NGO Academy

The largest management capacity-building programme for civil society organisations in Central and Eastern Europe

Did you know ?

Civil society and its leaders in Central and Eastern Europe face numerous challenges: limited and volatile funding opportunities, oppressive governments and corruption, and the lack of the knowledge and methods required to operate a civil society organisation efficiently. Weak capacity affects fundraising ability, governance, leadership and technical areas.

What can we do?

Capacity building can help to provide crucial new skills within the organisations to address challenges going forward. The NGO Academy supports civil society organisations, their staff and indirectly their beneficiaries and stakeholders through high-quality capacity building. We facilitate capacity building as well as know-how transfer for leaders in non-profits and social enterprises. We support participants in setting up international networks with peers and experts. Participants are able to gain valuable insights into state-of-the-art knowledge and the relevance of new developments. We help them apply the new skills in their daily work, and foster concrete outcomes in the form of new projects. All the courses we provide to participants are optimised for maximum accessibility in terms of geography, language and financial opportunities.

To achieve this we have developed three programme areas: The Social Innovation and Management Programme is a comprehensive programme on organisational development and leadership for leaders and managers of non-profit organisations and social enterprises. Masterclasses are intensive training courses offering insights and different perspectives on one specific topic. They are tailored for the shapers and developers in the organisations. The Regional Programme focuses on two-day workshops in local languages and English that put organisational development into a regional context. The range of topics is broad and tailored to fit the needs of the organisations and the requirements of time: from digital fundraising and agile project management to financial management and mindfulness.

“I would very much recommend this programme.”

Why are we doing this?

Educational services empower the civil society sector in Central and Eastern Europe. With tailor-made, high-quality programmes for executive managers and members of NGOs and social enterprises we aim to strengthen organisational structures and enhance management skills. The NGO Academy is an investment in the effectiveness and sustainability of civil society organisations.

NGO Academy

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Florian Bauer

Director Social Finance, Sustainability and Innovation
Since 2023, Florian Bauer has been responsible for social finance, sustainability and social innovation at ERSTE Foundation. Prior to this role, Florian worked in the NGO & Social Entrepreneurship sector for more than 13 years. He led the Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Partnership (REEEP), an international multilateral NGO that works to accelerate market-based deployment of renewable energy and energy efficient systems in developing countries, and was Managing Director & COO of the Impact Hub Vienna. From 2020-2023, Florian established strategic alliances with key partners and helped to create innovative semantic technology solutions at Semantic Web Company (SWC), a leading IT company in semantic AI solutions.