NGOs EU FINANCING

Source: Draft Report on Budgetray Control of Financing NGOs from the EU Budget (Committee on Budgetary Control) Markus Piper- Rapporteur

In 2015, the EU budget funded NGOs a total amount of € 1.2 billion with more than 90% allocated to the Multiannual Financing Framework (MFF) heading (Global Europe), around 4% to 'Sustainable Growth within natural resources, almost 4% dedicated to 'Security and Citizenship' and less than 0.5% to 'Smart and Inclusive Growth'.

In 2015, almost 70% of the funding available under the EU's environmental, social, health and human rights programmes was allocated to just 20 NGOs.

In 2010, NGOs received almost € 1.5 billion in grants, of which almost 70% (€ 1.12 billion) went to just 273 NGos amounting to an average of € 1.5 million for each NGO.

The European Commission funding award procedures favour larger organisations and smaller NGOs are not properly taken into account. Smaller NGOs receive funding directly from larger organisations with no checks carried by the European Commission to determine whether they meet EU funding award criteria.

Monitoring and control procedures for the funding of NGOs active in the areas of environmental, social and health policy and development are currently ineffective because individual DGs apply the guidelines for grant funding laid down in the Financial Regulation differently, leading to a lack of traceability of the funds granted.