1. Purpose and basis
These criteria set out who may receive the association's funds, for what, by which procedure and on what conditions, and what is published about each allocation.
The criteria are proposed by the Grants Committee and adopted by the Board; they are published on the association's website before they are applied, in accordance with Article 38 of the Statute. The Committee decides solely by these criteria. The Executive Director, the Board, the founders and sponsors do not decide who receives funds.
Funds are used only to achieve the association's goals, in accordance with Article 30 of the Law on Non-Governmental Organisations.
2. Which funds
The criteria apply to funds collected for beneficiaries (the Impact Fund): voluntary contributions and donations from individuals and companies, funds raised by event participants on the association's behalf, contributions from collection boxes and gifts in memory of the deceased. These funds are allocated to beneficiaries in full, without deductions; the association's operating costs are covered from other income.
Funds collected for a specific cause (for example, for the treatment of a named person or for a particular event with a published purpose) are used only for that purpose. If funds remain after the purpose has been achieved, or if the purpose becomes impossible, the Committee allocates them to a beneficiary from the same area and the same category of need, with published reasons.
Funds collected in a chapter's area are intended for beneficiaries from that area (Article 42 of the Statute).
3. Who can be a beneficiary
A beneficiary may be:
- an individual or a family resident in Montenegro, in social need or affected by illness, accident, natural disaster or another sudden event;
- a child or a young person up to the age of 26, through a parent, guardian or institution;
- a small business or sole trader with its seat in a chapter's area, whose operation is threatened by damage from an accident or disaster and on whose survival jobs or the community's supply depend;
- a school, kindergarten, sports club, health or social institution or another non-governmental organisation, for a specific purchase or activity with clearly identified end beneficiaries.
Priority goes to beneficiaries from the area of the chapter in which the funds were raised.
The following cannot be beneficiaries: a founder, a member of a governing body, an employee or a volunteer holding a function in the association, or their spouse, child, parent, brother or sister; a political party or campaign; a religious community for the purposes of worship; a person who has already received the association's funds within the previous [[PLACEHOLDER: number]] months, except in the exceptional case under section 8.
4. What is funded
Funds are allocated for a specific, documented cost or purchase, in the following categories:
- Health: treatment, surgery, medicines, aids, rehabilitation, transport to an institution, a carer's stay, where the cost is not covered by compulsory insurance or is covered only in part;
- Home: urgent repairs where the safety of the home is at risk, heating, basic furniture and appliances after a fire, flood or similar event, rent or bill arrears where the home is at risk of being lost;
- Children and education: school supplies, textbooks, transport, therapies, equipment for a child with a developmental disability, participation in sport and extracurricular activities;
- Accident and disaster: immediate help to families and small businesses affected by fire, flood, storm or accident;
- Community: equipment or an activity of a school, club or institution with identified end beneficiaries, where the benefit to the community is clear and measurable.
The following are not funded: ordinary living costs without a specific event that caused them; repayment of loans, fines, gambling or similar debts; a cost already paid before the application was submitted, except in an urgent case under section 8; wages and fees; costs that by law are borne by the state, insurance or an employer, until that route has been exhausted or shown to be unavailable within a reasonable time; purchases without a quote or pro forma invoice; political, religious or commercial activity.
5. How to apply
An application is submitted on the form on the association's website (the "Prijava za pomoć" page), and may also be submitted in writing through a chapter lead. An application may be submitted by the beneficiary, a family member, a guardian, a doctor, a school, a social work centre, a chapter lead or a member of the association who knows the beneficiary, with the beneficiary's consent.
The application contains: the applicant's name and contact details; the category of need; the amount requested; a description of the situation and exactly what the funds are requested for; attachments.
Depending on the category, the following are attached to the application:
- proof of the beneficiary's identity and residence (a copy of the identity card or a certificate of residence);
- proof of need: medical records, a damage report, a confirmation from a social work centre, school or doctor, photographs;
- a quote, pro forma invoice or invoice for the cost requested, naming the supplier;
- a statement of other sources: whether help has been requested and received from the state, insurance, an employer or another organisation, and in what amount;
- the beneficiary's consent to the processing of personal data and, separately, to the publication of a story or photograph, if requested.
An incomplete application is not refused; within three working days the applicant is told what is missing.
6. Assessment criteria
The Committee assesses each complete application against six criteria, with 0 to 3 points per criterion:
| Criterion | 0 | 3 |
|---|---|---|
| Urgency and severity | can wait, no threat to health, home or livelihood | delay causes irreversible harm |
| Concreteness and impact per euro | general request, no quote | exact cost with a quote, clear and lasting effect |
| Lack of other sources | cost covered by the state, insurance or others | no other source available in the time needed, evidenced |
| Local connection | outside every chapter area | in the chapter area where the funds were raised |
| Verifiability and feasibility | cash to the beneficiary only, no evidence | paid directly to the supplier, full documentation |
| Fairness | the beneficiary has recently received funds | first time, and funds remain available for other pending applications |
An application with fewer than [[PLACEHOLDER: threshold, e.g. 9]] points, or with 0 points on the urgency or verifiability criterion, is as a rule not approved. The points serve the Committee as a framework, not as an automatic decision; the Committee states its reasons in the decision when it departs from the points.
