At the beginnig of the meeting our Chairman of Trustees Dr. Yılmaz Argüden gave his opening speech. In his speech, discussing the adoption of good governance and stakeholder relationships in institutions and their value creation processes, Dr. Argüden emphasized the importance of integrated reporting in civil society.

Our graduates of our Civil Society Good Governance Certificate Program, graduates of our Participatory Democracy School, and leading representatives of civil society took place at the panel, moderated by the our Secretary General, Gaye Uğurlu Fırat. During the panel Dr. Uygar Özesmi, one of the instructors of our certificate program, shared some methods of resource creation in civil society and emphasized the importance of good governance in all processes.

Some of the views shared by Dr. Uygar Özesmi at the event were as follows:

• One of the most important things for institutions to be able to raise donations is to gain trust. Some of the most important factors that provide this are the transparency, accountability, and answerability of institutions... So, it is very important that governance principles are adopted and implemented within the institution.
• It is not enough for an institution to just adopt and implement governance. It also needs to be audited independently and by other institutions. At Good4Trust, for example, we do this with the food certification system... In civil society, Açık Açık is one of the important platforms that provide this.
• Membership fees are one of the significant resources for civil society organizations. That is, how much the base of the NGO supports the organization, how much it feels belonged. Ensuring this requires regular informing of members, listening to them, receiving feedback, learning from members, taking action based on feedback, and keeping communication tight in this regard.
• The first rule of fundraising is to ASK your supporters to support the organization and ASK AGAIN.
• What we do on change.org is to create infrastructure while considering governance for all users. Users can create and sign any campaign they want. As a method of resource creation, there is also asking for support from users who take action for change. For example, asking them to donate after signing a campaign or asking them to spread the campaign...
• Motivations for funds/grants/donations in the private sector:
  1- Some only look at the PR value of your project. Don't find such supporters unless you have to.
  2- Some care about the reputation of the work. They say, "I will support this work for my reputation."
  3- There are those who say, "I will protect my reputation not through media and visibility but through individuals and institutions benefiting directly from this project."
  
  Fundamentally, relationships are important in CSOs. It progresses around 70-80% through these relationships."

Related People

Dr. Uygar Özesmi

Good4Trust

Dr. Yılmaz Argüden

Chair of Advisory Board

Gaye Uğurlu Fırat

Secretary General