Organizational Development Grants to Think Tanks – Open Society Foundation

Deadline: February 14, 2014

The Open Society Foundation is accepting applications from Think Tanks for the Organizational development grants. The objective is to contribute to build strong think tanks that produce high-quality policy analysis, deliver it to a wide range of audiences to galvanize public interest and debate, and operate as sustainable and internally robust nonprofit organizations.

The Organizational Development Grants aim to provide support for improvement in the three specific areas of think tank activity and operation:

• Quality of research products encompasses mechanisms for external and internal review of written output, and development and choice of various research methods and formats for producing analysis.
• Communications and advocacy capacity deals with how organizations deliver their findings to the public, who they target as key audiences, and what approaches and tools they use for that purpose.
• Internal development and governance is concerned with how think tanks function as a nonprofit organization and includes staff recruitment and retention; composition and functioning of governing bodies (like a governing or advisory board); and issues of strategic planning, fundraising, and sustainability.

A grant can cover from one to all three areas for a period between one to three years based on an applicant’s demands, merit of the proposal, and the time needed for implementing necessary changes.

Eligibility

To be considered for an organizational development grant, your organization has to meet the following criteria:

• be a legally registered independent organization in Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Serbia, or Ukraine;
• be operational for no less than 24 months;
• be a multi-issue think tank;
• embrace an inclusive approach to policy-making, which implies making analysis publicly available and targeting a variety of public stakeholders;
• undertake thorough and rigorous research, and develop thematic expertise, to inform public debates in a responsible and accurate manner and to position itself as a credible interlocutor for the government and other public actors.

For more information, click here.