How does one finance extensive research, when the reports are distributed free of charge?
That question is often asked, particularly in the Balkans or Turkey. We are not a consultancy but a non-profit organization registered in Berlin. We live off support for an idea: to make empirical research available to a wider audience at no cost. Public and private donors help us towards realizing this goal. Since 1999 we have had the benefit of financial assistance from 13 different countries, from Ireland to Slovenia. Our largest donors during this time were two Scandinavian governments, Norway and Sweden. Private funds come from foundations: the Rockefeller Foundation, Open Society Institute, Mott Foundation and others. Since 2005 the ERSTE Foundation, from Austria, has been the most import benefactor of our work in the Balkans. What do these donors want? They want to stimulate discussion: about conditions in Serbian villages in Kosovo, about failed privatization in southern Serbia, about the UN’s mistakes in Bosnia, about the situation of women in eastern Turkey, about the future
