In this year‘s round of grant awards, the OKD Foundation received 1,283 project applications from non-profit organisations, municipalities and other applicants. That is almost a third more than in 2010. “This signals the increasing prestige of the Foundation which is now expanding beyond the boundaries of the Moravian-Silesian Region, as well as the greater hunger of non-profit organisations that stems from cuts in the state budget and other sources,” said OKD Foundation Director Jiří Suchánek.
The Foundation plans to distribute CZK 60 million, three times more than last year. The institution plans to devote CZK 10 million to its priority funding area for this year – sheltered workshops for the handicapped. Some 80 per cent of all funding will stay in northern Moravia. “We plan to support the projects that are the best and, at the same time, the most needed in the challenging times we live in,“ Suchánek said in regard to the selection criteria.
An independent grant committee will evaluate the projects, and the Managing Board will have the final say. The list of successful projects will be published by the Foundation in the first half of June.
As expected, applicants showed the greatest interest in the “For Health“ programme, which helps fund care for the elderly, citizens with disabilities and abandoned children. In the framework of this programme, organisations have submitted 539 projects with a total value of CZK 172 million, while last year 355 projects were submitted, applying for CZK 93 million in total.