Report on Public Funding of CSOs in 2015 adopted by the Croatian Government

At its session held on 13^th April 2017 the Government of the Republic of Croatia adopted the Report on Public Funding of Projects and Programmes of Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) in 2015.

The Report was drafted by the Government Office for Cooperation with NGOs which, in line with the Regulation on the criteria, standards and procedures of funding and contracting programmes and projects of the public benefit implemented by associations, had collected and analysed the reports submitted by all the public administration bodies, Government offices and authorities, other public institutions, local and regional self-government units, public companies in the ownership of the Republic of Croatia or one or more local and regional self-government units, as well as other legal entities that allocate public funds for CSO projects and programmes.

In the year 2015 the total amount of 1.672.699.179,11 HRK from all the public sources on the national and local levels was allocated for CSO programmes and projects.

The Croatian public administration authorities, Government offices and other public institutions have allocated the amount of 775.079.935,77 HRK to CSOs, i.e. 46,31% of the total allocated public funds. This amount includes 359.741.156,20 HRK (21,50% of the total amount) deriving from purpose-specific revenues from games of chance, while 304.952.647,99 HRK (i.e. 18,23%) were allocated from the state budget. Certain funding authorities on the national level also performed the role of contracting or intermediate bodies in the calls for proposals funded by EU, resulting in the allocation of 99.907.093,72 HRK (i.e. 6% of the total amount) for CSO projects and programmes in 2015. In addition, 0,24% of the total funds (4.079.162,55 HRK) derives from the Croatian Radio and Television licence fees; 0,2% (3.343.477,44 HRK) from environment protection fees, 0,14% (2.339.624,31 HRK) from other international funds, and only 0,02% of non-financial assets (in the equivalent amount of 332.400,91 HRK).

In 2015 the counties, the City of Zagreb, towns and municipalities allocated the total amount of 849.469.022,72 HRK, i.e. 50,78% of all the public funds. The amount of 397.157.789,76 HRK (23,74% of the total amount) was allocated from the town budgets and 98.226.989,68 HRK (5,87%) from the county budgets. The amount of 215.041.315,26 HRK (12,86% of the total allocated amount) comes from the City of Zagreb budget, while 139.042.928,02 HRK (8,31%) derive from the municipal budgets.

Since the enactment of the Regulation in March 2015, the database of the parties obliged to implement the criteria, standards and procedures when allocating funds to associations for their projects and programmes, as well as reporting to the Government Office for Cooperation with NGOs, has been multiplied.  Therefore, this Report also includes the data collected from 284 public companies in the ownership of the Republic of Croatia and one or more local and regional self-government units, out of which half (142) reported that in 2015 they did not allocate any funds to civil society organizations, while the other half reported the allocations in the amount of 31.236.798,32 HRK (1,86% of the total allocated funds) from their budgets via sponsorships and donations. Additionally, for the first time this Report presents the data collected from 62 tourist boards, out of which 26 of them reported that they had not allocated any funds to CSOs while 36 of them allocated the total amount of 16.913.422,31 HRK (1,01% of total allocated funds) from public funds via public calls and on the basis of requests made by certain CSOs. 

The analysis of the reports submitted and approved for 2015 has shown that 36 104 programmes and projects of CSOs were (co)financed with public funds on the national and local levels. Within these programmes and projects 22 232 people were employed, 51 623 people received remuneration on the basis of a service (copyright) contract, while 501 663 volunteers participated in the implementation of the financed programmes and projects. Thereby, the fact that it was possible to request and receive the (co)funding for the same project from the state and local budgets, as well as from a public company budget, should be taken into consideration, thus the data on the numbers of the employed and volunteers deviate from the data shown in the Register of non-profit organizations for the year 2015.

Apart from the data on the allocated funds to certain projects and programmes of public benefit interest implemented by associations and the analysis of general and specific funding areas, users and activities of the projects implemented, the Report also presents the analysis of the compliance of the procedures of public funds allocation with the provisions of the Regulation on the criteria, standards and procedures of funding and contracting programmes and projects of the public benefit implemented by associations. The analysis has shown that in 2015 the implementation of the Regulation by certain funding authorities, especially by local and regional self-government units and public companies and other legal entities (tourist, sports, firefighting and technical culture associations) was only partial, bearing in mind that the Regulation entered into force in March 2015, i.e. when funds for projects and programmes of public benefit interest implemented by associations had already been distributed, as well as the fact that the above mentioned  funding authorities had not immediately adjusted their procedures with the Regulation.

The integral part of the Report includes the examples of the projects successfully implemented by CSOs that had received public funds on the national level in 2015 (Annex 1), the consolidated presentation of funds allocated from the budgets of counties, towns and municipalities in 2015 (Annex 2) and the list of all the CSO projects and programmes that were financed from public sources in 2015 (Annex 3), which will be published on the platform of the Central State Portal of Open Data of the Republic of Croatia.

The Report is available on the webpage of the Government Office for Cooperation with NGOs.

Annex 1- The examples of the projects and programmes successfully implemented and funded from public sources in 2015

Annex 2- Overview of the funds allocated from the budgets of local and regional self-government units in 2015

Annex 3- The list of all the programmes and projects in 2015
 

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