The Pontis Foundation is a grant giving and operational foundation, which means that it redistributes grants to other organizations and at the same time implements own projects and activities.
sources for our grant activities
We receive funds for our grant activities thanks to our excellent long-term experience and in-depth knowledge of the NGO and business sector in Slovakia. We link donors that want to share effectively their sources for improvement of living conditions with those that know how to bring the real benefit to others.
Our main tasks include providing know-how, time and solutions for the management and use of available financial resources in the most effective way. We distribute them to organizations for projects that will truly benefit the community and its members. Since 1995 we received resources from foreign donors, private foundations and from Official Development Aid abroad. From 2004 a new mechanism has started that enable the tax payers to assign 2% of their taxes to non-profit organizations. These donations constitute major part of our resources since then.
From the amount designed for grants, we use 5%-10% of financial resources for providing know-how, long-term knowledge of the Slovak non-profit sector, consultancy, organization and complete administration of open grant calls as well as for project monitoring.
Further information about our grant programs is available in Grant Programs section.
sources for our project activities in slovakia
In the field of corporate philanthropy and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in Slovakia we carry out many activities thanks to cooperation and partnerships with various Slovak companies. From these sources we finance corporate volunteer activities, educational events, publications and studies, Via Bona Slovakia award and administration of Business Leaders Forum association. More than 30 companies active in corporate philanthropy and CSR in Slovakia supported our activities over the years.
Innovative projects of loan program for non-governmental organizations and (IDEAXCHANGE) were supported by Trust for Civil Society in Central and Eastern Europe. The loan program for non-governmental organizations (NGOs) is also our self financing activity, i.e. the interest from providing loans covers all project costs. The core capital of the loan fund was provided by The Ford Foundation in 2002. Trust for Civil Society in Central and Eastern Europe provided further investment for this program in 2005.
Other activities aimed at development of Slovak NGOs, e.g. study on institutional development of NGOs in Slovakia or NGO skills trainings were supported by Canadian Embassy and several corporately and socially responsible Slovak companies.
Individuals corporate entities that find our activities worthy and assign 2% from their tax assess, provide another important source for financing of our activities. More information is available in section how we used your 2% in Slovak language.
sources for our project activities abroad
Democratization and development projects of civil societies in Belarus, Serbia, Cuba (and Iraq in the past) are funded by Slovak Official Development Assistance of Slovak Republic and from foreign organizations like the European Commission; foundations from Japan and Austria; the British, Canadian, Dutch and US embassies in Slovakia and various foundations from the USA.
Slovak Official Development Aid – Slovak Aid/SAMRS together with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Slovak Republic constitute 30% of the sources for our projects abroad.
Individuals and Slovak companies provided resources for . Collected funds are used for humanitarian support of families of Cuban dissidents.
Financial resources for our foreign projects are exclusively from open grant programs of foreign and Slovak entities. These entities have strictly defined terms and conditions that we as an applicant must comply with. With regard to the project aspect we have to show previous experience in technical field, familiarity with the conditions in the destination country, cooperation with partnership organizations and competent human resources for successful implementation of the project. The credibility, size and tradition of the foundation, number and professionalism of the employees, and experienced board members are key elements when deciding about financial resources allocation.
financial flows are subject to multiple controls
From the first moment of submitting the grant program application, through the release of the acceptance note of our project, until the successful completion of it, we have to follow certain steps. We prepare a grant contract, ongoing evaluation and financial reports, final evaluation and financial reports that show the effective use of resources. At each step of the cycle it is important for us to have the financial control system defined.
Together with application form for the new grant we provide the balance document of all our financial commitments and previous grants. Each application contains the item list budget for the project, whereat the administrative costs constitute 7% of all project costs.
We provide our donors ongoing evaluations and financial reports, usually quarterly, eventually monthly, biannually, or annually. They include detailed overview on budget items draw and a copy of all accounting documents. (E.g. in the coordinator wage item we submit for control the following documents: labor contract, actuarial document about the remuneration amount, document of payment, monthly timesheet about her/his work on the project, eventually the tax payment amount paid.)
During the period of November 20, 2007 – December 20, 2007 there was an inspection from the Ministry of Finance of the Slovak Republic focused on the use of public funds that Pontis Foundation received in years 2003 – 2006 from the assignation of 2% from tax assess. The inspection stated full completion of the legal regulations and standards.
The accounting records of Pontis Foundation are every year audited by an independent auditing agency. KPMG audited the financial statements for 2007. According to the KPMG auditing team, the limpidity and credibility of the Pontis accounting is a model to other non-governmental organizations.
Based on the request of our foreign donor organizations two other audits were carried out in Pontis Foundation in 2007 - audit by PROCTUM CONSULT, s.r.o. and audit by Ing. Jana Tomšíková, while both stated full completion of all legal requirements.
[ back ]
print version
recommend page
sitemap
notification