The hidden bill grassroots groups pay to stay fundable
Ecumenical Women's Initiative, based in Croatia, published a report titled 'Funding for women's and girls' organisations in the Western Balkans: structures, pressures and impacts', arguing that donor capacity-building programmes rarely build lasting resilience. According to the report, such organisations measure capacity not as training but by whether staff will receive paychecks beyond the next three months, operating across three regimes: self-preservation, service provision and advocacy.
The grant ledger records disbursements and reports filed; it does not record what the arrangement costs. Marinella Matejčić describes organisations pulled away from community work into an endless loop of reporting and capacity-building assignments, sustained by overwork, volunteering and continuous proposal writing. Movement-building and long-term strategic work are left behind, while advocacy and political work drift to the margins through an invisible cut nobody budgets for.
Source: Alliance Magazine · September 28, 2026