Life after core funding

Gjergji Vurmo, Programme Director at the Institute for Democracy and Mediation (IDM) in Albania, shares his experience in preparing an application for core funding from the Think Tank Fund. He reflects on the process and offers advice to others planing to follow a similar path. He argues that core funding cannot be treated as business as usual project funding. Read full article

Organisational change is becoming as core an activity as research for many think tanks. Funding is increasingly conditioned to changes or reforms within the organisation. Not all think tanks have the capacity to manage this change, however. They can learn from each other, they can contract experts and consultants to support them, and they may even rely on their own skills. But many more could do with more support on this front. Think tank funders interested in organisational development should invest in their own organisational change capacity to service the think tanks they support. Read full article

In this second post, Gjergji Vurmo, Programme Director at the Institute for Democracy and Mediation (IDM) in Albania, shares his experience in managing think tank funds. It is not about spending the money in existing or new researchers, he argues, but about developing the right skills and capacities that the organisation needs to deliver in the future -without core funding support. Read full article

In this last post, Gjergji Vurmo, Programme Director at the Institute for Democracy and Mediation, in Albania, offers a final reflection on life after core funding. He discusses the effect that core funding has had on the organisation's governance, staffing decisions, and research agenda. Read full article