Partnership for Transparency Fund for NGOs to curb Corruption

Partnership for Transparency Fund (PTF) works towards “helping civil society play an effective role in the design, implementation and monitoring of national anti-corruption programs.” It believes in enhancing the role of NGOs in curbing corruption and improving governance. It offers funding partnerships to organizations in different parts of the world. PTF recently updated its guidelines for partnering with civil society organizations. There are two types of funding sources: “(a) General Funding used at the discretion of PTF (e.g., World Bank funding); and (b) Special Funding that entails special institutional arrangements and regional targets (e.g., FONTRA, CAC South Asia, JSDF).”

Civil society organizations which are engaged in fighting corruption can apply for grant support from PTF. Grant requests can be made between $10,000 and $35,000 and grant recipients are expected to make 10-15% contribution to demonstrate cost-sharing. Some of the example projects that can be funded by PTF include:

1. Monitoring public sector procurement and privatization
2. Reducing corruption in the delivery of public services to citizens
3. Tracking the use of public expenditure
4. Designing and/or monitoring implementation of anti-corruption laws (e.g. funding of freedom of information or conflict of interest legislation) and institutions (Ombudsmen, anti-corruption commissions, etc.)
5. Protecting whistleblowers
6. Supporting special anti-corruption media campaigns and investigative journalism
7. Drafting and implementing Codes of Ethics/Conduct

Proposals submitted to PTF should clearly provide an analysis of the problem, the approach adopted to address it and the outcomes, which should be measurable. PTF emphasizes on sustainability of the project activities by improving systems rather than just get hold of corrupt practitioners. It also seeks to involve public sector entities in the project for strengthening local ownership and build long-term sustainability. NGOs implementing the projects should be independent from any control of the government.

Grant requests are accepted by PTF during any part of the year. However, initially only a 2-3 page concept note needs to be submitted and based upon its review, it will request a full proposal from the applicant.

For more information, visit this link or download the civil society partnership guidelines from here. For a useful toolkit that can give ideas for writing project proposals on anti-corruption, click here.

IMPORTANT: Please do not send unsolicited emails seeking funding support to donor agencies. This will discredit your organization and can also bring bad reputation to you as an individual. Fundraising is a competitive process and you need to follow ethics and not spam donor emails with long, unrelated requests for grant support. If you just keep sending emails seeking support without knowing your donor, your chances of raising funds for your NGO will be drastically reduced and you may be blacklisted as a spammer.