More than 20 representatives of civil society organizations supported by the INSPIRE Fund took part in a three-day training course on fundraising and corporate partnerships, which was held from March 20 to 22, 2025, in Veliko Tarnovo. The training provided participants with key knowledge and practical skills for building an effective strategy for raising funds from both individual and corporate donors.
During the interactive sessions, participants learned about current trends in fundraising, including subscription giving, SMS donations, and online campaigns. They learned more about individual fundraising and building effective dialogue with donors. They also learned about the specifics of corporate donations and ways to build sustainable partnerships. In addition, they learned effective strategies for organizing fundraising events.
Leading experts in the field of fundraising and corporate partnerships shared their experience and best practices. Among them were: Alexandra Popova, Fundraising and Communications Expert at the Cedar Foundation; Georgi Bogdanov, Executive Director of NMD; Vasilena Irincheva, Communications and Corporate Partnerships Expert at NMD; NMD, Apostol Milenkov – Network Development and Fundraising Coordinator, NMD, and Antonia Popova – Campaigns and Key Partnerships Manager at the For Our Children Foundation.
The training combined lecture panels, work on real case studies, discussions, and interactive practical exercises. Participants had the opportunity to apply what they had learned through small group work and individual analysis. As a result, participants gained specific knowledge and practical tools that will help them attract sustainable funding and develop their organizations.
The training “Fundraising and Corporate Partnerships” is the second in a series of training courses for capacity building of organizations supported by the INSPIRE Fund. Three more trainings are coming up, covering different aspects of the organizations’ work to give them deeper knowledge and practical tools for sustainable impact.
The training sessions are organized by the National Network for Children, which is a partner in the INSPIRE project: Improving national support for the prevention, intervention, and response to violence against children and empowering victims.
The National Network for Children will implement an additional mentoring program (July 2025 – December 2026) for training participants, with the aim of strengthening capacity and providing methodological assistance to organizations on topics such as creating a communication strategy, advocacy strategy, building organizational capacity, fundraising support, and others.
The INSPIRE Fund, which is part of the INSPIRE project, provided grant funding to 46 civil society organizations to implement projects aimed at reducing violence against children and between children. Of these, 33 are implemented at the local level and the remaining 13 at the national level. The project activities are being implemented in over 150 settlements in the country and are expected to reach at least 500,000 people.
The INSPIRE project is being implemented by the Workshop for Civic Initiatives Foundation (WCIF) and the National Network for Children (NNC). The project will run for three years, during which CIF will be solely responsible for providing project funding, while NCC will be responsible for building the capacity of the organizations.
The INSPIRE project is co-financed by the European Union.