Description

The Community Partners selection and verification process, described below, is both multi-faceted and multi-staged, and it can take up to a year.

We recommend that all organizations preregister first. Any organization can register with RUF. We recommend that you provide as much information as possible during this stage.

The process starts with a formal nomination stage: during this stage, qualified entities make written recommendations to Romanian United Fund (nonprofits cannot nominate themselves).

The second stage is the application stage: during this stage, nonprofits are required to provide a full description of their activities and projects and create a well-documented profile on RUF's website.

The last stage is the selection stage during which qualified nonprofits are asked to complete a questionnaire asking for typical information required in grant-making and to submit supporting documents (financials, projects, governance). Nonprofits are then ranked based on a balanced evaluation score system and voted by an appointed committee.

NOTE: We have no selection process actively running. We are a young and relatively small organization and we need to grow a little more before taking on more responsibilities. This being said, we continue to collect information in order to build a reliable database of nonprofits that are eligible for us to add to our growing list of partners in the future.

Nomination (Next nomination timing: TBD - to be determined)

RUF has a responsibility towards its donors to select only the most transparent, impactful, and well-governed nonprofit organizations as partners. Unfortunately, we would not have the ability, nor the capacity to perform due diligence on every nonprofit organization. For this reason, we only process applications for nonprofits that are first nominated (sponsored) by one of our trusted entities.

In order to apply for financial support, nonprofits (NGOs) can be sponsored by one of the following: a peer Grantmaking Foundation, any one of our current Community Partners, an Ambassador, a Founding Angel, or a member of the Board of Advisors or the Board of Directors.

A full list of Nominations will be finalized and published by Date TBD.

Application

• Organizations will receive instructions via email
• Unregistered organizations will create a profile on RUF's website

Selection (Timing TBD)

The Community Partners qualification criteria and evaluation grid are designed to be fair and transparent. They were developed by RUF in collaboration and with the support of several professionals and independent organizations, experienced in the evaluation and management of nonprofit projects: Prof. Norbert Petrovici, Univ. Babes Bolyai, Catedra Sociologie (Social Impact Measurement), Irina Pop (Member of the Board of Advisors), Andrei Pop (Fundatia pentru Dezvoltarea Societatii Civile), Asociatia pentru Relatii Comunitare, Cercul Donatorilor Bruxelles, World Vision Romania.

• To qualify, nonprofits need at least 3 votes (from our Project Evaluation Committee Members, Board of Directors, and/or the Board of Advisors and active RUF Volunteers)
• Qualified organizations will be asked to complete a standard form (RUF Application) and submit more documents
• Finally, the proposals are submitted to the Project Selection Committee which decides which organizations will be added to our platform based on their grid scores
• A Flagship organization will be selected from the batch of approved organizations for the next year, based on a simple majority vote by our Founding Angels, with the approval of the Board of Directors. The Flagship organization will be featured during RUF's annual Gala fundraiser
• The public will have the ability to promote their favorite organizations through a voting process on RUF's website

Review general eligibility conditions for RUF partner and affiliate organizations.

NOTES

• the above conditions are provided as guidelines, they are non-binding and they are subject to change
• for 2021-2022, we are focused on the selection and onboarding of organizations that have some demonstrable impact in the Diaspora

Updated: Mar 2022. For more information about our Community Partner Selection process, please contact Mihaela Livanu or Mihai Lehene, using the contact us form.