about fundamental rights, EU values, the rule of law and democracy and who work on contested and often neglected topics such as the rights of women, the LGBTIQ+ community and other vulnerable groups, including issues related to the systemic root causes of poverty and inequality in our country. 

“Mission: Possible” is part of the BIRDS in BG project to provide 360-degree support to the civil society sector in Bulgaria, which BFW is implementing alongside its partners from the Bulgarian Center for Not-for-Profit Law (BCNL) and Impact Drive Foundation.

BIRDS in BG project is co-funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.