When several applications meet the criteria and the funds are not sufficient for all of them, priority goes to the applications with more points on urgency, then on lack of other sources.
7. Amounts
A standard allocation is up to [[PLACEHOLDER: amount]] EUR per beneficiary and per decision. The Committee approves it by a majority of the votes of all members.
An allocation above that amount is possible only by a unanimous decision of all members of the Committee, with written reasons why a smaller amount would not achieve the purpose.
The total amount allocated in one year cannot exceed the funds actually collected for beneficiaries in the current and previous years, less the funds already allocated. The Committee does not allocate funds against expected future contributions.
The Committee may approve a smaller amount than requested, or a share of the cost on condition that the remainder is covered by another source.
8. Urgent aid
Where delay until the regular meeting would cause irreversible harm (urgent treatment, loss of a home, an accident), the chair of the Committee may start a fast procedure: the application with its evidence is sent electronically to all members, and the decision is taken when a majority of all members vote for it, within 48 hours at the latest.
In the fast procedure at most [[PLACEHOLDER: amount]] EUR may be approved, within the limit set by the Board. In an urgent case a cost paid at most 30 days before the application may also be recognised afterwards, against an invoice.
Every urgent decision is entered in the minutes at the next meeting of the Committee and published like any other.
By way of exception to section 3, a beneficiary who has already received funds may receive urgent aid again if a new, unforeseeable event has occurred; the Committee gives specific reasons for this.
9. Procedure and timelines
- Receipt. The Executive Director, or a person designated by the Director, acknowledges receipt within three working days and checks only whether the application is complete, without assessing its merits.
- Preparation. The complete application with its attachments and a short summary is sent to the members of the Committee at least five days before the meeting. The summary contains no recommendation.
- Verification. The Committee may request further evidence, an interview with the applicant, or a visit to the beneficiary by a chapter lead or a member of the association. The findings of the visit are entered in the file.
- Decision. The Committee decides within 21 days of the day the application is complete. The decision contains: the beneficiary, the amount, the purpose, the method of payment, the conditions, the points per criterion and the reasons.
- Notification. The applicant is notified in writing within five days of the decision. A declined applicant receives the reasons and may once request reconsideration within 15 days, with new evidence; the Committee decides at its next meeting and that decision is final.
- Implementation. The Executive Director implements the decision within ten days of the conditions being met.
10. Conflicts of interest
A member of the Committee who is related to the beneficiary or the applicant, or is in a business, employment, neighbourly or other personal relationship with them, or who proposed the beneficiary, declares this before the discussion and takes no part in the discussion or the vote. The declaration and the recusal are entered in the minutes and in the published summary of the decision.
If a quorum cannot be reached because of recusals, the remaining members take the decision unanimously.
A member of the Committee may not accept any benefit, gift or favour from a beneficiary, applicant or supplier.
11. Payment and documentation
Funds are as a rule paid directly to the supplier (hospital, pharmacy, seller, contractor, school) against an invoice or pro forma invoice. Payment to the beneficiary's account is possible where payment to the supplier is not possible; payment in cash only exceptionally, up to [[PLACEHOLDER: amount]] EUR, against a signed receipt.
For each allocation the file keeps: the Committee's decision with its reference, the application with its attachments, the invoice or pro forma invoice, proof of payment, and the beneficiary's confirmation that the cost has been met or the goods received, within 30 days of payment.
Unused funds are returned to the association. If funds are used contrary to their purpose, the Committee may request their return, and the beneficiary loses the right to make new applications for the following [[PLACEHOLDER: number]] months.
12. Publication and privacy
For each allocation the association publishes in the public ledger on its website: the date, the amount, the category, the chapter and a description of the beneficiary in a form that does not reveal their identity (for example: "Family from Tivat, medical costs, 1,200 EUR"), together with the reference of the Committee's decision.
The following are not published: name and surname, address, diagnosis, photographs or any data that would allow the beneficiary to be identified, except with the beneficiary's explicit, separate and revocable written consent. A child may not be made identifiable even with a parent's consent, other than by first name and age in a story published with the consent of both parents or the guardian.
Personal data from applications is accessible only to the members of the Committee and to the persons who prepare the file. It is kept for [[PLACEHOLDER: number]] years from the last payment and then deleted, except for data that the law requires to be kept longer.
13. Records, reporting and amendments
The Committee keeps a register of decisions with a serial number, date, amount, category and outcome, which is used as the decision reference in the public ledger.
The Committee submits to the Assembly and the Board an annual report with the number of applications received, approved and declined, the total amounts by category and chapter, the average time to decision and the number of recusals for conflict of interest.
The Committee reviews these criteria at least once a year and proposes amendments to the Board. Amendments are published at least 15 days before they apply and do not apply to applications submitted before publication.