Cornerstone Economics had the pleasure to attend an informative afternoon organized by “Samenwerkende Fondsen voor het Caribisch deel van het Koninkrijk” on March 16, 2018. “Samenwerkende Fondsen” (The Cooperating Foundations) was founded to support social initiatives on the islands. With this support, they want to strengthen the social involvement in the Caribbean part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands by bringing people into contact with each other and helping them to move forward.
Several Dutch foundations are active in the Caribbean part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands that provide financial support to local initiatives. The largest charities in the field of social welfare have joined forces. Stichting Kinderpostzegels Nederland, the Oranje Fonds, Het Innovatiefonds Zorgverzekeraars, Kansfonds and the Sluyterman van Loo Foundation work together on the various islands. This means that as an organization you only need to apply once if you need funding for your project from these foundations (www.samenwerkendefondsen.org).
During this informative evening, various NGO’s, foundations and social departments were present to receive more information on how they can tap in alternative funding sources to cover their social impact initiative(s). The “Samenwerkende Fondsen” (SF) works together with the local non-profit organization known as CEDE Aruba. CEDE Aruba being the local intermediary.
The attendance shows the need and willingness of different organizations to contribute to the well-being of our local communities, which is encouraging! Nonetheless, funding and financing is still key for the execution and continuous of the work being done in the social field. Interesting is that there is a call for more innovation in this area. The social challenges continue to increase locally, but also globally, as the world and its systems becomes more complex and ineffective.
It was very interesting to hear that SF is attentive and eager to see innovation grow in social projects. For NGO’s, foundations or other community crowds, it is noteworthy to know some of the key pointers shared by SF and CEDE Aruba during this presentation so that collectively social impact organizations can continue to grow in the valuable work they are already doing.
It is important to know that when submitting a funding request SF is looking into the following: • If the social problem is important • Who are the key players in the project? • What does the organization want to achieve? • How will objectives be measured? • Which are the activities? • And what is the project duration?
Important is the collaboration between organizations and good governance is crucial to increase the effectiveness of all NGO’s and social impact initiatives.
In addition, it was very exciting to hear as well that CEDE Aruba is introducing the funding of “micro projects”. The latter refers to one-time projects less than Afl. 7,500. Every organization is allowed to submit one project per year to CEDE Aruba.
Furthermore, SF also shared that they are looking into financing community & neighborhood initiatives, vacation camps and activities for the youth during vacation period.
In short, having a group of people interested in these type of presentations goes to show that the people and organizations have the heart and intention to contribute to the well-being of the community.
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