Thanks for the great link. I have to say, it really strikes the chord with some of the issues I raised in my post in New Eurasia so, in that sense, coming across the Freedolina website was very timely. Specifically, many NGO staffers interviewed by the Freedolina.com program mentioned the need to diversify NGO funds and not to rely on foreign funds only (which is something I tried to make a point about in my post). Then another interesting thought was about the lucrative (by Central Asian standards) labor market created by foreign funding that brought many local NGOs to existence. The downside of that is that many NGOs workers in Central Asia view their projects as simply a way to earn a living whereas in developed nations people often (not always, of course) join NGOs to pursue a case/promote an issue they strongly believe in. I would think this is a phenomenon that is characteristic of many developing economies. Perhaps, there is nothing wrong with that as long as the “core” of the organization is composed of/sustained by the people who want to stay focused on the cause.

Another thing is the cut-throat competition some interviewees mentioned that is caused by the need to obtain limited funding as well as the need to survive in a government-controlled environment.

It would be interesting to get a transcribed version of the recording (In Russian or English)–do you happen to have such a file?

For the record though, I have nothing against foreign funding, nor do I think NGOs are all that bad. I do think that there needs to be more thorough-going examination of what works and what doesn’t.

I like this idea of moving into corporate giving. Certainly the state corporations in the NIS have the resources to contribute to their own economies, yet the very term NGO has taken on such negative connotations, I doubt you’d be able to see much, at least without a lot of PR work. Part of the issue, too, is the endemic elitism of the ruling “class” – many of them just don’t want to give any of their money away.

I wonder, though. From what I’ve seen, in most of the Central Asian states, Islam is more cultural than ideological: much like the U.S. or (to a lesser extent) Europe, it is simply what one does, rather than some grand struggle against outsiders. (Though, now that I think about that, I’m given pause at how Islam in Europe and Christianity in America are slowly turning into each other.)

Anyway, I wonder if in the NIS fundraising could be done through an appeal to zakat the same way a lot of it is done in the U.S. through an appeal to “Christian compassion” or other forms of tithing. From a cultural perspective, it might be more effective than a general finger wagging.