The public calls are usually published at the beginning of June, and the overall granting process, that includes applications’ submission, formal conditions’ check, applications’ quality evaluation, publication of results and the time frame for complaints’ submission, response to complaints and contracting process, is finished by the end of December. Specific public calls can be published during other periods throughout the year.

Applications are submitted exclusively in electronic form using the Foundation’s electronic application data base.

Conflict of interest

Members of all bodies participating in granting process check, evaluate, discuss, vote, and/or decide only on the applications of those organizations in connection with which they have no material or other interests.

Formal conditions

The Commission for Verification of Formal Conditions, by checking the data and attached documentation of the received applications, determines which applications have met the prescribed formal conditions of public invitations.

The formal conditions are set in such a way that they enable an unequivocal decision to be made on whether a specific application meets the prescribed requirements or not and in no way interfere with the assessment of the quality of the applied programme/project.

Assessment of the quality of applications

Applications that have passed the verification of prescribed formal conditions are referred to the assessment of the quality of applications based on the criteria for the allocation of funds that are defined for each Programme Area and category.

The Commission that evaluates the quality of applications is a professional body with up to fifteen members appointed by the Board of Directors on the proposal of the Foundation Director.

The names of the members of the Commission are available to the public only after the end of the entire granting process. Appointed members of the Commission must keep their membership secret until the end of the granting process, and they may not provide any information about the process.

Criteria for the allocation of funds

The criteria for allocating funds form the basis for assessing the quality of applications. They are divided into three groups of criteria:

• Acceptability of the applied programme/project
• Quantitative criteria
• Quality criteria.

Grading

Three members of the Commission evaluate each application. The Commission evaluates the application with marks from 1 to 5. If a specific criterion carries a higher number of points than 5 (which is the maximum mark that a single member of the Commission can give), then the point value for that criterion is multiplied by a specific index to obtain the value of the criterion (e.g., if the criterion carries 15 points, then the grade assigned by an individual member of the Commission is multiplied by index 3). The points of each member of the Committee appointed to one application are added up and divided by the number of members who evaluated that application; the average point value is obtained, which in some instances does not have to be a whole number.

The extreme discrepancy in ratings

An extreme discrepancy in ratings is a difference of 40% or more between the highest and the lowest aggregate (total) grade of individual assessors assigned to one application.

Ranking list

The ranking list contains a list of all applications from the highest total of achieved points to the lowest, as well as applications that were excluded in the group of criteria "Acceptability of the applied programme/project." For the application to be considered for funding, the total score of the Funding Criteria must be at least 50 out of a maximum of 100 points.

The members of the Committee in charge of writing the explanation draw up the final explanation for each application based on the comments of all the members who assessed the application in question and the accordance on the definitive explanation.

Proposal for the allocation of grants

Based on the ranking list for each program area, category and the budget for public calls within the Support Programme, a Proposal for the allocation of grants is drawn up and sent to the Board of Directors for confirmation.

Deciding on the allocation of grants

The Board of Directors discusses the Proposal of the Committee and decides on confirming the Proposal for the allocation of grants. The Board of Directors does not accept the Proposal of the Commission only in the case that the Proposal is not under the defined area of ​​contemporary culture and art, the priorities of the Support Programme, the goals of the Programme Areas, and if irregularities in the work of the Commission are determined.

Publication of results

The following are published on the Foundation's website:

• a list of approved applications with a summary, total points earned, and approved grant
• a list of rejected applications with a summary and total points achieved
• list of applications rejected due to failure to meet formal requirements.

All applicants receive a written notification of the results of their application, which lists the points for each criterion and the Commission's explanation.

Amount of financial support

The amount of support depends on the applicant's position in the ranking list and is proportionally reduced by 10%. The smallest amount of support that can be granted this way is 70% of the requested amount. The final number of supported programs depends on the total budget of the Support Programme.

The finality of the decision and the right to object

All decisions of the Foundation's bodies on the approval or disapproval of grants are final.

Any organization participating in public calls for grants may send a written complaint to the Foundation's Board of Directors at the official e-mail address. An objection can be sent only in case the applicant notices omissions in the procedure of the established granting process.

Contracting

Applicants who have been approved for support sign a contract that determines the amount approved from the Foundation's funds, the conditions under which support is granted to them, and all the obligations that the beneficiaries assume by signing the contract.

Reporting obligations

The organization that has received a grant is obliged, by the signed contract, to submit a descriptive and financial report on the project implementation to the Foundation, together with copies of invoices and other relevant documentation that the Foundation requests. Users must submit an interim and/or final report, depending on the type of support.

Return of funds

If the beneficiary has not justified the funds with a report, has not spent them, or has spent them inappropriately, and if he does not comply with the contractual provisions, the Foundation may request the return of the funds from the beneficiary.

Evaluation of the quality of programme/project implementation

Evaluation of the quality of the implementation of supported programmes/projects is carried out based on prescribed criteria that are an integral part of the Financing Agreement.