From February to March 2004, a questionnaire was given to participants attending presentations of the “ United Way” publications and the Portal. The purpose of the questionnaire was to find out the basic problem areas for Belarusian NGO activity.

The following basic success factors were considered:

·       The intrinsic NGO potential (its strong and the weak areas);

·       The NGO’s target group;

·       The financial position of the organisation, both now and in the future and also the degree to which various basic funding sources are needed.

They were also asked to briefly describe what the basic obstacle was to their organisations.

Of those who participated in the questionnaire: 28% were NGO heads; 26.4% were members of staff; 37.7% were NGO members and 5.7% were volunteers;

Of those who participated: 41.5% were representatives of local NGOs; 47.2% were representatives of national NGOs and national NGO unions; 11.3% were representatives of international NGOs.

The main perspective for NGO development is firstly, more effective use of their intrinsic resources in order to adequately respond to changes and effects from external factors and secondly, an increase in the effectiveness of their work. At the first stage of such an evaluation, an analysis is conducted of the organisation’s existing state at a fixed moment in time – “a photograph” of the NGO’s state.

In order to evaluate NGO activity, measures such as the organisation’s workforce, its involvement in present day events in society, its stability etc. are taken into account. The organisation’s state and orientation needs to be taken into account in the context of the non-profit sector and of society as a whole.

According to the results of the survey, NGOs were found to have 9 strong points (in order of decreasing overall significance):

• Chartered goals;

• Activity and enthusiasm amongst organisation members;

• The social impact of their work;

• Access to information;

• The demand for NGO work/services from the point of view of the client;

• The extent to which the organisation is known in the local community;

• The existence of a development strategy;

• Qualified personnel;

• Fixed contacts with mass media.

Participants of the survey reckoned NGOs’ 5 weak points to be:

• Funding; • Profit Generating activity of the organisation (production);

• Contacts with business;

• Technical equipment;

• Contacts with local authorities.

According to the results of this survey and of other research into the non-profit sector, the strong aspects of Belarusian NGO activity are intrinsically connected with human capital: with the knowledge and skills of those who work in the non-profit sector, with their receptive attitudes and skills with regard to innovative activity and with their ability to find like-minded people etc.

The weak aspects of the non-profit sector are to a large extent connected with the economical side of the organisation’s activity and also with the extent to which modern information technology is available. The intrinsic potential of an NGO generally depends on the external environment in which the NGOs function.

According to the analysis of the non-profit sector, such aspects of intrinsic potential as the NGO’s level of expertise, its contacts with funds, its international standing etc. are significant. However, their significance is currently being overlooked by Belarusian NGOs, which do not place great importance in developing strategic tasks and striving towards achieving them. This in itself is a cause of many problems.