New Index Shows a Significant Innovation Potential of Slovak NGOs

The Pontis Foundation has been a long-term supporter of civic sector, focusing on innovative projects that respond to the challenges society faces. Together with FOCUS research agency, we therefore mapped the state of civil organisations in Slovakia and identified the areas they should focus on in their development when addressing societal issues. 

“The survey showed that the sector is driven by enthusiasm and talented people, but held back by a lack of funding, human resources and rigorous data on the impact of its activities,” says Martin Slosiarik, Director of FOCUS. 

The survey, which involved organisations from across Slovakia, found that as many as 50% of them have no employees and rely entirely on volunteers. When it comes to financial sources, almost 40% of the organisations fundraise or apply for grants only occasionally and have no stable income at all. Half of them can only be certain of their funding for one to three years at most. Only 7% of nonprofits have secured a long-term, diversified budget for more than three years, for example through social entrepreneurship or investment. 

It is these factors that limit the scaling of organisations’ innovative activities, through which they contribute to addressing challenges in education, supporting people facing disadvantage, and building local communities. 

“The innovation potential of Slovakia’s civic sector is enormous. We found that despite all these factors, as many as one-third of organisations have managed to develop their own new service, product or method that responds to a specific need of their target group better than vastly used solutions,” says Norbert Maur, Senior Programme Manager at the Pontis Foundation. Only 5% of nonprofits continue to rely on their original approaches without looking for ways to improve them. 

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A Strategic Mirror 

Through the survey, we want to provide not only data but also help the civic sector grow and effectively focus its activities. That is why we created the Social Innovation Index, which serves as a strategic mirror for nonprofits. It helps organisations better assess how they operate. At the same time, it shows them where they are currently and where they can move next. 

The Index evaluates five areas of organisational development – team capacity, innovation, funding, impact monitoring and systematic change. These were also the areas examined by the survey. On a scale from 1 (negative) to 5 (positive), the average Index score was 2.84, with team capacity (3.01) and innovation (2.96) scoring highest. 

Based on the survey results, organisations in the civic sector are at different stages of development, from Enthusiastic Pioneers through Developing Implementers and Strategic Innovators to Systematic Change Leaders. This classification shows how diverse the sector is and that organisations have different needs and opportunities. 

Organisations can find out their Index score on the www.indexorganizacie.sk website. After completing the questionnaire, they will also receive free recommendations for improvement. 

Co-funded by the European Union within the ImpactAS 2 – Impact Acceleration of Slovak CSOs 2 (ImpactAS II) project. VViews and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or European Education and Culture Executive Agency. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.