Check the Annual report 2020 here.

"2020 was an extraordinary year, different from any other previous in the history of our organization for the team members, the country and the world. The COVID-19 pandemics imposed a number of restrictions and set the beginning of the "new normal". From 12 calendar months, the WCIF team spent only 50 days in their office space, but did not stop working for a moment during the remaining over 170 working days of the year. We've been through the so-called lockdown, the social isolation, we've restricted our face-to-face meetings.

The difficulties and constraints caused by the health crisis were not an obstacle to our work. We continued our work and social contacts online. Мobilised we managed to overcome the challenges. We organized our work and with the help of technology, we continued to support those who want to change for good. It's been a difficult year, not just because of the health problems and the challenges facing the economy. Increasingly, we have also had to overcome the obstacles associated with limiting the space for civic participation, especially with regard to civil society organisations and human rights challenges, in a society set under constant polarisation, strong populist ideas, a play with nationalism and a lack of understanding of social development and the need for efforts to generate social capital.

The challenges facing philanthropy were also many and caused mainly by the consequences of the health crises and the sustained support on the part of businesses and single philanthropists for the medical institutions. This unprecedented donors’ mobilization in practice limited the resources for causes different from the health care ones.

The year has also been littered with political challenges and, to a large extent, legislative ones. When taking stock, we should mention the attempt at legislative change related to limiting the rights to receive funding from private donors outside Bulgaria for publicly registered NGOs and the non-functioning Council for the Development of Civil Society, despite the fact that its members were selected.

Despite all the difficulties, WCIF did not for a moment stop believing in the meaning of the civil community action to change the environment in which we live, in the power of local philantrophy to bring about change, as well as in the need and meaning to work with young people in order to have a future generation of active citizens. Our efforts have been focused on local organisations so that they can work for the better lives of people, private donors to support these organisations, and the next generation of civic leaders to have civic participation and more people to get involved in the processes of change. Over the past year, we have focused our efforts on providing support to people and organisations so that they can overcome the health, economic, social challenges faced by their communities.

We did all that with the active participation of our donors, partners, colleagues and the ordinary initiative people from all over the country. Practically and responsibly, we searched for the quickest and most relevant answers possible to help in time.

We would like to thank everybody who was part of these efforts. Without our joint actions there would be hardly any room for change!"

Iliyana Nikolova,

Executive Director, WCIF