Organization's Mission
TUSEV was established in 1993 by Turkey's leading civil society organizations and has now grown to support network of over 100 associations and foundations that share a vision of strengthening the legal, fiscal and operations infrastructure of the third sector in Turkey. Among TUSEV's main objectives are non-profit law reform, research on civil society and philanthropy, promoting social investment and social injustice philanthropy, and facilitating partneships across sectors, as well as across borders.
Impact
TUSEV played an active role in the catalyzing events for the development of civil society in Turkey at the turn of the millennium: It was the main organizer of the United Nations Habitat II Conference Foundations Forum in 1996 that rallied awareness around civil society; it was the facilitator of international financial support for earthquake relief after the catastrophic 1999 Marmara Earthquake that created significant demand on CSOs; and it was an advocate of EU accession reforms with regards to civil society. These developments mark important changes in the way Turkey frames the work of foundations and CSOs from an operational, legal and fiscal perspective. For the past 15 years, TUSEV has been a leader in improving civil society laws, generating research and policies for the sector's future, and encouraging dialogue and cooperation among private, public and third sector actors. Today, TUSEV's members - consisting of Turkey's 100 leading associations and foundations -continue to share a vision of strengthening civil society in Turkey.
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Social Investment Initiative The Problem Addressed by the ProjectRecent TUSEV research studies on civil society reveal a great deal of need for financial support for CSOs: Only 19% of civil society organizations report having sufficient financial resources, while 44% describe their financial resources as somewhat or completely inadequate. In terms of income diversity, only 21% of CSOs report having received funding from corporations.
Another study examining giving patterns of individuals exposes a diverse range of preferences and forms of giving (individual-to-individual, donations to CSOs, religious donations) and expression of interest and potential of individuals to give more to CSOs (one in every two individuals believes CSOs and foundations can make a positive contribution to society). Yet, it is interesting to note that although 80% of individuals givesin one way or another in Turkey, only 18% chose to donate to a CSO. Respondents claim that the limited nature of donations to CSOs is mainly because the amount of donation/assistance is very small (53%) and spontaneous (21%) or that they do not know how to access the CSOs.| Time Line: January 2009 - December 2009 | |
 The Goal of the ProjectA general assessment of the experiences mentioned above shows that TUSEV's Social Investment Initiative serves CSOs and donors in a mutually beneficial sense by seeking to increase the effectiveness and flow of resources to the third sector and by introducing new mechanisms that provide donor services such as community foundations.The Impact of the ProjectA pilot community foundation (in Bolu) that presents a best practice and efficient adaptation of the model to the Turkish context, which promotes the well-being of the communities by supporting critical projects put forth by non-profit organizations addressing the critical social and economic development issues of the community; and when combined with efforts towards awareness raising and a more enabling environment, generates interest for the establishment of community foundations in Turkey.
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