The new session of the Training Program of the NGO House starts on the 15^th of October

The Bulgarian Center for Not-for-Profit Law (BCNL) announced this year’s issue of the Autumn Training Program at the NGO House. Striving for continuous improvement of the knowledge, skills and work of the people involved in the civil society sector and for supporting them the BCNL invites all curious people from NGOs and active citizens to join the program – because we can as much as we know.

The topics of the modules are chosen after receiving feedback from the participants in the Program so far making them up to date, important and interesting. Signing up for participation is available by filling up an online form and payment in advance of the participation fees in accordance with the chosen number of sessions. The cost of participation in a single session is 20 BGN and the cost to sign up for 3 sessions is 50 BGN.

All sessions will take place at the NGO House – Sofia, Hristo Belchev str. № 3, 1 floor at 17:30 h and will be between 90 and 120 min. long.

Schedule by Modules and Sessions

Module 1 – ACA: Additional, Compulsory and (a bit) Annoying Requirements for NGOs       

Lecturers: Nadya Shabani (Director of BCNL) and Anna Adamova (Program Director, BCNL)

ACA is the code for those, not so directly related to the activities of the civil organizations, legal requirements, but in fact absolutely obligatory for everyone. Especially, if we don’t want The State Agency for National Security,The Commission for Personal Data Protection or The General Labor Inspectorate to be dissatisfied after a routine inspection in our organization. The organizational documents sound like another tedious piece of paperwork, but they are not redundant or to be overlooked. We dedicate this module to two relatively new regulations – the anti-money laundering and data protection measures – which directly affect civil society organizations. From the lecturers in the module – Nadya Shabani and Anna Adamova – we will learn: what rules, policies and other internal documents to adopt; how to avoid excess paperwork so that we do not make our day-to-day work difficult; at each stage of our organizational development what is not to be missed from administrative point of view.

 Thematic sessions in Module 1

   1. How to make a GDPR file?     Date: 24.10.2019, starts: 17:30

Do we need a padlock on each cabinet?”, „Is it time to learn crypto…graphy and anonymize everything in order to be GDPR complaint ?“ – possible, but quit ambitious scenarios which in most cases are not compulsory to go through. In this session we will look at what are the main documents we need to have, and most of all – what these documents mean in practice. Special attention will be paid to one of the key questions for civic organizations – how to account to their donors without breaching GDPR requirements.

   2. How to Collect and Record Personal Data?     Date: 14.11.2019,Starts: 17:30

In the civic sector, we actively organize many and various events, strive to gain followers, inform on important public topics, recruit volunteers, work on-site to help many, often in a vulnerable position, people. All of this has to do with the processing of substantial amount of personal data, and for many of us hearing about the GDPR causes a cringe moment. Well, no need! Things are not so scary once we know about them. Therefore, the session will be focused on the main types of activities specific to civil society organizations and how to deal with the data protection requirement.

   3. How to Navigate Ourselves through the Measures Against Money Laundering Act (MAMLA)?     Date: 12.12.2019, Starts: 17:30

The fight against money laundering is an important topic. And for one reason or another, civil society organizations in Bulgaria play a role in it. What are the measures that every organization must undertake to protect its operations from being misused for money laundering or financing terrorism, and what we need to know about this topic in the current session? – these we will learn in the session. And if we navigate quickly, there will be a bonus from the ACA-requirements for NGOs.

Module 2: Social Media Campaigns – Its Majesty the Content.

Lecturer: Boyana Stoilova (Digital Marketing Expert)

The Content is not what it used to be! Never the less it is still the most important thing if we want to leave a lasting mark in the enormous stream of information and to attract like-minded people for the causes we work for. And how to reach people – social networks are certainly present in the answer. Whether we ask ourselves the right questions when planning a social media campaign (information, event, recruiting, etc.), how we decide what content to convey our message, and how we create Its Majesty the Content – for  answers of all those questions (and those we haven’t thought of) we count on Boyana Stoilova.

Thematic sessions in Module 2:

   1. The model HHH: Creating and planning content in the social networks     Date: 17.10.2019, Starts: 17:30

Why we create content – goals, audiences, where, when and how to plan it .. ?? So many questions. The HERO-HUB-HYGIENE (HHH) model comes to the rescue, which we will learn in order to help us plan the content of our next campaign. The Model provides a very good framework for what we need to know in advance – what content (video and audio) and how to distribute it over time and across channels. Because good planning is 80% of a job well done.

   2. From photos with a phone to a vision for a post – ground rules and design instruments     Date: 28.11.2019, Starts: 17:30

Nothing is possible without rules – such exist for photos as well. Especially if we want the photo to “speak”. How to get the best picture quality using only the camera on our phone and how to turn our photos into visions for our campaign on social networks – for composition, lighting, framing, design, etc. we will talk here.

   3. ROLL-CAMERA-ACTION!: Preparation is substantial for a good video     Date: 5.12.2019, Starts: 17:30

Improvisation is a good thing, but good quality ultimately involves certain professional skills. However, we do not need to be professional directors and camerapeople to make a good video for our social campaign – as long as we make preparations in advance. In this session we will talk about how to write a script, what kind of shots we plan, what are the elements in a clip (scenes, hats, text, rhythm, tempo, audio) – all that is crucial before we get to the actual shoot. Thus, with a few practical steps, we will escape from complete improvisation and know what to expect and look for as a final product.

Module 3: Good financial and technical management

Lecturers: Elena Kalinova (Finance Director, BCNL) and Plamen Todorov (Administrastive Director, BCNL) 

Small or big, with more or less projects, with or without commercial activity – every active civic organization has to plan well and reasonably financially its work. This is a specific knowledge, without which the annual budget of the organization, its preparation, adequate application and accounting of projects becomes a difficult task. And achieving good financial and technical management is almost impossible. In order to translate to us in an understandable language the specific requirements for this part of the work of an NGO and to give us valuable practical advice on how to be among the valedictorians, Elena Kalinova and Plamen Todorov will play the role of lecturers in the sessions of this Module.

Thematic sessions in Module 3:

   1. How to plan and control the annual budget of an organization?     Date: 15.10.2019, Starts: 17:30

“We don’t have a big budget and we don’t have to make any plans …”, “It’s enough to have a good accountant, who’ll handle everything …” – there are myths about the importance of and what an organization’s annual budget is, should we also have it and how to plan it at all. How about controlling it ?! And those administrative expenses for which money always fall short. Those are all questions you will find answers of during this session.

   2. Clever budge: how to write and report our project from a financial point of view?     Date: 31.10.2019, Starts: 17:30 

Ideas for good deeds are a nice thing, but when we have to protect them financially in front of the donor, it is crucial how realistic we have done our budget. What are the elements that we should always keep in mind when making a budget for a project, what to look out for, so that if we receive financial support, we can execute it successfully and efficiently (to achieve a good balance of investment and result). And, of course, how to handle all the requirements for financial reporting. We will learn all this in the second session of the Module.

  3. Hints: how to prepare the perfect technical report?     Date: 21.11.2019, Starts: 17:30

“Will they understand how much important and meaningful things we have done – the place is not enough to write everything ?!”. Sometimes we want to tell every human story which we’ve influenced positively. However, when it comes to a technical report, there are requirements that we need to comply with if we want to be top performers. In order to find out what these techniques are (it is not called a technical report for nothing) and not to forget them, in the third session we will make a cheatsheet – which will help us in the technical reporting of each project.

For additional information on the Autumn Program please contact Zdrava Vodenicharova, e-mail: zdrava@bcnl.org, or call: 02/981 66 17.